dna special: Less than 10% domestic help registered with police

Following two brutal murders in Bandra and Juhu committed by domestic help that shook the city recently, the Mumbai police feels that prior registration of these workers with the local police could have acted as a deterrent. While not many believe that registering the data with the police will ensure safety, cops feel that the knowledge that their information is with the police, can act as a fear factor.

Why are employers reluctant to register domestic help?
DCP Dhananjay Kulkarni, said that barely 10% of domestic workers are registered with the police. The reason being that because the help leaves the job when their employer asks them to submit their details before the local police. "So, many choose to not register them with us. Employers are either not ready to make the effort, or fear losing the help," he said.
DCP Kulkarni added that those who register with the police are either extremely wealthy people who keep things of high value at home, or those who have children or senior citizens to take care of. Ironically, in both Juhu and Bandra murder cases, not only had they kept valuables at home, but in one of the cases, the victim was a senior citizen.

What takes centre stage during the verification process?
Employers hire help through trusted references or somebody who has been employed in many households in the neighbourhood. Shantanu Kumar, a businessman from Juhu said: "We have domestic workers in the building who have been working with us for many years. Because of the familiarity, we don't feel the need to register them with the cops. But then again, we can't study a person's criminal bent of mind. We only feel the need to register when we think there could be a threat."
Kumar added that if the help is left at home with children or senior citizens, and/or are at home full-time, the employers tend to conduct the verification process. "If there is a certain comfort level between the employer and the worker, the need to register is never a prerogative," he added.

Should the process be simplified?
Currently, the employer has to take down the details of the help's permanent and temporary addresses along with ID proof and a photograph, and submit it with the local police.
Hansraj Patel, a civil engineer residing in Santa Cruz (W) feels that the procedure is harrowing and time-consuming. He said that the police should have a digital registration system, saying: "There should be a system where we can do an online registration and not go to the local police personally."
According to police, however, the system can be simplified if the housing societies take it as a priority to get the data and submit it as a whole with the police.
Certain residents have also asked for facilitation centres who will help people in finding bonafide domestic workers. Bhushan Pandey, a real estate businessman and a resident of Borivli, does not trust agencies that supply help. "The agencies claim be doing verification of the workers they send, but most agencies are not reliable as they don't really provide the data to police," added Pandey.

Only data collection possible, verification difficult: Police
DCP Vinayak Deshmukh explained the lengths the police have gone through to ensure people register, saying: "We have been holding meetings with society secretaries and members to make it (verification) mandatory. The data serves as a deterrent and also helps us detect crime faster."
However, he added that it was not possible to verify the criminal antecedents of workers as most of them belong to rural parts of UP and Bihar. "We cannot be sure of his/her criminal past as it is not easy to verify it with the respective police authorities," he said.