Even as Punjab was virtually on boil this year, the apparently “cool” Punjab Police is patting its back for keeping the law and order situation in the State “well under control”.
The year 2015 saw the Punjab Police struggling amidst a series of protests due to farmers’ agitation, series of sacrilege incidents, Behal Kalan police firing incident, release of Sikh prisoners, Moga’s death and molestation case in Orbit bus involving a teenage girl, among others. Not to forget the deadly militant attack on Dinanagar.
The Punjab Police’s inability to act in the unabated incidents of sacrilege of Sikhs’ holy scripture, Guru Granth Sahib, even forced the State Government to remove its State police chief. Suresh Arora replaced Sumedh Singh Saini in late October.
However, police authorities claimed that there was a drop in incidents of crimes during 2015 compared to the previous year. “Crime against person and property - murders, dacoities and burglaries, showed a decrease in 2015, as compared to 2014,” said the state police spokesperson on Thursday.
As per the data released by the Punjab Police, it claimed that the number of murders, dacoities, rapes, and snatchings has come down; while an increase has been witnessed in the cases of kidnappings or abduction, theft, and attempt to murder, as compared to crime rate in 2014.
Spokesperson said that the number of murder cases came down to 693 this year from 767 last year, while Dacoties decreased from 31 to 23, rape cases from 981 to 860, and snatchings went down to 1,246 from 1,354 in 2014.
“However, an increase has been noticed in some crime heads such as kidnappings or abduction - 1,678 this year as against 1,550 in 2014, theft - 3,828 as against 3,713 in 2014, and attempt to murder - 871 as against 864 in 2014,” said the spokesperson.
For Punjab, the bygone year will be remembered in for the terrorist attack on a discreet town of Dinanagar in which three heavily-armed militants were gunned down by the Punjab Police after a day-long gun-battle on April 27.
“In a major achievement, Punjab Police successfully neutralized a determined fidayeen attack on Dinanagar Police Station complex by three jihadi foreign trained cross-border terrorists, who were killed in a fierce encounter lasting for about 12 hours.
Thus, a major tragedy was averted even though at the cost of precious lives of four Punjab Police or Punjab Home Guard personnel, including a Superintendent of Police, and three civilians,” said the police spokesperson.
Another high for the state police in 2015 was the arrest of Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF) militant Jagtar Singh Tara, one of the main accused in Punjab’s former Chief Minister Beant Singh’s assassination case and Burail Jail break case, from Pattiya in Thailand with the assistance from central agencies.
“In a systematic follow-up action, the complete network of Tara in Punjab was unveiled and disrupted with the arrests of Ramandeep Singh alias Sunny from Bathinda, Parminder Singh alias Kala from Ropar, and the main fund-raiser Surjit Singh Kohli, a Canadian national,” said the spokesperson.
Besides, the spokesperson claimed that the state police busted 65 criminal gangs, including top gangs, during the year. “Some 414 pistols, 87 revolvers, 57 rifles, 30 guns, 4,179 cartridges, three hand-grenades, nine bombs, two detonators and 56 magazines were recovered during 2015,” he added.
Sharing its plans for the coming year, spokesperson said that the Punjab Police would dedicate the year 2016 towards ‘Security and Dignity of Women’, “by ensuring a prompt and effective response on all complaints or cases of sexual assault or harassment, domestic violence, eve-teasing and obscene calls or SMS”.
“Towards this end, a mobile App on women safety would be launched shortly,” he said.
Its other initiatives for 2016 includes building its community policing model, Saanjh, with the launch of user-friendly mobile applications for women safety, untraced reports for theft cases, verifications, police clearance certificates, etc; designating police liaison officers at colleges and schools to maintain regular contact with the youth; setting-up a Social Media lab, launching a Twitter handle, among other things.
“During 2016, Punjab Police would strive to introduce transparency and accountability in all facets of police working…Any police official found engaging in corruption would be dealt with strictly,” said the spokesperson.
In 2015, 24 police officials who were found involved in corrupt practices were dismissed from service.
In another major step, the state Police would also focus on “free registration of crime” wherein all field officers would be directed to register FIRs without delay, which would be ensured by Zonal IGPs and Range DIGs, as also through calls received at the ‘181’ Punjab Police Helpline.