Rampur in Uttar Pradesh is in news these days. And the reason is its police force. Rampur Police’s ‘Ek Gaon, Ek Sham’ initiative is being talked about for all the good reasons. District SP and 2014-batch IPS officer Ankit Mittal had started the campaign about two months ago. Under this campaign, the police officials of all the 16 police stations of the district visit a village every evening and spend some time with the villagers. They listen to the problems, try to solve them on the spot, and record all the information shared by the villagers.
Indian Masterminds spoke to IPS Ankit Mittal to know about this initiative in detail and, in the process, found out an interesting fact. There are about 27 villages in the district where no crime has been reported in the last 25 years, not even any sporadic incident.
ONE EVENING, ONE VILLAGE
As the assembly elections in the state are round the corner, Rampur Police took this initiative with the aim of conducting the polls peacefully and creating better relations between the police and the public. Under this initiative, the policemen are going to the villages and contacting the villagers directly. Also, if any villager has any criminal history, then his antecedents are investigated thouroughly.
Mr. Ankit Mittal told Indian Masterminds, “We started this initiative two months back. We keep documents of each village, in which there is also a ‘Village Crime Notebook’. We also keep records of every police station. All our officers – from beat constable to police station in-charge – mark a village every day and go there and set up chaupal. They talk to the people in the village about policing, listen to their problems, and try to solve them on the spot.”
The officer also informed that the police officials record all kinds of information about the village – from the village headman to the watchman, criminals, if any, in the village, the number of arms holders and the number of cartridges etc. All information are verified and stored. Along with this, information related to the crimes that have happened in the last 10 years and the number of history-sheeters from the area is gathered, too. The police also keep an eye on all people with criminal antecedents to know what they are up to.
ELECTION PURPOSE
Mr. Mittal explained that one of the reasons behind this initiative was to conduct the coming elections peacefully. That is why, police go to the polling centers and see whether there was any problem or any fight in the last election, so that they can take preventive action this time. Only one village is tackled at a time because if they target many villages at the same time, then perhaps they will not be able to put in quality work. That is why, the ‘Ek Gaon, Ek Sham’ initiative was started.
VILLAGE SECURITY COMMITTEE
Mr. Mittal also talked about the ‘village safety committee’ formed by the police department. “There is a ‘Village Safety committee’ (Gram Suraksha Samiti) in the police. Its job is to act as allies of the police. There are many helpful citizens who help police selflessly. Some give us information, while others are ready to patrol in the night with the police. It is in a way a revival of the old system.” He informed that they are again forming the Village Safety Committees, so that if any untoward incident happens, they will get news immediately. It is a way to reduce the gap between the police and the public. In other words, community policing.
NO DISPUTE IN 27 VILLAGES
It was through the ‘Ek Gaon, Ek Shaam” initiative that the police came to know that there are 27 villages in the district where no dispute or criminal incident has taken place for decades. In fact, there is a village where no criminal incident has happened in the last 36 years. The last case was registered in this village in 1984.
Mr. Mittal said, “I believe that when we build a system by sitting down with people, when we have meetings and listen to them, then people also feel a connection. Earlier, there used to be Nyay Panchayat in the villages where issues were resolved amongst themselves. But now its structure has deteriorated. But there are still some places where people respect their elders and still adhere to certain social principles. Therefore, when there is any dispute, they resolve it among themselves and settle it. On our part, we are encouraging them with our ‘Ek Gaon, Ek Sham initiative’.”
