Law and order index of Solan dist plummets to all-time low

Crime, law and order index of Solan district has plummeted to an all-time low in the state as it fares last among 12 districts in the good governance rating released by the state government recently.

No improvement has been registered since last year as the district continues to retain last year’s position. The district has two police districts of Solan and Baddi.

High rate of industrialisation in Solan district comprising the industrial cluster of Baddi Barotiwala Nalagarh (BBN) has taken toll on its law and order situation as crimes like drug peddling, murder, theft, rape, etc. continuously surface from the area.

“Crime, Law and Order sector is critical as it reflects the law and order situation and looks into the efficiency of judicial procedure, matters related to police, criminal justice, public safety, etc,” notes the report while adding that focus subjects and indicators comprising violent crime per 10,000 population, atrocities committed against women, dowry deaths, and detection work in Narcotics, etc. have been taken into account while rating the districts.

Detection work was lax in Baddi in drug peddling cases as no inter-state networks have been busted. They were caught napping when the Shimla police arrested the kingpin of an inter-state heroin peddling gang from Baddi in October. The accused was conveniently working as a labour contractor and supplied workforce to the security agencies operating in various industrial houses.

Their role was already under scanner of the state high court in two cases where four policemen were arrested and two others, including a DSP, evading arrest for months. Both cases involved atrocities against women.

While the neighbouring Solan police has arrested more than 107 drug peddlers, including 96 major inter-state suppliers, in the last one year, the Baddi police was yet to act in a big way to apprehend the drug traders from other states.

A comparison of the figures of drug seizure in the state for 2023 reveals that barring the tribal districts of Kinnaur and Lahaul Spiti, Baddi has the lowest drug seizure of 82 cases. In Solan as many as 108 cases of drug seizure were registered. Barely 272.19 gram of heroin, which was the leading drug peddled in the state, was seized in Baddi in these cases where 110 people were arrested as against 789 grams seized in Solan in 108 cases in Solan police district with the arrest of 198 people.

Heroin seizure was abysmally low at 169.44 grams in 75 cases in Baddi this year where most of the cases pertained to low and intermediately quantity of drugs with no commercial seizures of higher quantity. The number of murders too had witnessed an upsurge from eight in 2022 and seven in 2023 to 10 this year in Baddi.

Deputy Commissioner Solan Manmohan Sharma also attributed the high crime to the Baddi industrial belt on the basis of large number of cases registered in heinous crimes.