Jun 28, 2009
With the role of police coming under severe flak after the church attack and the much publicized pub attack there was a revamp in the top police force in the district. Gopal B Hosur, who was the Joint Commissioner of Police (crime) in Bangalore, known to be a hard taskmaster took over as Dy Inspector General of Police (Western Range) in February 2009 and on May 26, 2009 he became the Inspector General of Police (WR). He has wide ranging experience including his stint as Superinendent of Police Intelligence and Special Task Force (Anti-Veerappan Operations) . He has taken part in very important and risky operations and even sustained bullet injury on the neck in 1993 in one of the operations. His impeccable service has earned him many awards including Chief Ministers’s gold medals twice, Gallentry medal from the President of India in 2004 and President’s Police Medal for distinguished Service in 2007.
His wide ranging experiences in diverse fields of police departments hold him in good stead to accomplish the task of bringing peace and harmony in the troubled coastal districts. Having taken over the reigns at a turbulent time Gopal Hosur has been facing the challenging task of instilling the much needed confidence among the people and also roughening up of the lumpen elements that have been creating trouble in the coastal area and has succeeded to win the trust and confidence of the people in a short span. In an exclusive interview with Daijiworld Gopal Hosur spoke about the confidence building measures undertaken by the police force in the troubled coastal districts and other issues concerning coastal security. .
What has been the biggest challenge you faced in Mangalore?
The biggest challenge has been to build communal harmony through very fair, firm and intrinsic policing. The communal situation in this region is very fragile and we need to win over the confidence of the people through impartial measures.
Are you suggesting that the police force acted partially in the past?
I am not saying that police officers had not made any effort to promote harmony. It is an ongoing process and there is always scope for improve everything and anything.
What role do you envisage for the police force in a communally sensitive region like Udupi and Dakshina Kannada?
There are so many factors that lead to communal disharmony. Police along with other stakeholders namely the civil society plays an important role in maintaining peace and harmony in the region. Government agencies like police are supposed to aid and help the civil society in shaping the social order in general. In our desire to maintain communal harmony we should not be agents to create more rifts among various communities. Through credible and sincere work we want to win over the trust of the common man.
How will you ensure that?
We cannot build a society but we can ensure that void is filled by bringing culprits to book without fear or favour and without any communal alignment. We have to ensure that police are not influenced by external elements in making decisions. It is important to ensure that we build a police force which is skilled, free from biases, firm, honest and the one that reaches out to people in distress.
How serious is the underworld problem in the coastal area?
Underworld elements are like rats. They sneak in through small holes and if not killed in time they will multiply in numbers. They will destabilize the system from within and we are aware about their influence here.
What is going to be your strategy to deal with these underworld elements who are involved in creating disturbance and destabilizing the system?
We have decided to take them head-on. In terms of man power, equipment and muscle power the strength of underworld is just 0.1 percent of that of the police force. So we are going to face the challenge and in the process we have succeeded in identifying about 62 people in this regard. We know we cannot reach them directly but we are sure of reaching out to them through their agents. Now we have built up a good network system and lot of information has started to trickle down. We analyze this information and then act based on that.
The Underworld elements are threatening businessmen and professionals with gay abandon as is evident from the recent threat to a city based lawyer….
These threats are symbolic and they are aimed at creating panic among the people. In situations like this we expect people to come forward and report such incidents to the police taking us into confidence. Without winning the credibility of the people we cannot get information that we require. Once we get the information we are expected to act. Action needs to be taken in a systematic way. It just cannot happen. We need to prepare for that.
What preparations have you been making in this direction?
We have chosen about 100 young policemen for both Udupi and Dakshina Kannada and we are putting them through a programme to develop expertise and skills to handle this type of challenges. These young officers can work day and night and they will not hesitate to shoot from their hips. The 1st phase of the training is over and the second phase is going on now. They will be ready to take on the challenge within the next week. We will also be conducting workshop on dealing with rowdism, anti-social elements and goondagiri that will help the police to handle the challenge in a better way. Within week we are holding this workshop ad we are planning to open some old files which are pending and also will reopen some other cases where we feel the acquittal has not been fair. We will revive these cases, examine them and if we feel there was any acquittal which we feel can go for appeal we would like to go ahead.
Are there any instances where such acquittals have been done?
There are a few instances where a few members of a gang were caught whereas members of the rival gang have gone scot-free.
What steps have been taken to safeguard coastal security post 26/11?
Coastal security has undergone tremendous qualitative change post 26/11. But Karnataka state has taken lot of initiative much before this event by setting up 5 coastal police stations all along the Karnataka coast. After 26/11 we have got 2 speed boats for surveillance. We are going to set up 4 more police stations and at the rate of 2 boats per station there will be 18 speed boats for patrolling along sea coastline.
How serious is the Naxal menace in this part according to you?
Over a period of time public support to naxal cause had dwindled. In the recent meeting held in the affected villages, villagers have come forward saying they will not support naxals cause, which is a positive sign considering the threat they faced from naxals. At the same time the government also has plans to provide basic facilities like educational institutions, roads, hospital, bridges and other facilities from the government such as old age pension etc., to improve their living conditions. Naxalism is an aberration of our system which should not have happened.
What has been the biggest challenge you have faced in Mangalore?
It is the arrest of Rashid Malabari. It was a challenge to nab him and we did it successfully and this required tremendous team work. The murder of Malbari’s advocate Nushad Kasim was also another challenge as some elements tried to weaken the police force by making baseless allegations. We are waiting for the investigations to complete and would take appropriate steps against those who made such baseless accusations.
Any other measures to build confidence among people?
Recently we have opened a special counter in SP’s office to file FIR if any police Station refuses to file complaint. This would go a long way in winning the confidence and trust of the people.
Any steps to curb the rampant corruption in the police force?
We are waiting for orders of the government as we have mooted the transfer of those police who have been serving for more than five years in one place. A system cannot be corrupt unless the society is corrupt. Naturally such a society will make the police also corrupt. It is a circle.