At a time when the trend of rise in burglaries in the State Capital is giving cause for anxiety to the citizens, a police man exemplified one of the shortcomings affecting the police force when he rode pillion with an accused criminal allegedly involved in many cases on a motorcycle in order to reach the court a couple of days ago.
It should be mentioned here that recvently the Dehradun SSP Sadanand Date too has pulled up officers and personnel while expressing dissatisfaction at the rising trend of burglaries and thefts carried out during the period of about a fortnight. Reviewing cases and directing officers to efficiently do the needful, the SSP also reverted a police post in charge to the police lines after receipt of the report of a theft occurring in the area under his jurisdiction. Despite the focus on rising crimes, examples of negligence or questionable actions of police are still being seen almost routinely. In the latest such case, a police man was found to have given the keys to a motorcycle to an accused criminal with various cases registered against him in Dehradun and other places. The notorious accused rode the motorcycle while the police man sat pillion in order to reach the court. Questions were raised in the public sphere when a photo of the police man riding pillion with the accused was splashed in some local media.
It is pertinent to mention here that earlier on Thursday, the Vikasnagar police had organised a press conference wherein it was claimed that the police had solved the the case of thefts carried out in shops located in Herbertpur area of Vikasangar on February 10/11. In the course of interrogation the apprehended man identified as Masookh had confessed to have carried out the thefts in question with some of the stolen items and a khukri also being recovered by the police from his possession.
It is being said that senior police officers have sought an explanation from the Vikasnagar police station inspector in this case.
Observers point out that though the police have to tackle various issues while trying to discharge their duties, letting a person known to be a notorious criminal with a khukri also having been recovered from him, to ride a motor cycle on a public road is a serious lapse on part of the police which could have proven detrimental to public safety.