COMMUNITY

‘India’s image has been tarnished’
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Dec 31 — While Mr Rajesh Kataria, a younger brother of Mr Rakesh Kataria, a local resident, who along with his wife was among the hostages in the hijacked Indian plane, has supported the government effort in the release of hostages, people by and large have strongly criticised the Central Government for giving in to the demands of hijackers.

“Please convey my congratulations to Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee and his government for surrendering before the terrorists and hijackers”, said a retired Army general sarcasticly, having a dig at the Central Government. Visibly upset over the way the Indian Government has compromised and got the hostages released by exchanging detained terrorists, the retired general said that it would further boost the morale of terrorists and anti-India forces in the neighbourhood.

Another retired Army officer, Col D.S. Cheema, a resident of Panchkula, said that the “release of the three terrorists is absolutely incorrect since it would encourage terrorism in the country and pose a long term problem for the nation.” He said that though government had no other option at the moment, it should have not faltered at Amritsar when the plane landed there. The government also got late in gearing up diplomatic channels, he asserted. What had happened in the past four or five days would not have happened at all if the government had handled the situation tactfully and reacted promptly.

The unnecessary harassment to the hostages and their families could have been easily avoided if the government had done earlier what it had done now, he added. “Our diplomatic efforts were not in the right direction from the very beginning”.

“Anyway I welcome the release of the hostages”, Mr Cheema said. Commenting in this regard, Mr B.S. Tej, a retired HCS officer, said that India had become a focal point of Islamic fundamentalists and it should remain careful. He said that the release of terrorists in the exchange of hostages was not a good development for the country and it would compound its problem further as far as terrorism was concerned.

There should be proper security arrangements at the airports as the terrorists will get emboldened by their success. He said unfortunately even friendly countries like Nepal had not extended a helping hand to India in dealing with the post-hijacking crisis.

Mr Sanjiv Tewari, a public relations officer in Panjab University, said that he was feeling depressed due to the “humiliating end of the hijacking drama.” The government had allowed terrorists to dictate terms to such a vast country. India’s image at the international level had been tarnished.

He said that the Indian Government should be bold enough to tell terrorists outfits that they would not get what they wanted all the time.

CRIME

Goods worth Rs 2 lakh stolen
Tribune News Service

PANCHKULA, Dec 31—A theft of jewellery and cash worth Rs 2 lakh was reported by Major Anil Kumar, a resident of Sector 4, here today. He was away with his family to Kulu-Manali when the theft took place. The thieves reportedly took away cash of Rs 25,000 and gold sets weighing 20 to 25 tolas, a video, a Rayban and a watch, besides car keys and the registration card of a Maruti.

The door to the guest room was broken open, though the Kumars found the gate locked on their arrival today afternoon. Locks of three other doors inside the house were broken by the thieves. Also, empty bottles of liquor were found from a room, indicating that the miscreants were not in a hurry. “It seems they were aware that we were out of town and not expected that night,’’ Major Kumar said.

A fingerprint team was called at the scene of the crime. The dog squad was not called in since the occupants had no idea when the incident took place. The family was away since December 28. However, the neighbours claim to have heard some noise last night but did not check.

A case under Sections 457 and 380 of the IPC has been registered by the police and further investigations are on.

IGP promises friendly cops
By Amarjit Thind
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Dec 31 — The Chandigarh police is all set to enter the next millennium with a total change in its approach towards public-police relations in general and criminals in particular.

The police will chuck out the old method of interrogation and instead, opt for state-of-the-art methods used worldwide by the police and other allied agencies. Besides this, a complete reorientation of the police in on the anvil. A sum of Rs 6 crore has been earmarked in this context

Elaborating on the changes, Mr S.K. Singh, IGP, said the department has drawn up a detailed plan to set up three interrogation centres in the city so that harsh methods were not used to deal with criminals. One room in the earmarked police station would be sound-proofed and would have a lie detector machine. The provision of video-recording and tape recording the interrogation would also be done for further use and easy reference.

This would make the job of the investigating officer easy and less tiresome, he added.

Initially, the three interrogation centres would cater to all the police stations in the city and further additions would be made as per financial allocations. At present, they have to request the Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPRD) for the lie detector and have to wait for a long time before one was provided to them.

Mr Singh said the public expected them to live up to their expectations and the image of a brutal and unfriendly force had to be shed.

The person who enters a police station should not feel intimidated by the look of the place and insensitive behaviour of the personnel attending to him.

The reporting rooms in each police station would be pleasantly furnished. Specially trained staff, women personnel if possible, would be directed to handle the complainants at the initial stage. It has been seen that the women who went to the stations were reluctant to tell their complaints to males, he remarked.

Besides this, the wireless system would also be updated as desired by the UT Administrator. The police stations would also be brought online with the police headquarters. One computer each would be installed in the city police station which would also help the investigation staff.

The Community Oriented Police Scheme (COPS) would be strengthened and the cooperation of the public solicited in the coming months. The schemes are expected to be realised in the next three to four months as sanction has already been given by the Ministry of Home Affairs, he revealed.

Arrested on graft charge
From Our Correspondent

KHARAR, Dec 31 — The Punjab Vigilance Department has arrested the Naib Tehsildar, a Reader and a peon of Dehlon for accepting bribe of Rs 500 from Sukhdev Singh. According to a press note issued here on Friday by the Deputy Superintendent of Police, Vigilance, Ropar, a raid was conducted by Mr Malvinder Singh Sidhu,DSP, and the accused were arrested. The money was accepted by the accused for not issuing his arrest warrants of the complainant after he failed to pay instalments of the loan taken from Banfinco.

10 arrested, liquor seized
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Dec 31 — The police has arrested 10 persons on the charges of possessing liquor beyond the permissible limit. As many as 430 pouches of whisky and 72 bottles of liquor were seized from them.

The accused are Premi, Anil Kumar, Manpreet Singh, Mam Chand, Kala, Kulbir Singh, Tulsi Ram, Narinder Singh, Bhupinder Singh and Rajesh Parbat.

Cases under Sections 61, 1 and 14 of the Excise Act have been registered.

Two injured: Mr Dinesh Kumar, a resident of Raipur Khurd, reported that he was going on his motor cycle with his mother-in-law when an Army truck hit them near the Sukhna choe. Both of them were injured, while the truck driver sped away. A case under Sections 279 and 304-A, IPC, has been registered at the Sector 26 police station.

Rs 32,000 stolen: Mr Jagjit Singh, a resident of Sector 46, reported that some one stole Rs 32,000, some important documents and a pair of goggles from his car parked in Sector 8. A case under Section 379, IPC, has been registered at the North police station.