Nestled uncomfortably in the Mumbai police’s image of being aggressively protective of its own is the farce of medals and cash awards the force routinely institutes to honour its best. While most are discontinued and forgotten a few years hence, what is worse, some never reach the recipients.
This benign apathy was set rolling afresh by police commissioner
D Sivanandhan when he announced the Best Detection Award last month. It was given to unit-II of the crime branch that cracked the murder of morning walker Beena Dedhia on October 27 last year at Kalachowkie.
Despite being misled that it was the handiwork of bike thieves, the team established that her husband had paid a gang to have her eliminated. The unit was given a cup and a reward of Rs10,000.
But will this award be presented next year? If one delves into the history of such accolades, the answer is: yes, no and maybe.
A recent example is the Deepak Jog Memorial Trophy for the Best Detection Officer, instituted in 1998 by the police department to honour hardworking and brave officers.
Though initially a private award conferred by Jog’s father and former director general of police of Maharashtra, Suryakant Jog, it became an initiative on the part of the Mumbai police to give recognition to deserving officers. But the initiative fizzled out by 2006, when the trophy was last received by inspector Shripad Kale of Bhoiwada police station for promptly nabbing armed dacoits who had robbed a builder of Rs1.12 crore at gunpoint.
In 1988, the department had instituted the late DCP HS Joshi Trophy for Best Detection and Conviction. The last recipient of this trophy was inspector Jalindar Khandagle in 2004. “I received the award for solving the murder of MLA Arun Gawli’s lieutenant Sudhakar Lone. We identified the killer within eight days and arrested one Salim Abdul Razzak Baig. He was sentenced to life imprisonment. The idea behind the award was to motivate policemen to conduct in-depth investigations and secure conviction,” said Khandagle.
But, as is usually the case with these awards, jubilation eventually gives way to dismay. “Though it is good that police personnel get recognition for their hard work through these awards, the sad part is that, after a few years, they are discontinued for unknown reasons,” said an officer who had once received the Deepak Jog Trophy for Best Detection.
And then there are the big-ticket awards which, though announced with much pomp, are never actually ‘conferred’. When the lesser-known terror outfit Indian Mujahideen triggered serial blast in many cities throughout the country between 2003 and 2008, it was the Mumbai police which solved the case and arrested 20 members of the organisation. That they got the right men has been attested by the fact that blasts of similar nature have not been witnessed anywhere in the country since.
Overjoyed by the police’s performance, the then-deputy chief minister and home minister RR Patil had announced a cash reward of Rs5 lakh for the investigating team. In fact, the Andhra Pradesh government too had promised another Rs5 lakh. To add to the kitty, Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi had announced a cash reward of Rs51lakh after the arrest of terrorists. However, even after two years, the money is yet to be released.
“We have not received a single rupee from any of the governments who had boasted about the rewards,” said an officer who played a key role in arresting the members of Indian Mujahideen. “It’s not about the money, but when they make such statements in public, they should keep their promise,” said the officer.
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