Short of policemen, B’luru sees crime rate soar

Hameed Ashraf | NT

Bengaluru: Despite various laws made by the Karnataka government and strict policing by the Bengaluru police, the crime rate in the city continues to rise. With the ongoing probe into the Police SubInspector (PSI) recruitment scam in the state, the police department will have to function under tremendous pressure. On Thursday, two women in Indiranagar were robbed of their gold chains at knifepoint by two bike-borne assailants.

One of the women, Sameena Kauser, 55, had gone to her brother’s house, and as she ascended the staircase, she found a youth following her. She said that the person was wearing a face mask. “The person pulled out a dagger and demanded to hand over the chain I was wearing,” she said in her statement to the police.

“Shocked, I immediately gave him the chain and he fled with his friend on a two-wheeler,” she added. When the woman reached the police station, she was shocked to know that there was another woman who was robbed of her mangalsutra by the same miscreants just a few minutes later.

The police registered an FIR and later an officer said that while they were scanning CCTV footage, they allegedly found the miscreant making a small gesture with his hands to seek an apology from God before following the woman to rob her chain.

Sources from the police said that in most cases, the accused are habitual offenders and are aware that they are doing something illegal.

However, they repeat the same offense again and again to pay the lawyer fees and penalties imposed on them by the Court. The police said that in the above case, the two miscreants were hardly aged 22–25 years.

Speaking to News Trail, Retired Assistant Commissioner of Police, BB Ashok Kumar, said, “More and more young people are getting trapped on the web of crime especially chains and mobile snatching cases, which seem much easier for them. But it is a matter of concern for their family, community, and society as a whole.

These crimes may scar their whole lives, after which most of them may not find a way to return from the world of darkness,” he said. The police also said that in most cases, the two-wheelers used by offenders are also stolen to avoid getting tracked by the police. “Most of them know that they will be caught somehow. But still, they take a chance,” a police officer said.

Shortage of personnel to be blamed

Police officers, meanwhile, admit that it is impossible to manage a growing metropolitan city of Bengeluru’s size with around 14,000 personnel.

A senior official also said that if a major political event is held, a good number of policemen are deployed for bandobast duty, leaving most of the areas either vulnerable to criminals or at the mercy of the CCTVs. “Political events, riots, and protests take away many cops available for the usual night rounds and other crime-prevention measures,” added the official.

Recently, Bhaskar Rao, the former city police commissioner highlighted the issue related to the shortage of police staff amid the investigation of irregularities in PSI recruitment. However, the understaffed crisis has been existing for several years in the state police department.

Though police officers are not ready to concede that the crime rate in the city is actually on the rise, murders are happening every day and chain-snatching incidents are being reported with metronomic regularity.

Other causes of rise in crimes

A huge portion of the youth in the state are unemployed despite being educated. Some of them are lured into crimes such as robbery, theft, political crimes, murder for gain, etc with the promise of quick money. However, once they are caught in a crime case, they are further dragged into it. Several other known causes that boost the crime graph upward are illiteracy, alcohol and drug abuse and political aggression.