Dear Mr CP, look how your cops treat elderly victims

When Home Minister RR Patil asked the police to make the safety of senior citizens a priority last month surprised members of this oftignored section of society were quick to hail him as their saviour showering their praise and blessings on the NCP leader But going by the recent ordeal faced by an aged couple they cheered way too soon The incident has scarred Sushila so deeply that she hasnrsquot mustered the courage to step out of her home since the incident PicKiran Bhalerao When 64yearold Sushila Agrawalrsquos chain was snatched she had the presence of mind to find out the licence plate number of the snatcherrsquos vehicle from witnesses She acted fast reaching the station with her husband within minutes of the crime The cops however fell lamentably short of matching the elderly womanrsquos alacrity Not only did they kept the couple waiting for two hours without bothering to enquire about the nature of their complaint they also tried to convince them not to lodge an FIR The incident On March 24 Sushila was on her way home from a nearby temple in Borivli around 1010 pm when a biker tried to yank off her gold chain ldquoThe biker snatched my chain from behind As soon as I realised what was happening I tried holding on to the chain He pulled at it and a part of it remained in my hand My husband shouted out but the biker was quick and fled from the site We were barely 50 metres away from the MHB police station and reached the station within the next 10 minutesrdquo she said Senior citizen Sushila Agrawalrsquos gold chain was snatched by a biker while she was on her way home from a nearby temple in Borivli around 1010 pm on March 24 PicKiran Bhalerao Long night But the loss of the precious chain was just the beginning of a prolonged and harrowing experience ldquoIt was night and not a single officer at the station asked us what our problem was After half an hour my wife went up to them and requested them to at least ask us about her problem It was only then that a staffmember came up and asked what had happened He took us to the first floor where he wrote all details in a ruled fullscape bookrdquo said 66yearold Rameshchandra Agrawal Sushilarsquos husband He added ldquoThe police were very negligent and even after we gave them the bike number they didnrsquot respondrdquo What FIR After the cop had written down all the details the couple asked for a copy of the FIR Asked to provide the victims with the FIR number and copy the police staff present there remained silent and started exchanging uncomfortable glances One of the staff members who was not in uniform allegedly took the couple to the staircase and tried to convince them not to lodge a formal complaint ldquoThey tried to convince us of the disadvantages of lodging an FIR citing legal hassles and possible harassment They promised us that they would return our chain within eight days After sitting in the police station for nearly two hours we decided to go home around 1230 amrdquo said Sushila adding ldquoI just want to ask R R Patil is this the order he gave to cops about senior citizensrdquo She added that though she would eventually come to terms with the loss of her gold chain she is having difficulty coming to terms with the behaviour meted out to her by the police that night Rameshchandra revealed that the incident has scarred Sushila so deeply that she hasnrsquot yet mustered the courage to step out of her home Top coprsquos promise Sunil Paraskar additional commissioner of police zone XI said ldquoThis is the first duty of the staff to attend to and register the complaint of any complainant especially if they are senior citizens I will enquire into the matter and if any officer is proven guilty strict action will be taken against the officer on duty and the staff involved in this incidentrdquo Only for show The shocking episode comes close on the heels of RR Patilrsquos recent visit to senior citizens in Thane where he had enquired about the frequency of policemenrsquos visits and their promptness in responding to calls made to the local police station He had also publicly directed staff of police stations to visit senior citizens in their jurisdictions every month and address their grievances on safety and security issues The unexpected gesture had won him admirers among the senior residents of the state The Other Side Suresh Babu Kilje senior inspector at MHB police station said ldquoI was not aware of the matter but I will immediately call the Agrawal couple and file their complaintrdquo Repeated attempts were made to contact R R Patil but in vain March 5 Home Minister R R Patil visited senior citizens enquiring about the frequency of policemenrsquos visits and their response to calls made to the station