Despite having the latest surveillance systems and high-end patrol vehicles, Hyderabad City Police have practically realised that they are no guarantee to yielding requisite intel insights.
With lakhs of CCTV cameras, thousands of officers and hundreds of patrol vehicles, Hyderabad ranks as one of the safest cities in the world, but surprisingly two ‘communally sensitive incidents’ at Golconda and Nampally on last Friday and Sunday, respectively, wherein two youngsters were abused and roughed by vigilantes for travelling on two-wheelers with girls belonging to a different faith, came to the notice of the law enforcers only after the videos of the incidents went viral on the social media.
The recent incidents have also raised questions on the functioning of police patrol teams and whether they have any knowledge about what happens in their absence under their jurisdiction? It has also shown that there is no constant monitoring of CCTV cameras and human intelligence, even if such incidents take place on the busy roads in the heart of the city.
The incidents have proved that until videos taken by the passers-by goes viral on social media, the unruly elements have a free hand. In the sensational rape and murder of a six-year-old girl at Saidabad, police claimed that they had failed to nab the accused as there were insufficient CCTV footages, besides the accused not using any mobile phone.
At Nampally, even after the video footage made rounds on social media, it took more than half a day for the police to conclude and confirm that the incident happened at Nampally, let alone arresting the accused, a senior officer said.
When asked about the alleged lack of human intelligence in the recent incidents, Commissioner of Police Anjani Kumar had redirected this correspondent to contact Joint Commissioners of Police of West and Central Zones, A.R. Srinivas and P. Viswaprasad, respectively. “I am under the impression that in both the cases, the accused persons have been arrested and remanded to judicial custody,” he said.
“Under Nampally police station limits there is only one patrol vehicle and in many cases, many a time such incidents do not get reported as both the parties leave the area after a few minutes of the scuffle,” Mr. Vishwaprasad said.
He said that the inter-faith friends who were stopped by vigilantes were not interested in approaching the police. Similar was the situation at Golconda, when a girl and a boy of different communities, both residents of Gajwel in Siddipet district, were stopped by a group of people after they noticed a religious cloth tied to the scooter on Toli Chowki road, and assaulted the boy.
“In both the cases, the youngsters were not ready to approach us. However, we insisted that they lodge the complaints, based on which cases were registered and four persons were arrested in two cases,” an officer said.
