‘Will do night rounds if police allow me’

Governor Hans Raj Bhardwaj on Wednesday said he wanted to make night rounds of the city and elsewhere in the state in order to ensure the safety of women.

“I am ready to go for night rounds to ensure the safety of the women if the DG &IGP Lalrokhuma Pachau permits me,” Bhardwaj said at the conference of state women police officers.

The rape of the 23-year-old in Delhi has raised an outcry in the country for changes in law and law enforcement to ensure safety of women. There is need for special team of police, medical experts, forensic specialists and courts to ensure that rape accused were punished expeditiously and as a deterrent, he added.

He said that among the reasons for the increase in crimes against women was the sexist portrayal of women in posters in public places.

“In 1980s when I saw obscene posters of the women posted in public places, I had discussed it with Rajiv Gandhi, a law was drafted and the powers were given to the police, but nobody liked that,” Bhardwaj said.

Crimes against women were increasing as society was changing, and strong laws were needed to check the crimes.

The governor said he felt the investigation into the rape of the law student on the Jnana Bharathi campus was going the wrong way when he found the medico-legal reports questioning the rape, he added.

Karnataka had taken a lead in appointing women police, but many women police officers tended to take law into their hands. Even Kiran Bedi, one of the best police officers in India, was guilty of it, Bhardwaj said.

These days police are used by governments. Such a trend brings a bad name to the governments and police, he said.

Police should resist pressure from powerful people to influence investigation. Nobody, except the senior police officers had the power to interfere in the investigation. But many police officers allow themselves to be influenced for the sake of promotions and rewards, he added.

The governor had a pat for police too. “I always tell the president that Karnataka state police is the best in the country. Whenever I go on the roads, I see the policemen on the street, especially traffic police.”