Snooping or transparent police profiling in Rahul Gandhi case?

Even as the Congress created a ruckus in Parliament on charges of spying on its vice-president Rahul Gandhi, the issue appears a storm in tea cup, as the government on Monday came out with a list of 526 VVIPs, who have been profiled by police in the national capital. Finance minister Arun Jaitley called it 'making mountain, where not even mole exists,' and described the process a transparent security profiling.

It was also revealed that this system of profiling of all those having the security cover was introduced in 1957 by then chief of Intelligence Bureau Bola Nath Malick under prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru. It was made further robust by none other than MK Narayanan under Rajiv Gandhi in 1987, who thought of profiling all the VIPs residing in Lutyens Delhi, mostly probably fallout of Punjab militancy on national capital. The proforma was revised in 1999.

Within government, however, there is a realisation to update the antiquated proforma. "They had been devised when there was no facility of DNA testing or even photographs were not available. Further in most of cases semi-illitrate policemen are engaged to fill the forms. It definitely calls for a change," admitted a senior security officer. A cursory look at these profiles speaks volumes about how the policemen will identify a VVIP, whose profiles they have documented.

While Congress leaders claimed they have never heard of any such profiling in the past and their president Sonia Gandhi has never filled out a Delhi Police form, asking for respondents to list the colour of their hair, eyes, shoe size and any identification marks, the government came out with forms filled by Sonia Gandhi or her staff in 1998, 2004, 2009 and the last time in 2012. She has even mentioned location of an identification mark, below her neck. The document avers that Sonia Gandhi speaks Hindi, English, Italian; uses spectacles for reading and wears sarees.

Through there is considerable political commotion within Congress on missing Rahul Gandhi, who has skipped this session of Parliament, the party did manage a united face and walked out in the Rajya Sabha, but later did allow House to function normally. On both Azad and Kharge taunting on the kind of ridiculous information gathered by the cops about Rahul like the size of his shoes, Jaitley said even such information is necessary for security, pointing out that when a former prime minister (Rajiv Gandhi) was assassinated, he could be identified only from the shoe.

But the Congress spokesman Ajay Kumar, a former IPS officer said he has never come across such profiling during his service. He demanded a probe into the alleged snooping by a judicial commission or a Parliamentary committee. He claimed that two former senior police officers Ved Marwah and BK Gupta have also denied existence of any such procedures.

A look at police profiles, how they will identify a VVIP
Former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee wears a dhoti and kurta with a 'Jawahar jacket' and chappals, or slippers.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi wore glasses for reading. She speaks English, Hindi and Italian. She was profiled in 2004, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012. She has mole below her neck.
BJP chief Amit Shah's has a moustache and beard and that he wears kurta pyjamas.
L K Advani's wore kurta pyjamas and is close associates of Vajpayee and Sushma Swaraj.
Sushma Swaraj wears a saree and bindi.