Bhubaneswar: VIP culture still rules the roost in Odisha, at least in the realm of policing. The common men on streets in the State are getting a raw deal.
When there is only 1 cop to guard a massive 1,388 aam admi, VIPs have their way with each VIP (Ministers, MP, MLAs, Judges & bureaucrats) having at least a cop to guard them.
As per the 2018 report of the Bureau for Police Research & Development (BPRD), Odisha stood in the bottom - 10 in the country where for a high of 1,388 common man, there is only 1 police.
Such a skewed policing was to the fore as Odisha has mere 72 civil cops per lakh population.
However, when the entire strength of police force (Civil +DAR + Armed police) is taken into the account the police - population proportion stood at one cop for 759 common men on streets.
Why the civil police - population proportion matters most is it's the civil police that take care of the daily law and order ritual in a state. The armed police come into picture in times of natural disaster, festivals, riots or political rallies etc.
However, when it comes to the club of protected VIPs, the proportion alters. Though the State has not divulged the number of protected persons in Odisha in 2017 & 2018, the BPRD report discloses the 2016 data when 46 VIPs were in the protected dignitary list in Odisha. And it added that 55 cops were engaged in providing security cover to the VIPs in the State, which means at least a cop for a VIP.
Significantly, a Supreme Court bench headed by Justice GS Singhvi in 2013 had observed "security can be given to the head of state, the Prime Minister, Vice President, Speaker, Chief Justice of India, the heads of constitutional authority and similar counterparts in the states." But why all and sundry is given security, the bench questioned.
The bench had further said that even judges would have no objection, if the security provided to them withdrawn and redeployed on the streets to curb crime against women.
The Apex court has also expressed dissatisfaction over extension of security cover to MPs and MLAs without proper security audit.
As per top sources in State Home Department, security audit of the protected dignitaries in the State has not been undertaken since the year 2010.
However, the fair footnote here is Odisha is among the group of states in India, where the protected VIP list is comparably lean.