Bhubaneswar: A former Chicago Police chief had once said "Crisis is what causes change to happen."
Truly, senior police officer and 1986-batch IPS Abhay today takes charge as DGP of the State, when Odisha is staring at a crisis where crime against women is breaching a new normal every day. So, taking the guard at this juncture, will the new DGP Abhay bring 'Nirbhay' (fearlessness) for the women in the State?
The challenge before the new DGP is enormous, especially after the Disha case and the encounter in Hyderabad. Even, people cutting across gender divide in Odisha cheered the 'instant justice' model popped up by Hyderabad police.
Known as a meticulous capacity builder in police circles, and also an astute trainer, Abhay has to ramp up the capacity of the Odisha police to crack the crimogenic factors of violent crimes like rapes and murders.
Incidentally, Odisha is now agog with these two violent crime (rapes, murders) frames. And it is here where his tenure as chief of Odisha crime branch and special branch will come handy.
The crime statistics looks more daunting for the new DGP. In murders, Odisha's crime rate of around 3 since 2016 remains unchanged. Murders are on the rise. The year 2017 saw 1,276 murders, the numbers swelled to 1,378 in 2018. The graph maintains the momentum in 2019 as the first six months of the calendar year has witnessed nearly 720 murders in the State. In crime rate of murders, Odisha is now 5th in the country from 8th in 2016, which tells the whole tale.
Another bee in the bonnet is crime against women. The hard facts are overwhelming.
As per NCRB 2017 report, Odisha with a crime rate of 9.7 in rapes is 5th in the infamy list in the country. The rape graph seems to have maintained the momentum in 2019, where 1,149 rapes were registered in the first six months, and rapes of minor accounted for a whopping 52 per cent.
When it is well known that organised gangs in any society thrive on drugs, arms and human trafficking, the task at hand before the new DGP is to curb the rising rate of child kidnapping in Odisha. As per NCRB data, child kidnappings in the State has risen by 1041 per cent between 2012 and 2017.
As far as crimes against weaker sections are concerned, NCRB report revealed that Odisha has recorded fifth highest crimes against weaker sections in the country, but when it comes to conviction State is at the bottom.
The NCRB data shows the pendency rate in cases pertaining to crime against women at the police level in 2017 was around 33.6 per cent, which means in every 10 cases, investigation is pending in 3 cases.
Besides, when cases are put on trial, the conviction rate looks very abysmal. In crime against women, the conviction rate is 7.4 per cent, reveals NCRB data. As per a statement by Minister of State (Home) in State Assembly, the conviction rate in rape cases in 2019 has been 18 per cent.
Be it poor conviction or pendency, the blame lies at the door of Police, because, a professional investigation is known to be the winner in criminal trials.