6,000 complaints lodged against cops every year

Faizan Haider, Hindustan Times, New Delhi, September 25, 2011

The Saturday night incident, in which a Delhi Police constable robbed and murdered  a man, is not the lone case of a cop turning into an extortionist. While complaints of bribe and extortion are comman, Delhi Police personnel are now getting involved in murder and robbery too.

After Saturday’s incident —which is the second such incident in a week — the image of the Delhi Police has once again taken a hit.

“It is obviously a dent on the image of force as we are here to protect citizens. All good work done by us will now go in vain as people will remember only this incident,”a senior police officer who didn’t want to be named said, adding, “It is very difficult to keep a track of every individual.”

On an average, the Delhi Police receives over 6,000 complaints every year against their own men. In 2008, 103 Delhi Police personnel were punished and the number went down to 74 in 2009. But in 2010, a total of 1303 Delhi Police personnel of various ranks were awarded punishment after complaints were filed against them. 

This year only around 50 Delhi Police personnel have been caught taking bribes while over 1,800 faced action for dereliction of duty. Of the around 50 caught for taking bribes, 25 were constables and nine head constables. Six sub inspectors and seven assistant sub inspectors were also caught taking bribe from people to favour them. 

“A total of 1,849 policemen, including 147 inspectors, faced action for dereliction of duty till June 30 this year,” the officer added. The first six month’s figure has already surpassed the figures of 2008 and 2009 when action was taken against 987 and 1,813 cops respectively. 

“It is not fair to built the image of force of 85,000 by the conduct of one man. We have arrested the accused constable and action will be taken against him,” Sudhir Yadav, joint commissioner of police (northern range).

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