Southern States - Karnataka-Bangalore   

`Divide and rule' for effective policing

By K.V. Subramaniya

THE HOME Department has cleared the long-pending proposal to bifurcate the Bangalore police district which has witnessed rapid and large-scale industrialisation in the past decade. The Home Minister, M. Mallikarjun Kharge, has announced that the matter will be discussed at the next Cabinet meeting. The police district is to be split into north and south districts, each headed by a superintendent of police.

The proposal was submitted as the district is too vast for a superintendent of police to supervise, and as each taluk in the district has peculiar law and order problems. According to some IPS officers who have served in Bangalore Rural district and the Central Range (which has jurisdiction over Bangalore Rural district), the bifurcation of the district is important as many major industries have come up and there are new problems for the law enforcing agencies to solve. A look at the composition of the Bangalore police district, which has five police sub-divisions and 38 police stations, reveals that each of the sub-divisions has specific problems. Labour unrest, strikes, and crimes that are a fallout of industrialisation have to be tackled by the police in the industrial belt comprising Hoskote, Kadugodi, Anekal, and Attibele police circles.

While Channapatna and Ramanagaram are communally sensitive areas, Magadi, Nelamangala, and Doddaballapur are in the news for clashes between Dalits and caste Hindus.

Political murders, kidnappings, and group clashes are a common feature in Hoskote, which is known as a "mini Bihar". Political murders, illicit liquor brewing, and sandalwood smuggling in Bailnarasapura, Medimallasandra, and Kattigehalli in Hoskote taluk have made the taluk a problem area of the police.

Nelamanagala, Doddaballapur, and Anekal taluks are dacoity prone and need special attention, according to a former SP who served in Bangalore Rural district.

Officers feel that supervising the police force is difficult for the Superintendent of Police whose office is located in Bangalore. "Creation of a separate police district headed by a superintendent of police will help improve supervision of the police force and policing," says a retired officer who served as the DIGP of the Central Range.

About two years ago, Mr. Kharge announced that areas on the outskirts of the city, which are under the jurisdiction of the Bangalore Rural district police, would be brought under the limits of the city police. As a first step, the jurisdiction of the five police divisions in Bangalore is now being reorganised.

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