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The Inside Story: What ails our upholders of law?
Programme: The Inside Story
Programme: The Inside Story
Reporters: Suraj Bhardwarj in Punjab, Brajesh Mishra in Bihar, Sukarno Sen in West Bengal & Avinash G Tuljhapurkar in Delhi
Telecast: Sunday 9:30 pm
Repeat telecast: Wednesday 2:30 am & Saturday 12:30 pm
Adaptation: Jigme Palden Pazo
Police problems come under the glare of the spotlight as The Inside Story sets out to find out what ails the guardians of law in this country. The results of the quest make a mixture of surprise, shame and finally pity for viewers as the plight of the police force in all its inefficiency comes to light.
Armed with candid cameras, The Inside Story team crisscrossed the country to capture the situation across the nation for chowkis (posts) and thanas (police stations)to speak to the people making up the country’s police force. Punjab, Bihar, UP and Delhi were some of the destinations for the team for the task.
To begin with, the very place of work of the police force paints a sorry picture. Buildings are in such poor state that it appears to casual visitors that the place is on the verge of falling apart. But the one of the worst affected was a police station in the capital of the country where the Sarita Vihar police station operates from a temporary tent.
In another case, a Punjab chowk functions out of unofficial premises where a doctor had given the police temporary use of his residence out of sheer goodwill alone. Another place in Punjab was in such a bad state that the walls that make up the cell to hold criminals look like they can hardly survive a hard push. It looks so dilapidated that an onlooker would be likely to find it safer to have the criminals out of the cell rather than confining them to such pathetic confines.
Buildings apart, the rest of the facilities for the police is hardly in any better shape. Almost all the places visited face a chronic shortage of one of the most integral needs of the police, vehicles. Let alone a financial crunch to acquire additional vehicles, the police posts do not even have the funds for fuel to run the vehicles on. This has led to the officials having to ply their private vehicles for making visits to the sites of crime. Even for them, there is no provision for fuel costs which they have to bear by themselves. Not surprising then that corruption presents itself as the only solution to offset the meagre salaries.
A Bihar police station has the luxury of a jeep but everytime it is required, pushing is the only way it can be started. One shudders to think of what faint hope exists to nab criminals on the run in situations like this. A Kolkata police station has at least solved the problem in part by utilising bicycles to visit the site of crime.
However Kolkata police have problems of their own being saddled with outdated arms which are almost as ancient as the one-shot guns of the past. This at a time when criminals are getting more and more sophisticated in terms of technology and weapons.
Another police post in Kanpur meets the problem of insufficient fuel by cutting down their night patrolling to cover only the areas that can be reached with the limited fuel. As a result the points further away are completely avoided.
In most police stations, the oft-repeated excuse for all the shortcomings are blamed on the financial crunch. The existing resources of the police is mostly taken up by the visits of VIPs for security purposes. As a result the common man is left to fend for himself.
With the nations guardians of the law being in such deplorable conditions, it is appalling to think of the little, if any security that exists for the general population who need it the most. No wonder criminals have a field day getting away with breaking every law that exists in the country. With the police too ill-equipped or otherwise engaged in VIP security, lawlessness has become the order of the day.
Reporters: Suraj Bhardwarj in Punjab, Brajesh Mishra in Bihar, Sukarno Sen in West Bengal & Avinash G Tuljhapurkar in Delhi
Telecast: Sunday 9:30 pm
Repeat telecast: Wednesday 2:30 am & Saturday 12:30 pm
Adaptation: Jigme Palden Pazo
Police problems come under the glare of the spotlight as The Inside Story sets out to find out what ails the guardians of law in this country. The results of the quest make a mixture of surprise, shame and finally pity for viewers as the plight of the police force in all its inefficiency comes to light.
Armed with candid cameras, The Inside Story team crisscrossed the country to capture the situation across the nation for chowkis (posts) and thanas (police stations)to speak to the people making up the country’s police force. Punjab, Bihar, UP and Delhi were some of the destinations for the team for the task.
To begin with, the very place of work of the police force paints a sorry picture. Buildings are in such poor state that it appears to casual visitors that the place is on the verge of falling apart. But the one of the worst affected was a police station in the capital of the country where the Sarita Vihar police station operates from a temporary tent.
In another case, a Punjab chowk functions out of unofficial premises where a doctor had given the police temporary use of his residence out of sheer goodwill alone. Another place in Punjab was in such a bad state that the walls that make up the cell to hold criminals look like they can hardly survive a hard push. It looks so dilapidated that an onlooker would be likely to find it safer to have the criminals out of the cell rather than confining them to such pathetic confines.
Buildings apart, the rest of the facilities for the police is hardly in any better shape. Almost all the places visited face a chronic shortage of one of the most integral needs of the police, vehicles. Let alone a financial crunch to acquire additional vehicles, the police posts do not even have the funds for fuel to run the vehicles on. This has led to the officials having to ply their private vehicles for making visits to the sites of crime. Even for them, there is no provision for fuel costs which they have to bear by themselves. Not surprising then that corruption presents itself as the only solution to offset the meagre salaries.
A Bihar police station has the luxury of a jeep but everytime it is required, pushing is the only way it can be started. One shudders to think of what faint hope exists to nab criminals on the run in situations like this. A Kolkata police station has at least solved the problem in part by utilising bicycles to visit the site of crime.
However Kolkata police have problems of their own being saddled with outdated arms which are almost as ancient as the one-shot guns of the past. This at a time when criminals are getting more and more sophisticated in terms of technology and weapons.
Another police post in Kanpur meets the problem of insufficient fuel by cutting down their night patrolling to cover only the areas that can be reached with the limited fuel. As a result the points further away are completely avoided.
In most police stations, the oft-repeated excuse for all the shortcomings are blamed on the financial crunch. The existing resources of the police is mostly taken up by the visits of VIPs for security purposes. As a result the common man is left to fend for himself.
With the nations guardians of the law being in such deplorable conditions, it is appalling to think of the little, if any security that exists for the general population who need it the most. No wonder criminals have a field day getting away with breaking every law that exists in the country. With the police too ill-equipped or otherwise engaged in VIP security, lawlessness has become the order of the day.