S.N. Shrivastava | Aayush Goel
THE 2020 DELHI riots, which claimed 53 lives, the farmers’ protest at the Red Fort and the arrest of activist Disha Ravi on sedition charges have all taken place during S.N. Shrivastava’s tenure as commissioner of Delhi Police. He spoke to THE WEEK about the status of investigations in these cases, monitoring social media and terror threats to the capital. Excerpts:
Q/ Did the 2020 Delhi riots impact Delhi Police’s image? What corrective steps were taken?
A/ I joined amid the riots. Soon after the riots were controlled, a number of steps were taken to address the grievances of people. The community leaders met me and shared their concerns regarding security of residents and other related issues. We provided more security in areas where people felt insecure. They wanted the repair of religious places and residences to begin soon; this was facilitated. Slowly and steadily, things were brought to normalcy.
At the same time, since 53 people had died and more than 500 were injured, it was necessary that the legal process should start. A total of 755 cases were registered over a few days. Important cases were handed over to special investigation teams created in the crime branch. One case was registered with the special cell to unearth conspiracy behind the riots and the remaining cases were assigned to police stations. More than 400 of the 755 cases registered have been worked out and charge-sheets filed, in most cases. Over 1,800 people were arrested. This information is based on the last review I conducted.
Q/ What was the larger conspiracy behind the riots?
A/ Investigations showed that when information about the arrival of former US president Donald Trump came in, a conspiracy was hatched to show the government in poor light, on account of passing of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act. A group of people wanted to embarrass the government by causing disturbances and communal disharmony. Besides, those who are inimical to the interest of the country may have taken interest in the communal riots.
Q/ Is it true there was a Khalistani conspiracy behind the recent farmers’ protest?
A/ The farmer agitation case is still under investigation. It will be premature to suggest anything.
Q/ Is Punjabi actor Deep Sidhu still under arrest?
A/ Yes, he is still in judicial custody. His role is being ascertained.
Q/ Why were sedition charges brought against activists and protesters?
A/ Section 124A of India Penal Code says, ‘Whoever by words, spoken or written, or by signs and otherwise, brings, or attempts to bring, into hatred or contempt, or excites, or attempts to excite, disaffection towards the government established by law, shall be punished with imprisonment for life.’ So long as any action fulfils the criteria as above, legal action can be taken.
Q/ The court said there is nothing on record to suggest that Disha Ravi subscribed to secessionist ideas. How do you see the case today after she got bail?
A/ The case still exists. On February 3, a toolkit was tweeted by someone. [It] contained a tweet bank and other materials to be used for a Twitter storm proposed for February 4-5. One tweet mentioned that police forces have used force against peaceful protesters and that many protesters died. Drafting such a tweet, which was used by someone not knowing that the same has already been leaked out, shows the sinister design to create a surcharged and volatile atmosphere which could have turned dangerous.
Creating a tweet bank when nothing of this sort has happened was done with the sole purpose of misrepresenting facts and spreading misinformation to create law and order problems resulting in large scale violence. Based on the electronic evidence, through the inadvertent leak of the toolkit, a case was registered and investigated.
Q/ There are allegations of overreach by Delhi Police in arresting Disha.
A/ The police team took all precautions. A lady officer, the investigating officer and technical experts had gone to see [activist] Nikita Jacob in Mumbai. Following all due procedure, she was questioned and asked to show her tweets and social media posts. With reluctance, she shared it with the investigation team. It also revealed that many were already deleted. But the available evidence was sufficient. Since it was late in the evening, she was asked to remain at home and make herself available the next day. Next morning, she absconded. The question arises, why did she abscond?
Later on, [activist] Shantanu [Muluk] was also missing from his house in Pune. The team later went to Disha Ravi in Bengaluru, where she was questioned. She, too, had deleted many posts. In view of the experience of [the other] accused persons absconding and in the interest of the investigation, she was taken into custody and brought to Delhi and produced in court. Such investigations are long-drawn as it is based on technical evidence and information from service providers based abroad.
Q/ Was Bengaluru police not informed?
A/ Disha was arrested in front of the local station house officer and her mother. A proper diary entry was made at the concerned police station in Bengaluru. This is sufficient to refute any claim that Bengaluru police was not informed.
Q/ Is Disha Ravi still an accused?
A/ The investigation is continuing and any conclusion at this stage is premature.
Q/ Are the police adequately equipped to investigate cyber crimes?
A/ The Cyber Prevention Awareness Detection (CyPAD) is the nodal agency for cyber crimes. It not only monitors social media but also investigates cyber crimes. The basic purpose is to spread awareness among people not to fall into the trap. Also, there are cyber cells in each of the 15 districts and a cyber cell in the Crime Branch. It is a fully equipped state-of-the-art lab funded by the Union home ministry. We have selected persons working with adequate knowledge of cyber crime investigation. We have also co-opted experts, who need not be policemen, like college passouts having few years experience with sufficient training and experience in handling cyber crimes and their detection.
We are working overtime and busted many call centres involved in extortion, siphoning money from bank accounts during the COVID-19 lockdown. Cyber crime is steadily coming down.
Q/ Has Delhi Police created a special unit to monitor social media?
A/ We have set up a social media cell which goes through social media posts and any fake news is cross-checked and countered. If there is any post which is fake, the cyber cell takes steps to inform concerned service providers to delete those posts.
Q/ How are you making beat constables more tech-savvy?
A/ During COVID-19, a lot of work has been done to make the police force more tech-savvy and improve efficiency in day-to-day policing. The policemen on ground need access to various databases that already exist in police stations like crime, criminal records, photographs and fingerprints, registration numbers of stolen cars. If the policeman finds someone suspicious, apart from asking him questions, he can now scan all his details on his electronic device, like a cellphone. He can also take his picture and send it to the central server to match the identity within seconds and decide further action.
Q/ How is the crime rate in the city?
A/ Crime has dropped significantly in 2020 and 2021 as compared to 2019. Mostly, it is the number of cases registered by the police which becomes the yardstick for incidence of crime in the city. I insist on my officers to register all cases to bring all culprits to face legal action. This has resulted in eventual reduction in incidence of crime. So, in 2020, when the street crimes fell by almost half with almost 24,000 PCR calls, compared to 56,000 PCR calls in 2019. Yet, we have registered more cases resulting in more legal action against law offenders.
Q/ How are you ensuring complainants are satisfied with the police probe?
A/ We have created an integrated complaint monitoring system, Samadhan, where all complaints received are being put in electronic format so that they are closely monitored. Each complaint is tracked, progress in inquiry is informed to complainants, who have the option of assessing his satisfaction level. We are also doing data mining to identify those areas where specific problems exist for police to make systemic changes for those problems to reduce or be eliminated.
Q/ With fewer hearings in courts, have police investigations suffered setbacks?
A/ Now all charge-sheets and final reports are being prepared electronically and sent to courts through the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and System, which is connected to the Court Management System through Indian Criminal Justice System.
Q/ Which areas need more attention?
A/ There are 12.9 per cent women in Delhi Police. With every fresh recruitment, one third of slots are dedicated to women. We hope to arrive at the overall 33 per cent mark soon. Similarly, crime against women needs more attention. We are installing more CCTVs, deploying more policemen in areas frequented by women and setting timelines for investigations. Missing children is another area requiring attention. Recently, we have incentivised tracing of missing children which generated a lot of excitement in policemen and the recovery is almost matching the number of missing children today.
Q/ What are the terror threats in the capital?
A/ Last year, we arrested 32 terrorists which is more than the number of terrorists arrested in the past four years. We believe in proactive action. Recently, 12 terrorists of Indian Mujahideen were sentenced for life by a Jaipur court. Being the national capital, Delhi is always on the threat radar. However, Delhi Police will do its best to keep the city safe.