Sumeet Moghe writes: Bangalore City Police needs to answer - How long is the lunch break at a police station?I'm just back from a thoroughly unprofessional experience at MICO layout police. This is with regard to my passport verification. The constable had arrived at my home on Saturday and after taking my neighbour's signatures, asked me to visit the police station with a list of documents and 3 passport size photos between 10AM and 6PM. I visited the police station at 1420 today. There was no one in Room #1 when I arrived and there was one more person waiting to get…
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Police atrocities can be questioned once the Police Complaint Authority is completely functional. File pic. The Police Complaint Authority (PCA) that existed only on papers for the past three years has now finally been formed. However, it doesn’t have punitive powers - it can only recommend action after an inquiry. The State Police Complaint Authority has started functioning in Karnataka from September 2, 2013.Retired high court judge Justice M P Chinnappa has been appointed as the chairman of the state Police Complaint Authority. The members are retired additional chief secretary Abhay Prakash, IGP- Grievances Alok Kumar and IGP- KSRP Malini…
Read moreBangalore houses roughly around one crore citizens. As the city grows, crime rate too goes up. To facilitate smooth flow of grievance redressal mechanism and complaint follow ups, Police Department has brought certain services under Sakala scheme, to aid the citizens in getting their work done in time. However, how many people are aware of this? The Police Computer Wing (PCW) of the Karnataka State Police had introduced 21 services under the Sakala scheme, in April 2012. Four months ago, the PCW also launched the mobile SMS Gateway service. But its reach has been limited. Speaking to Citizen Matters, ADGP,…
Read moreMy friend Nitin Vyas has this experience to relate: "At9.00am on 22nd May on Kanakpura road, close to Thalgatpura Police station. KSRTC bus no. KA 42F 040 ran in to my car from behind. The rear of my car was completely damaged . (The estimated cost of repairs is Rs 1 lakh.) The bus drove away from the scene as I took my car to the side of the road.. I went to Thalagatpura Police station at 9.15 am to file an FIR against the bus driver. Arun Thimme Gowda was in charge of registering complaints. He did not respond…
Read moreWhen it suits their dodgy interests, the political parties actually cooperate with each other, even though they are theoretically opponents in the electoral and other arenas. Yesterday (June 11, 2013) we saw a very good example of this in the Karnataka Legislative Council. Some years ago, the Supreme Court handed down a judgment that was intended to free the police forces from direct political interference. The court ordered the establishment of an appointments Board in each state that would manage the postings of lower level police staff (below the rank of DySP). This Board is filled with members of senior…
Read moreAmarjyothi layout, Domlur is supposed to be a very posh locality situated in one of the most busy parts of Bengaluru. There are over 500 sites spread almost equally on either side of the intermediate Ring Road from Indira Nagar to Koramangala south of the old Airport Road. Both the east and west wings of the layout are also neighbouring some of the most sought after landmarks in Bangalore. The east wing is surrounded by the Karnataka Golf Association (KGA) and Royal Orchid hotel on one side and the Embassy Golf Links Business Park that houses some of the world's…
Read moreEver since the Bangalore Metropolitan Task Force (BMTF) started functioning more actively, especially after current chief Rajvir Sharma took over, the state government has been at loggerheads with it. Its latest attempt to cut down BMTF's powers has gone awry, and has become another embarrassment for the government. BMTF is a police force which can investigate grabbing of public land, and building violations, in Bangalore Metropolitan Area. It can book cases against government officers who abet such crimes. It can also file criminal cases on associated crimes, like document fabrication. On February 2nd, Karnataka's Urban Development Department (UDD) issued an…
Read moreOn Saturday, February 9th, as a group of people from vastly different sections of society came together to lead a march from Austin Town to the Ejipura EWS demolition site, with an intent to express solidarity with the displaced, they came up against the indifference of the state and the brutality of the police.It has been close to a month now since the day that 5000 people from over 1200 dwellings lost their shelters, livelihoods and any semblance of stability in their lives that they might have had. 9th of February, protestors were stopped before they reached Ejipura, which led…
Read moreTraffic Warden talks about road safety at Sherwood High School (pic: CMCA)Nearly 130 students from classes 2 to 7 in the age group of 7 years to 12 years of Sherwood High School on Bannerghatta road along with members of the civic club of the Children's Movement for Civic Awareness (CMCA) celebrated the Safety Awareness Walk and Traffic Police Day on 7th January, 2013. Held between 9 and 11 am, the walk started with an inspiring and educative talk by P. R. Rao, Deputy Chief of the Traffic Warden organisation about the importance of road safety. Inspector Diwakar (Traffic) of…
Read moreThousands of children from the Children's Movement for Civic Awareness (CMCA), will be thanking traffic cops across the city this month. Flagging off the 8th Traffic Police Day thanksgiving in a ceremony at the Traffic Police Park on St. Marks Road on 12th January, children from private and government schools associated with CMCA presented cards, flowers, sweets and messages to traffic police personnel. The children also recited poems thanking the traffic police and interacted with constables, who enjoyed the occasion. The children also cheered and clapped for the traffic police. Children thank traffic police personnel on Traffic Police Day (pic:…
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