HC tells police: Be more visible to deter snatchers

NEWDELHI: The Delhi High Court on Wednesday expressed concern on the increasing spate of snatching incidents in the national capital and said that the city police should increase patrols to deter the menace.

Citing Mumbai, Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva said that if any crime took place in the city, one could see police at every signal to catch the culprit and prevent further crime.

“However, in our city the police reaches only after the crime. Prevention is better than cure,” the court said.

The court was hearing the bail application of a man during which it started looking at issues of better policing in the city. During the previous hearings, the court had directed the police to procure high-end vehicles in view that criminals too were using high-end vehicles.

Following this, the city police, through advocate Rahul Mehra, Delhi standing counsel (criminal) and advocate Chaitnaya, had told the court on September 24 that they have procured 55 Mahindra Scorpio and 26 Royal Enfield Interceptor motorcycles along with other high speed motorcycles.

On Wednesday, Mehra filed a status report stating that they have procured 144 vehicles which includes the jeeps and motor cycles. He said that the police is also likely to officially flag off these vehicles by the 1st week of November.

Following this, the court said that bike rallies should be conducted with these motorcycles. It said that the vehicles should have flashy lights to make the people know about such vehicles. He said that there should be more police on the roads so that it acts as a “deterrent”.

He said that the police should be “visible” on the streets to prevent the crime and not act only when crime has already taken place.