Pritpal Singh Kalsi, the notorious chain-snatcher who had sneaked out of Dhantoli police station custody in March earlier this year, is
still untraceable. Cops, who started an impromptu action against pillion-riders to curb chain-snatching last week, are clueless about Kalsi who literally walked out right under their nose. Two alert citizens, who were not even police mitras, had chased and nabbed Kalsi before handing him over to the cops.
There is no significant headway in the gruesome murders of Dr Mohan Srivastava, two elderly couple on the road near Hingna toll tax, a senior citizen Shantabai Warudkar of Pachpaoli, a housewife at Friends colony and in several other dacoities. The enforceable rules of helmet, seat belt, usage of mobile-phone while driving, and fancy registration number plates and such are on the backburner. Most importantly, the central government introduced smoking ban is also yet to be enforced in the city after over a year has elapsed.
No wonder citizens are perplexed why the city police often take up meaningless, and even unlawful, drives like insisting on even pillion riders carrying identity proofs while there is more serious policing work pending.
Though cops claim action is being taken against helmet-less riders, seat-belt violators and users of fancy number plates, the ubiquitous presence of such offenders on the streets only underlines the token nature of the effort. "People without helmets zoom away in presence of cops who do nothing. Police started to enforce drunken driving rising accidents on the road. Today, there are more people dying for riding without helmets after sustaining head injury than because of drunkenness. In Mumbai and other metros, none can ride two-wheelers without the protective headgear. In Nagpur, even the cops flout the helmet rule," pointed out a citizen. "While enforcing drunken driving, cops stand outside cheap bars to nab gullible culprits while there is no action outside posh hotels," said another citizen.
City police chief Praveen Dixit, who refused to be interviewed for this report even after repeated attempts, had ordered conducting surprise check on the pillion riders last week. The top cop's instruction led to the inconvenience to scores of pillion riders who were asked to continue on foot after they failed to furnish their identities.
Traffic deputy commissioner of police Harish Chavan claimed that action against pillion riders has been called-off since the requirement was over. "There were a series of chain-snatchings at different locations in the city that had warranted the sudden checks. The action was taken at various affected pockets which helped in reducing the incidents of chain-snatching," said Chavan reacting to the protests against checking of the pillion riders.