Police calls criminals on tea to exploit their "experience".

VISHAL SHARMA

Etah (INDIA), 24 Dec. It is the perfect analogy to the strategy adapted by the Indian Army in recruiting ex-terrorists to hunt down terrorists in Kashmir. The UP police seem to have come up with a similar concept to put a tab on the criminal activities in the state by exploiting the "experience" of notorious gangsters, building up a criminal-police interface by holding 'tea-parties of gangsters'.

The Etah district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh has long been"famous" for being the breeding grounds for "would-be" gangsters and notorious gangsters like Chhaviram & Mahaveera, Pothi & Alwar had once rocked this district with their terror. Political patronage extended to these gangsters had made this district the hot-spot for criminal activities and in 1982, to control this aggravating situation, the then UP Chief Minister VP Singh was even forced to send the top-cop of UP Vikram Singh as the first Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) of Etah on the special task of controlling crime.

Extreme measures like the use of helicopters were employed totrack down and engage these gangs in encounters andthe mission had ended in success despite the political connections of these gangsters. Vikram Singh iscurrently the Addl. Director General of Inter-state border police in UP. Things are now slowly taking a positive turn in this crime-infested district and the crime rate is abating, but there remains a lot to be done and probably with this mission in mind, the present Etah SSP Anand Swaroop is sending out "love-calls" to the gangsters who are willing to make a new beginning by shunning the life of crime.

Recently, the SSP set a new milestone in the history of UP policing by calling more than 1600 gangsters to a tea-party early this month, now popularly called a"police-gangster convention" in the UP police circles. Over 250 notorious criminals, including murderers, bandits & kidnappers had attended this "gangster convention" called by the Etah SSP who claimed that since Etah had become a chronically crime-infested district, there was a need for taking such a radical step and this "tea-party" was a serious effort to bring these criminals into the mainstream of society.

Talking to The UNN on Sunday, Mr. Swaroop said that earlier there was a trend in the police to recruit "retired" history sheeters as "Mukhbirs", but this practice was kept under thick veils of secrecy as building a police-criminal interface was not considered "ethical" in policing. But during his tenure in Etah, he has seen that some criminals are just living this life of crime imposed on them by the society and they are willing to leave this life at the first opportunity presented before them.

He said that he has now decided to use the"experience" of these criminals to develop a better understanding of the criminal psychology in thepolice. He said that out of about 1600 notorious criminals registered in the 28 police stations of Etah district; almost 1000 are roaming free on bail and conducting their criminal activities while just about 300 criminals have "retired" from crime, though their history-sheets are still open in the police stations.

This tea-party was an effort to straighten out the police records on these criminals, though out of 1600,only about 275 criminals chose to attend this meeting. According to the SSP, calling these gangsters to this tea party made it possible for the police to understand the reasons that brought these criminals into the life of crime and some of these criminals have even agreed to assist the police in tracking downother hard-to-catch gangsters.

Asked if he had made any promises of closing down the history-sheets of the gangsters who chose to cooperate with the police, Mr.Swaroop said that the "options were open". Later, talking to The UNN, Niranjan, a history-sheeter of Marhara in Etah, charged of committing several murders, said that he had committed his first murder to avenge his father's death but when he was not accepted by the society on coming back from Jail, he vowed to make this society bend on its knees before him and that was precisely his motive of committing crime after crime. But now, after attending this meeting, he feels that there is still some hope left for him and with the assistance of the police, he wishes to be rehabilitated in the society by shunning the life of crime.

But this "silver lining" is also accompanied by a"dark cloud". Antagonists of this novel initiative of the police can be found aplenty in Etah itself. Local politicians term this stunt pulled by the Etah SSP as a "well-thought strategy" of the ruling party to get the history-sheets of their cronies closed on the grounds that they have been reformed.

Awadhpal Singh Yadav, former UP minister and BJP leader said that the Etah SSP seems to have forgotten the Nathuapur massacre of 1981 when the politically aided dacoit Chhaviram had shot nine policemen including inspectors Rajpal Singh & K.P. Pandey with seven constables. According to Mr. Yadav, holding tea parties of criminals cannot be called good policing as a trucebetween the police and the criminals is a very dangerous proposition. He said that such meetings shall only serve in eliminating the fear-factor of the police among the criminals. He said that these criminals need to be handled with an iron fist and patting their backs for "assisting" the police will only give birth to more "Chhavirams" & "Kaluas".

(UNITED NEWS NETWORK)