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GOVERNANCE
Shruti Case, Faridkot June 25, 2012; September 24, 2012 |
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ASI shooting case, Amritsar December 5, 2012
Badshahpur gangrape-suicide case, Patiala November 13, 2012
Restobar brawl case, Ludhiana December 24, 2012
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GOVERNANCE
FOR all the criticism piled on the Punjab Police in recent months over certain high-profile cases of criminal negligence, it is a debate whether the force deserves the blame or the political masters who hold the reins. The subjugation of the police by the political leadership during SAD-BJP rule has been complete. And key to this subservience of the once-famed force is the system of 'halqa in-charge' (constituency in-charge) adopted by the SAD on the pattern of the erstwhile CPI (M)-led government in West Bengal, where the entire civil and police machinery had been made subservient to the 'cadre in-charge' of the particular area. According to sources, the SAD think thank believes this singular system was responsible for the unrivalled 34-year-run of the Communists in Bengal. SAD leaders have themselves proclaimed the desire to rule the state for 25 years, and the constituency in-charge is being seen as the crucial instrument in fulfilling this dream. Thus, the halqa in-charge is responsible for not only “caring” for the party workers but also ensuring marginalisation of all opposition at the cutting-edge grassroots level.
Arbiters of power Immediately after coming to power in 2007, the SAD introduced this system of constituency in-charges. This position is occupied by either the party legislator from the constituency or the defeated party candidate from there. The halqa in-charge is made the nodal agent for distribution of all development funds and also gets to choose and appoint police officers of his choice in the particular constituency. The police counts for a lot in Punjab, which has faced two decades of militancy. So any politician having unofficial control of the police force in his area has virtual control over the people of the area too. Over the past three years, the constituency in-charge system has been fine-tuned even more. The government has redrawn the maps (jurisdictions) of all police stations in the state in line with the Assembly constituencies. This means, the state has 117 Deputy Superintendents of Police (DSPs) for the 117 constituencies. As a consequence, each constituency in-charge has a DSP as well as all other police officers under his unofficial command. The designated Akali leader also has control over the appointment of all police officers in his area, right from the 'munshi', who writes down and puts up complaints to the Station House Officer (SHO) and the DSP. All these officers owe their loyalty to the Akali leader who is responsible for their posting. This has severely eroded the authority of the district police chiefs (Senior Superintendents of Police), who have virtually no power to move against recalcitrant juniors. At the grassroots level, this system has resulted in the designated Akali leaders holding their own 'durbar' where complainants come to seek justice. These political leaders mark complaints for action to the police officer concerned. They also bestow favours by approving applications for gun licences by putting their signatures. Without the signature of the 'halqa in-charge', it is difficult for any arms licence application to be approved.
Youth brigade Besides giving power to constituency in-charges at the grassroots level, the SAD was also keen on increasing its sway among the youth, as traditional Akali leaders are mostly veterans, who do not connect much with the youth. The party first propped up the Students Organisation of India (SOI), which was disbanded after some time when it became unmanageable and started giving the SAD a bad name. The party then decided to broad-base the Youth Akali Dal (YAD). The SAD has started concentrating on winning over wealthy Jat Sikh youth, most of who were earlier associated with the Congress. These 'youth leaders' have also been informally given their own territories, and told to work for the party. However, they also end up using the police machinery to settle personal scores. A few of these youth workers and leaders have embarrassed the SAD by indulging in violence, as was seen in the Shruti abduction case in Faridkot, the killing of an Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) in Amritsar, and the attack on senior police officer S.S. Mand in Ludhiana. Despite such incidents — which should have made all Youth Akali Dal officer-bearers more circumvent in their behaviour — there was a recent case of the son of a halqa in-charge beating up a police officer who stopped him because he was travelling with an unauthorised red beacon on his vehicle.
HQ powerless It is not only at the district level that the police has been politicised and taken over by the political establishment. This control is absolute at the police headquarters too, with the office of the state Director General of Police (DGP) being reduced to a mere figurehead. The force was put under the thumb of the political bosses during the tenure of former DGP P.S. Gill, who subsequently contested the Assembly election unsuccessfully from Moga. Today, despite a strong and resolute DGP in Sumedh Singh Saini, it is not being able to shake off the grip. The power of the DGP to appoint officers of his choice in even the police headquarters has been restricted. The field postings were anyway being directed by the political bosses. Sample this: The government relieved an IG (known to be close to the DGP) of his post the same day as his postings orders were issued, because it did not want him in the position anymore. Leave alone appointments, even punishments are decided by the political bosses. In two-high profile suspensions of senior officers recently, no proposal was taken from the police headquarters before proceeding against them. What made the undermining of the institution of the DGP complete was a recent order (withdrawn on Saturday) taking away his authority to post officers to a particular position even on a temporary basis.
Two ‘forces’ In another move, the Punjab Government has created two virtually distinct sets of officers within the police. Among the fraternity, one is mockingly referred to as the 'headquarters force', comprising around 80 per cent of the police officers, who continuously remain posted at the headquarters in Chandigarh, and the other is the 'field force', comprising the chosen few who get field postings one after the other. Officers posted virtually permanently at the headquarters have become demoralised and are even looked upon with contempt by the men under them, as they are perceived as not being dynamic enough to control a district, range or zone. Surprisingly, when there is any law and order problem - including cases such as those of Akali workers taking the law in their hands - these very officers condemned as inept are sent to sort things out. In contrast, the government has reposed faith in a small select group of officers who seem to remain on field postings forever. It’s almost as if they are too good to be ever posted to the headquarters. There are many examples of this. Gaurav Yadav has been Commissioner of Jalandhar police since more than three years. Similarly IGs of Patiala and Bathinda are sitting pretty on their posts for years with slight breaks in term due to Assembly elections. They are Paramjit Singh Gill and Nirmal Singh Dhillon, respectively. Worse still is the manner in which the government continues to post a certain set of officers as SSPs despite the vast number of officers available for the job. G.S. Bhullar, H.S. Bhullar and Gurpreet Singh Gill have been SSPs since four or five years. They are currently SSPs of Mohali, Sangrur and Patiala, respectively. The Punjab Police Act (2007) clearly states that police officers would be given a minimum tenure of one year and a maximum of three. In December last year, the government even filed an affidavit in the Punjab and Haryana High Court stating it would comply with the provisions of the Police Act. Yet, officers continue to remain posted for more than three years in particular posts.
No place for IPS officers The government is also not giving weightage to young directly recruited IPS officers, and tends to favour Punjab Police Service (PPS) officers in appointing SSPs of police districts. This, despite the fact that IPS officers are supposed to have a 66 per cent quota in district postings. At present, only four directly recruited IPS officers — S.S. Gill (Hoshiarpur), Ashish Choudhary (Ludhiana-Rural), Dhanpreet Kaur (Nawanshahr) and Inderbir Singh (Kapurthala) — have been given district commands. Other IPS officers eligible for the posting are marking time at the police headquarters. The number of total IPS officers posted as SSP was also very low till a few months back, when a number of PPS officers were promoted to the IPS cadre. Even among the PPS officers, the government has made strange choices. It has appointed three of the junior most SPs in the state as SSPs. These are Raijit Singh (Gurdaspur), Kamaljit Singh Dhillon (Tarn Taran) and Ravcharan Singh Brar (Bathinda). On the other hand, two SSPs who have completed 58 years of age continue as SSPs while on extension. These are Surjit Singh Grewal (Moga) and Pritpal Singh Virk (Amritsar Rural). With policing being restricted to a few, and the top brass not running the force on professional lines but allowing politicians to rule the roost, the image of the Punjab Police, which still is one of the most professional forces in the country, has taken a beating. The challenge before the political masters is to restore the confidence of the people in the police by de-politicising and allowing it to provide good governance, which is the stated goal of the SAD-BJP government.
Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal could not be contacted for a response on the issue of direct political control over the police, but he had spoken to The Tribune on the subject recently, saying SSPs could not take the excuse they were not able to deliver results because some officers under them were close to certain political leaders. All SSPs had been told they were responsible for the actions of all personnel under them and they were free to suspend anyone not doing his duty. Also, the government had decided to shift all officers who had been at one place for more than three or four years.
Punjab DGP Sumedh Singh Saini, who also could not be contacted, had recently denied the police force had become politicised, and claimed it had performed well on all parameters, including law and order, besides tackling terrorism and Naxalism effectively.
Correction afoot?
Khaki crumpled
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Shruti Case, Faridkot June 25, 2012; September 24, 2012 In her statement to the police on December 22, she alleged that during one month of her captivity, she was subjected to rape, torture and photographed in objectionable postures by the accused at gunpoint. On July 27, 2012, she managed to escape and reached home. After her medical examination, the police added rape as offence in the FIR.
No will to arrest accused Though Nishan Singh was roaming freely and kept threatening her family to withdraw the case, the police made no attempt to arrest him, she alleged in a complaint to the Punjab and Haryana High Court last month. Rather, he was enjoying VIP treatment and seen moving with Akali leaders when the Deputy Chief Minister was in Faridkot on the occasion of Baba Farid Festival on September 23. Undeterred, Nishan Singh attacked her family and inflicted serious injuries on her parents on September 24 before kidnapping her for the second time. Accompanied by notorious criminals and carrying firearms, rods and swords, the accused pulled her by her hair, bundled her in a car and escaped. The incident occurred in the presence of over 100 locality residents but the culprits opened fire and no one dared confront them. Though a police station was situated at a distance of less than 100 yards from the crime scene, the police took over two hours to arrive and swung into action only after the intervention of a PCS officer who lived in the locality. For the next two days, the police soft-pedalled the case due to the alleged political patronage that Nishan enjoyed. But after public outcry spilled on the roads, the police got into action mode. Some senior police officers then floated a new theory that the girl had eloped with the boy.
Illegal course The police shrugged off the demand for Nishan's arrest and on October 8, publicly released over a dozen photographs of the girl with the accused to convey she was living happily with him. The police acted brazenly and even used the official email ID of the Faridkot SSP. “This act of the police is an offence under Section 228-A of the IPC. Under Section 228-A (2c), the disclosure of the identity of the rape victim, where the victim is dead or minor or of unsound mind, without the written authorisation of the next of kin of the victim is an offence,” says NK Jeet, her lawyer.
No fear of law Born on January 31, 1993, Nishan Singh is not a new face to Faridkot residents. His writ has been running large in the town for the past five years, when he was only 15 and jumped on the crime bandwagon. Police record reveals he committed the first crime on April 11, 2008, when he was 15. A month later, he was booked in another criminal case. Again in July 2008, he was booked in a grievous hurt case. Since there was no punishment to act as a deterrent to this juvenile offender and spoiled brat of a politically connected family, he was facing a slew of criminal cases before he turned 16. By October 2010, he was facing 15 criminal cases. In seven cases, he was accused of using firearms. Out of a total of 20 FIRs against him, 17 are in Faridkot and one each at Kulgarhi (Ferozepur), Bagha Purana (Moga) and Rahon (SAS Nagar). It is not only Nishan Singh. Among the 20 accused arrested in the case, most are below 21 years of age and facing criminal cases. Many of them started committing crimes when they were still juvenile. “The reason behind exemption to a juvenile is the absence of mens rea (guilty mind), but if a teenager commits one crime after another, how can he be allowed this exemption? There is need to amend the Juvenile Justice Act,” says Mangat Arora, an advocate.
The case
A 15-year-old was abducted twice and raped by a history-sheeter belonging to a politically well-connected family.
Where police failed
The accused, with 20 FIRs against him in separate cases, was not arrested even after a complaint. He was seen moving around freely with Akali leaders. The police got into action mode only after residents took to the streets. It also violated the law by releasing the girl's photos.
Current status
Nishan Singh and his accomplices are behind bars.
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ASI shooting case, Amritsar December 5, 2012
IT has been over a month since ASI Ravinder Pal Singh was killed in broad daylight by an SAD leader and his men for protecting the honour of his daughter, but the police is yet to file a charge sheet against the accused. Though the police has expedited proceedings in cases of crime against women in the aftermath of the Delhi gangrape, it hasn't shown the same alacrity in bringing the culprits to justice in this case. It wasn't simply a case of cold-blooded murder, but was the consequence of a crime against women in the form of eve-teasing. The ASI lost his life resisting the eve-teasing bid of Ranjit Singh Rana and his accomplices on his daughter Robinjeet Kaur on December 5 last year. ADCP (Crime) HS Brar, who is investigating the case, says it takes time to gather evidences and carry out a thorough probe before producing a challan in the court of law. He claims they are making a watertight case. The challan will be presented against the accused in a couple of days. Police inertia The indifference of the police and passersby alike in the Delhi gangrape case shook the nation, but the apathy displayed by them in the ASI case was no less appalling. The Chheharta police station is a five-minute walk from the crime scene and three to four police personnel are on round-the-clock duty at Chheharta Chowk, a few steps from where the ASI was shot, but no policeman came to his rescue, despite the fact that Rana ran out of ammunition and returned with a loaded gun after about 20 minutes. The policemen accompanying the ASI escaped when things turned ugly. Police laxity came to the fore when the police team from Gharinda, around 20 km from Amritsar and where the ASI was posted, reached the spot before the Chheharta police. A large crowd had gathered at the spot, but no one came to his aid or even approached the police. Some of them took pictures on their mobile phones as his daughter cried for help. Politics of it The political class was quick to act in a manner that suited its interests. While the SAD quickly expelled Rana from the party and announced action against those who inducted him, the Congress was out in full force to corner the SAD-BJP government. The game of political one-upmanship continued with the SAD getting ammunition in the form of the Delhi gangrape to question women's safety in Congress-ruled states. It's another matter that both parties did nothing to de-politicise the police force during their rule in Punjab. First complaint Robinjeet Kaur had first filed a complaint against Rana and his accomplices at the Chheharta police station on December 1. The dismissed SHO, Ashwini Kumar, claimed there was no negligence on his part and the ASI never called them up for help. He said the police reached on time and rushed him to hospital. Regarding the complaint filed by the ASI's daughter, he said, “She told me that four persons had stopped her scooter in the middle of the road near Chheharta and humiliated her. She was crying profusely. She gave me their vehicle number and I sent a wireless message, which is recorded in the logbook. I asked her to file a written complaint so that we could act against the accused, but she said she would send her father who was also a policeman. I did not hear from them.” Do not disturb While it isn't clear why the injured ASI stayed at the crime scene for about 20 minutes after being first shot at, his nephew, who was about to take him away in his car moments before he was shot, says it took them some time to recover from the shock. “After five to 10 minutes, uncle asked me to start his car and take him first to the police station and then the hospital, but the car did not start due to some snag,” he said. Onlookers told them they had called for an ambulance. “We waited for it for about 10 minutes, after which he told me to start the car again. As soon as I put it in reverse to turn it towards the main road, Rana and his men returned. Robinjeet screamed that they were back,” he said. The ASI shouted at his nephew to go to the police while he stayed back to stop Rana from leaving. “I reached the police station within moments and begged the policemen to accompany me to the spot. They told me they had sent a police team there. They did not respond to my pleas. When I returned, the accused had fled after shooting my uncle,” he said. Political thread Rana shifted base from his native village Chhiden to Amritsar with dreams of riches and power. He started working as a property dealer and used his contacts to work his way into the SAD. He was made general secretary in September last year. Since Rana's parents died early, he and his sisters were raised by his grandparents. He sold his nine acres and left the village in 2009. He moved to Japani Mill Colony in the Chheharta area of Amritsar and made it big. He is married and has two children. He is remembered in his village for his notorious activities.
The case
An ASI was shot in broad daylight while resisting the harassment of his daughter at the hand of SAD leader Ranjit Singh Rana and his men.
Where police failed
Though the Chheharta police station was a stone’s throw from the crime scene, and the police had been alerted, it did not bother to come to the rescue of the injured ASI.
Current status
The prime accused and his accomplices are lodged in Amritsar Central Jail. The challan has not been produced in court yet.
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Badshahpur gangrape-suicide case, Patiala November 13, 2012
EVEN as the entire country was lighting their houses on Diwali on the night of November 13, in the remote Badhashpur village, the family of an 18-year-old girl waited anxiously for her return. Balwant Singh, a watchman at a storehouse, and his family set out to look for her in vain. At 10 pm, Daljit Kaur (name changed), who had gone to light a lamp at a shrine, reached home in a semi-conscious state and dozed off. The next morning Daljit Kaur, a class X-dropout, told her parents that while returning home with Chinder Kaur, a village resident, two men from a nearby village pulled her in a car and took her to Brahamanmajra village and gangraped her. “We were shocked and approached the panchayat of both villages. Panchayat members tried to downplay the incident and pressured us for a compromise. We approached the police, not knowing our ordeal had just begun. The police dilly-dallied on our complaint and even offended my poor girl,” a shattered Surjit Kaur, the girl's mother, said. Shielding the accused The victim and her family moved from pillar to post to get a case registered but the Ghagga SHO, Gurcharan Singh, and police post in charge Nasib Singh paid no heed to their pleas. After the case was highlighted by the media, the police registered an FIR on November 27, but instead of arresting the accused, it was more interested on a compromise. “The police even offered us money for a compromise,” the family alleged. The accused, identified as Balwinder Singh and Gurpreet Singh, threatened them and the investigating officer would summon the victim to the police station at odd hours. In the presence of other policemen, she was asked over and over again how her clothes were removed and who raped her first. The victim left the village and moved to Samana with her cousin Harvinder Kaur. “Panchayat members said I was a prostitute and had no right to complain. No one helped us,” says Harvinder Kaur. While the nation's focus remained on the Delhi gangrape incident, fed up with fighting the system, the men in khaki, her perpetrators and the ignominy of it all, Daljit Kaur consumed poison on December 26. She left behind a suicide note blaming the accused and Chinder Kaur. Police on backfoot Once the police learnt that the media had rushed to Badshahpur to report the case, senior police officers in the Patiala police shifted the entire blame on SHO Gurcharan Singh and police post in charge Nasib Singh for not informing their seniors about the crime. “They ensured that seniors in Patiala do not come to know about the case. We have dismissed Nasib Singh and ordered a probe against Gurcharan Singh,” said Patiala IG Paramjit Singh Gill. The SSP's plea that the SHO did not inform him, did not find many takers as reports of FIRs are sent on a daily basis to many officers, including the SSP's office, by hand or through wireless. Even the Patiala Deputy Commissioner's office received the copy of the FIR on December 8. The police arrested the three accused in the case the same day and later arrested Nasib Singh for abetment to suicide. By evening, the Deputy Chief Minister, Sukhbir Badal, suspended DSP Patran Harpreet Singh and dismissed Gurcharan Singh. A three-member committee headed by ADGP (Crime) Jasminder Singh was appointed to investigate the matter and the role of the police. Two days later, addressing a press conference in Chandigarh, the top brass of the Punjab Police admitted the case had been handled at the “cutting edge level of unprofessionalism” by the Patiala police. The case is being handled by the crime branch and the role of the Patiala police is limited to assistance. The district police is trying to ensure no more heads roll and is hoping to satisfy the government and the media with Nasib Singh's arrest. FIR contents The FIR says Daljit Kaur was kidnapped by Balwinder Singh and Gurpreeet Singh, alias Aman, when she was returning with Chinder Kaur. Chinder did nothing to help the victim even as the accused pulled her inside their car and sped away. They took her to a farm motor room, where another person, Sandeep Singh, gave them the keys of the room and left. “My clothes were removed and I was raped, first by Balwinder Singh and then by Gurpreet Singh. Later, Gurpreet gave me some drink laced with intoxicant and I fell unconscious. I was dropped outside my village around 9.30 pm,” the girl says in the FIR. “We were summoned to the police station time and again. They would pass lewd comments and ask cheap questions. Instead of taking action against the accused, the police was only interested in our character assassination,” says Harvinder Kaur, demanding criminal action against the SHO. High Court rap On December 28, Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court Arjan Kumar Sikri took suo motu cognizance of media reports on the suicide and issued notice to Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh, directing the authorities concerned to fix responsibility on erring officers before coming out with a detailed report on the incident and circumstances leading to the suicide. Tradeoff The government handed over a job letter to a member of the victim's family but came in for criticism. Congress leaders, including Patiala MP Perneet Kaur, said the government was trying to buy the silence of the victim's family. “Instead of a job, it would have been better if the government tried to rectify police functioning,” she said. The district police has been successful in pacifying or pressuring the family, so much so that they claim they are satisfied with police action. The police is now blaming the media for blowing the case out of proportion.
The case
An 18-year-old girl was kidnapped and raped by two men. Pained by police inaction and ignominy, she committed suicide. Where police failed
The police was reluctant to register FIR and pressured the victim's family for a compromise. It harassed the girl by asking her ‘cheap’ and uncomfortable questions. It was forced to take action after the case was highlighted by the media. Current status
The accused have been arrested. A committee has been set up to probe the matter and the role of the police. The High Court has asked the Punjab Police to submit the challan by next week.
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Restobar brawl case, Ludhiana December 24, 2012
Several
days have past but it is still unclear what transpired between former Youth Akali Dal senior vice-president Maninderpal Singh Johar, alias Sunny Goodwill, and AIG Counter-Intelligence SS Mand on the night of December 24. While everyone is curious to know the truth, the AIG and Sunny are sticking to the police version. As per ADGP Intelligence Hardeep Singh Dhillon, Mand, posted in Ludhiana, had gone to a restobar along with his family, NRI friend Paramjit Singh Bassi and a local restaurateur for a Christmas party. At midnight, Paramjit Singh reportedly had an argument with Sunny, who is also the owner of the restobar. Sunny's nephew Aman, friend Rishi Banda, driver Nitin Jethi and two bouncers started assaulting the NRI. Mand tried to help his friend and was injured in the process, the ADGP said. Sunny, who recently visited the Civil Hospital for treatment, claimed he had quarreled with the NRI and the AIG broke his leg while trying to break up the two groups. Sunny maintained Mand and he were good friends and the AIG had visited his restobar several times in the past. Mand, however, has not spoken on this issue. Paramjit Singh made a contradictory statement in the FIR. Refusing to name Mand, the NRI said Sunny and his aides assaulted him and one of his friends, who suffered a leg fracture. He also stated Sunny and his men snatched his personal weapon and mobile phone.
Shady role of police The footage of a CCTV installed at the restobar reveals how mercilessly Mand and his friend were beaten up. But why the footage was not produced before the court as evidence is for the police to answer. ADCP-III Joginder Singh says no complaint was lodged by the AIG in the case, so the police cannot question him why he had not taken his security guards along. A retired DGP says, “Since it is not mandatory to keep personal security, some police officers do not take security guards to private parties.” Senior police officers say Mand should have taken a lesson from past incidents. Last year, Moga DSP Balraj Singh Gill was killed by robbers at a farmhouse. Gill was without gunmen and was not carrying his service revolver. The AIG was also without his security and service revolver at the restobar. Sources claim Mand, who has been in the police department for nearly two decades, enjoys patronage of the SAD. He was the only PPS officer to be transferred out of the state by the Election Commission on the complaint of Congress leader Capt Amarinder Singh. Mand is stated to be the blue-eyed boy of the Punjab DGP, SS Saini.
Majithia’s largesse The former Youth Akali Dal leader comes from a humble background and used to travel on a second-hand scooter a decade ago. Things changed for the better for him after he came in contact with Revenue Minister Bikram Singh Majithia. He not only enjoyed a good rapport with the minister, but also used his SUVs. It was in 2002 that the then Mayor Hakam Singh Giaspura's son introduced Sunny to Majithia. Before this, Sunny worked as a party activist and owned a construction material business. Being in Majithia's good books turned his fortunes as he soon ventured into sand mining. With political backing, he amassed huge money, claim party sources. Later, he entered the liquor trade and diversified into real estate. “Sunny used to encroach on disputed properties. An NRI had recently claimed that The Hub stood on encroached land,” a police officer says. He was given eight gunmen before the Assembly elections, but the security was withdrawn after he lost favour with Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal for his anti-party activities. Sunny, however, denies the allegations as baseless. He says he owns the property where his restobar is situated and made money by hard work but some people were jealous of his success.
Business matters Ludhiana is the most preferred destination for police officers in the state. And to get the posting, they must enjoy political patronage. Many police officers have invested in business ventures and real estate.
The case An AIG and his NRI friend were overpowered and beaten up in a restobar by its influential owner (a former Youth Akali Dal leader) and his men. The AIG sustained a leg fracture.
Where police failed Though the CCTV footage shows the victims being thrashed mercilessly, the police did not produce it in court as evidence.
Current status The accused is in Central Jail and has applied for bail.
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THE kidnap and rape case of Shruti in Faridkot revealed how the apathetic police swung into action only after public outrage. The 15-year-old was first kidnapped by Nishan Singh, a habitual juvenile offender, on June 25, 2012. Though the police registered a case, it did not pursue the complaint, let alone apprehend the accused. 
