I went to Sanwrad as policeman, not a Rajput community member: Ajit Singh

The new DGP has come out strongly against eulogising a criminal like Anandpal. He says he failed to understand why the so-called community leaders did not realise this. He also said that he went to Sanwrad as a policeman, not as a member of Rajput community as his first loyalty is to his profession.

What will be your priorities as DGP?

The priorities of police don’t change. They priorities are to provide security to property, life and liberty of a person. What you do is strengthen your core policing your intel network pertaining to crime, your investigation and your follow up in court. Next four months I don’t have to do anything new. I have to ensure that circulars and orders are followed properly and these things become part of their regular work.

Do you think there is laxity in some police affairs?

There could be laxity but basically, there is a burden of work. When there is a burden of work, you sometimes try to cut corners. So these things need to be addressed with proper supervision and proper guidance also because sometimes because of lack of guidance, you may be wasting time at something where it is not required. The middle-level supervisory officers have to do their job more efficiently and understand what they have to look for.

How would you convince the home department over lack of adequate personnel in force?

Frankly, the government is quite sensitized to it also and right now our capacity to train people is limited. So even if we get a permission to fill up vacancies, we probably not be able to do that. If we fill that up here do we train them? We can’t be dependent on other agencies to train our people. In dire needs, we can go to them but they may not have vacancies to train them. So we can induct as many people as we can train and that we are doing.

How can incidents like Sanwrad be stopped and how does that affect the peace process?

The issue is not what affects or can not affect the peace process. The verge issue with this incident is there was a criminal who was being eulogised. And I don’t understand why the so called leader of the community does not realise this. They may have had any grievance against the government or any agency but what they were actually doing was sort of legitimising crime within the community or society. Like if you become a big criminal like Anandpal and we will be there for you, a horde of people will gather for you. And you see all the charter of demands, there is not a demand which does not pertain to help the criminal. Whether it is the case reviewed or the case against the family withdrawn, they want cases against agitators withdrawn, they want bail for the family, they want properties, which they claim was their, to be given back to them, which have been attached to government’s name. There is no demand in which the community gains, only the criminal gains. And when you have a criminal being eulogise, there are all sorts of fringe elements which infringe the law time and again.

How do you think these incidents can be stopped in future?

Look, I went there as a policeman and not as a member of the community. I belong to the Rajput community, that’s by birth over which I have no control, I have no choice. But, I have chosen a profession which is a matter of choice so my loyalty stays first to my profession. And if an incident like this arises, we will have to deal with it professionally.

What do you think should be done to keep youth out of such issues. What can be done to sensitise the youth so that they do not follow on such a path?

We need responsible leadership for that. A leadership which understands the cause for which they are mobilising the youth or community. A leadership which also realises its limitation that if things go beyond a certain point, they will not be in the interest of community. And a leadership which the people can look upto. In this can what I feel is there were lot of people claiming to be leaders but not having any following. So, in such a situation when you pose as a leader, but don’t have a handful of people following you, it’s a free take for all situation.

What about the ranking system initiated by former DGP? Can we see it sometime in the future?

It is a good beginning but it may not give you a comprehensive picture of what’s going on in a police station. Like for the Sanwrad incident, if such an incident has happened in a police station’s area and it has been tackled properly, then I think they would have done a marvellous job. But if you go by the ranking parameters, they would probably be miserable because it has various parameters that have to be looked into. It is a good beginning, it needs to be modified but it can’t be a straight jacket sort of situation that things have to be a certain way and nothing more. It has to be a flexible system and with flexibility subjectivity also comes in. But, then you are not dealing with machines, you are dealing with a situation which arises in unexpected situations and manners. So you can’t have a put and drive system.