While the State police brass has sounded elated over two police stations of the State — Banbhoolpara in Nainital district and Rishikesh in Dehradun district — having made into the list of top 10 best police stations of the country, some officers say that they are worried deeper inside with crimes against children and the women seeing a spurt across the State, prompting the High Court to intervene.
Notably, a few days ago, Uttarakhand High Court in a landmark ruling had asked the state government to enact a law in three months, sending all pronounced guilty in child rape cases to the gallows while sounding worried over the spurt in such heinous crimes. The Union home ministry-prepared list of the 10 top police stations released during the last weekend has come close on the heels of the National Crime Records Bureau having declared Uttarakhand as the second best state of India in terms of crimes. “These two developments are indeed a boost for the force in the state; nevertheless an anxiety is lurking deep in us as we have failed to check crimes against the children and the women in the state. We must introspect instead of gloating excessively over the achievements,” said a senior police officer while insisting on anonymity.
Notably, as per the Union home ministry-prepared list of the 10 top police stations, Banbhoolpara in Nainital district featured sixth in the list while Rishikesh police station has been ranked eighth. Theparameters for selecting best police stations included disposal of old cases, maintenance of law and order, crime against women, crime against weaker sections, property offences (theft, burglary and robbery), verification and road safety besides maintenance of police station records, general standard of hygiene and sanitation in and around police stations, general cleanliness within the premises of police stations in accordance with the campaign ‘Swachchha Bharat Abhiyan’, optimum utilisation of available resources, efforts in creation of better infrastructure and resources for implementation of the concept of Smart Policing.
Sources say that in the Rishikesh police station, there are presently 100 police personnel and the number of women sub -inspectors is just two. The figure is important against the backdrop of increasing crimes being reported from the place against the women.
As per statistics, 2223 cases of crime against women have been reported this year from January 1 to November 30 in 2017 while the figure was 1896 over the same period in 2016. In all, 369 cases of rape have been reported in various districts of the state with the plain districts accounting for most of them. Things are alarming too regarding dowry death. As the figure stood at 54 in 2016 it has gone up to 57- 34 in Garhwal division while 23 in kumaon division -in the first 11 months of this year. Around half a dozen acid attack cases involving women have been reported during the first 11 months of 2017. Crimes against girl children have also increased over the past few years too.
While commenting on two out of156 police stations of the state having figured in the top best national list, additional director general of police (law and order) Ashok Kumar said that it has really boosted further the morale of the force. “We are encouraging other police stations to come up and make to the list in the coming years,” he added.