Three incidents this yr, all by ’15-16 batch cops
KANPUR: Three shooting incidents this year involving young policemen indicates a growing triggerhappy culture in the Uttar Pradesh police and rising indiscipline in the UP constabulary, according to serving and retired police officers from the force.
These officers allege that highhandedness and indiscipline are more evident in the constables of the 2015-16 batch, in which the government recruited 40,000 constables -- the largest recruitment drive conducted by the UP Police in almost 10 years.
The recruitments were done to stabilise the fast depleting UP Police but police training colleges (PTCS) were not equipped to deal with such a high number and give them proper training before they were sent out to the field, said a serving DIG posted in a police range on the condition of anonymity. Prashant Chaudhary, the constable who shot dead Apple India executive Vivek Tiwari in Lucknow on Friday night when he allegedly tried to drive away on being stopped by him, belongs to the 2015-16 batch.
Another constable of the same batch, Mahendra Singh, attached with Dial 100 service in Firozabad, allegedly shot dead a 12-yearold boy Manik Baghel after the child inadvertently stepped on his toes at a wedding this April this year. According to the police report in the case, Singh was invited to fire in the air during the marriage ceremony.
In February, sub-inspector Vijay Darshan (of the same batch) and two constables, shot at a gym trainer Jitendra Yadav in Noida. Before being sent to jail, Darshan claimed that he had shot at Yadav during an “encounter”.
Vijay Shankar Singh, who retired in 2016 as a deputy inspector general of police, said: “There is no denying the fact that they [2015-16 batch personnel] are not adequately trained at all.”
A deputy superintendent of police currently posted at a police training centre said PTCS merely “complete the formalities” when the number of recruits is high. “I am privy to many instances in which recruits came from their homes for a few hours of training and went back. The ‘ustaad’ (instructors) were helpless,” he said on condition of anonymity.
“Their training was very unlike the regular drill. Theirs ended with mere tips from instructors. They didn’t stay in barracks and simply did not go through the grind,” he added.
Additional director general (law and order) Anand Kumar could not be reached for a comment. DGP OP Singh directed ADGS, IGPS (Zone) and DIGS (Range) to organise training programmes on the ‘rules of conduct’ for constables in their areas.