Fostering Harmony While Tackling Crimes: What Policing A Communally Sensitive Zone Is Like
- Bhakti Kothari
- Published on 1 Nov 2023, 9:00 am IST
- 5 minutes read
Highlights
- IPS officer Anupam Kulshreshtha is the first woman Additional Director General of Police of Uttar Pradesh posted in the field.
- She has to manage two critical ranges, Agra and Aligarh, each with their own set of problems
- Her main challenge is to foster harmony and tackle crimes at the same time in the communally sensitive zone
The state of Uttar Pradesh is known for its diverse cultural heritage and historical significance. IPS officer Anupam Kulshreshtha is the first woman Additional Director General of Police for Uttar Pradesh, posted in the Agra zone. She has been given the formidable task of managing two crucial ranges: Agra and Aligarh. This responsibility encompasses several districts, each posing unique challenges of its own, ranging from managing massive tourist/pilgrim inflows to managing communal sensitivities and criminal activities.
Under the Agra range, the officer is looking after districts such as Mathura, Firozabad, and Mainpuri whereas under the Aligarh range, she is taking care of Aligarh, Hathras, Etah, and Kasganj. All these districts make up a tough assignment, given their history and diversity.
In an exclusive conversation with Indian Masterminds, the 1995-batch IPS officer shared about her new posting and the challenges that come with it.Related Stories
NAVIGATING HOLY LANES OF MATHURA
While Mathura poses a different kind of challenge. The birthplace of Lord Krishna, Mathura is an important pilgrimage site for devotees with a large inflow of national and international tourists from all over the world, throughout the year.
“We witness around 1-3 lakh tourists every weekend and on special occasions and festivals such as Janmashtami and Holi, the numbers go up to 45 lakhs,” shared the officer.
Under her leadership, the city has witnessed an innovative approach towards crowd management. Despite the overwhelming footfall, her initiatives have ensured smooth processions during festivals, ensuring public safety and cultural harmony. The recent Janmashtami and Radha Ashtami festivals were incident-free. Crowd, traffic, and security – All three concerns were very well taken care of.
FIROZABAD: BRIDGING COMMUNITIES
Firozabad, on the other hand, is a district with a mixed population of 32% Muslims and 62% Hindus. The officer’s top priority is to ensure harmony and peace.
Firozabad is also home to the glass industries of the country. The place is famous for its bangles as well. Glass from the city is exported to other countries and is extremely popular.
“We have as many as 250 big and small glass industries in the district. Families have spent generations working around furnaces, welding glass, making bangles, bottles, chandeliers, perfume bottles, glassware, decorative items, kitchen wares, etc., making it a socially important place as it is internationally recognized for the same,” she told Indian Masterminds.
Because of its popularity, the outreach of the Firozabad police has to be such that the industrialists get a safe and secure environment to run their business while maintaining peace and cooperation between the two communities.
“We organize peacekeeping meetings regularly and build relationships across the communities. Our response to crime is evry swift and effective ensuring that law and order is well maintained for the industrial activity,” she said.
MAINPURI AND ETAH: BATTLING CRIME
The rural jurisdiction of Mainpuri witnessed a lot of crimes such as loot, dacoity, murder, and kidnapping, till a few years back. The area still requires round-the-clock policing to keep crime in check.
Just like Mainpuri, Etah is also a backward rural area that was crime-infested with criminal gangs operating in the area. However, as the officer took charge of the post, she has been continually striving to work towards free and fair registration, correct detection and workout of cases, and strong penal action against criminals, particularly against gau taskari.
“This was an area where loot, dacoity, and murder were happening pretty much every day. We have been working tirelessly to eliminate such anti-social elements from the society and it is safe to say that we have been successful in doing so to quite an extent,” Ms. Kulshreshtha told Indian Masterminds.
ALIGARH: FOSTERING PEACE
Aligarh is easily one of the most sensitive regions of the country with nearly half the population as Muslim, and also home to the prestigious Aligarh Muslim University. Famous for its lock industry, the place is an important business center for Uttar Pradesh with AMU and its large student population. All these diversities throw different challenges of their own making it a hypersensitive location.
“Policing here requires to ensure that there is no disruption to the communal peace. Any incident with communal insensitivity is handled promptly and fairly and firmly so there is no eruption of any kind,” shared Ms. Kulshreshtha.
MAKING KASGANJ CRIME FREE
Bordering Budaun, Kasganj is an important location for agro-based industries and sugar factories. It is the production hub of chicory, a substitute for coffee that is geotagged for its production and is internationally exported to different locations in the world.
“Despite industry being located in this area, the region is quite backward in nature and is crime prone, even though it has a progressive base. It borders Badaun and is quite far located up to the stretches of Ganges,” shared the officer.
She is currently working towards making this industrial base crime-free to give people a secure environment to work in.
By confronting challenges and breaking gender stereotypes, ADGP Anupam Kulshreshtha has inspired confidence in all communities towards the police, with her transformative initiatives for fostering harmony and ensuring public safety.
With her progressive approach, she has taken on against cyber criminals and crime against women, scientific investigation, prosecution of cases, and technology-aided initiatives.
END OF THE ARTICLE
