Dimapur CP Rothihu Tetseo with DCP (Crime) Bharat Laxman Markad during the press conference on September 25.
‘Unauthorized presence of NPGs a major cause’
Morung Express News
Dimapur | September 25
On one hand, there is a police force accused of lacking teeth, especially when it pertains to curbing illegal taxation of businesses by the Naga Political Groups. On the other, the police claim that it hardly receives any complaint about illegal taxation.
According to the Commissioner of Police (CP), Dimapur, Rothihu Tetseo, of the 65 extortion related cases registered in the district over the last three months, not a single incident was reported by victims.
“From June till September 23, we have registered 65 cases of extortion. We have arrested 94 persons. However, not a single of the cases was reported by the complainant. These were all suo moto cases,” maintained Tetseo at a press conference on September 25.
Of the 94 arrested individuals, 57 were NPG members and 37 categorised as “others” or civilians committing offences at the behest of NPG members. As many as 31 firearms, along with ammunition, explosives, vehicles and suspected extorted money amounting to Rs 1,28,790 was recovered, he informed.
He though admitted that extortion, accounting for 13 percent of criminal cases registered in the district since January 2020, continues to be a challenge for the Dimapur police. “Unauthorised presence” of NPGs due to the Ceasefire and Peace Talks, he said, has been a major reason for extortion in the district. “Further, with the indeterminate, superfluous and vague Ceasefire Ground Rules, policing in the district is confronted with an unnatural front,” he added.
Vehicle theft, mostly 2-wheelers, is the other big nuisance making up 36 percent of the registered cases.
Nevertheless, he said that the police are putting in “extra effort” to contain the largely unreported incidents of extortion, besides kidnapping.
Further, he said that the Dimapur police have drawn up a District Security Action Plan that includes deployment of additional police personnel and other preventive and confidence building measures.
It also includes dividing the entire district into 39 sectors of 7 colonies/villages each with areas of responsibility and accountability assigned to designated police officers.
The police have also started escorting transport trucks entering Dimapur from the two main entry points at Dillai and Newfield check-posts till Medziphema at designated hours.
Assuring confidentiality, Tetseo encouraged the public to help the police with any input/information to counter crime and requested anyone to call the Police Control Room helpline— 7085055050/100.
As far as regulating traffic was concerned, he said that enforcement has been enhanced over the past 1 or 2 weeks, particularly along the Purana Bazaar-Chümoukedima 4-lane stretch. As a result, vehicular mishaps have reportedly reduced. According to Tetseo, some 18 lives have been claimed in vehicular accidents in the 4-lane stretch since it opened. Since January, the Traffic police have penalized 19, 856 persons/motorists for flouting road rules in that stretch of road.
1 cop for 883 persons in Dimapur
Nagaland state may have a fairly high police-population ratio, working out to roughly 1 police person per 70 people, as per the 2011 Census. However, the margin widens, particularly in Dimapur. As per the CP, the police-public ratio in Dimapur works out to 1 police person for every 883 persons and area-wise, 1 police person per 2.1 sq km. It implies a ratio lower than the all-India— one cop for every 642 persons.
How it translates into higher crime incidence could not be ascertained.
As per the CP, 58.14 percent of the total 1,474 criminal cases registered in Nagaland in 2020 were reported in Dimapur. In 2021, from January till September 23, out of the 941 cases registered, 56.21 percent have been reported from Dimapur.
