By Dr Olav Albuquerque

What is the role of police stations and policemen who are perceived as the trusted guardians of general society? It is time to re-visit this question in the light of the fact that the entire system police and legal system has been vitiated and in need of cleaning up, with perhaps new fool-proof systems in place, beginning with the problem of registering a simple FIR…why has this become so difficult to do? The first in a three-part series to be continued next week…

AN FIR means First Information Report which is a vital piece of evidence while convicting or acquitting those charged with heinous crimes such as murder, abetment, suicide or rape. The Supreme Court has laid down in Lalita Kumari versus State of Uttar Pradesh that the police throughout India have no choice but to register an FIR in all cognizable crimes. This has to be done immediately after the duty officer verifies that a cognizable crime has been committed.
But throughout the country, and specifically in Goa, this does not happen. By not immediately complying with the judgment of the Supreme Court, the police inspector in-charge of the police station is committing direct contempt of the honorable Supreme Court, which is the highest court of the country which has the power to punish those disrespecting its authority.

PERSONAL EXPERIENCE
I HAVE personally experienced how some of the police behave when I approached them to register an FIR in a case where an aged family member was cheated by being forced to sign a bogus Sale Deed in 2016. I sent a written complaint from Mumbai to the police inspector in-charge of Maina Curtorim police station where it was sent to an Assistant Sub Inspector (ASI) by the name of Chandrakant Velip.
Velip phoned me in Mumbai where I live and asked me to visit the police station in Margao to reply to certain questions about my complaint. I pointed out to him that this would be problematic for me as Mumbai city was my source of livelihood and visiting Goa would cost me clients in Mumbai. However, he was quite polite but adamant that I visit the police station.
When I did so, I found ASI Velip to be one of the most polite policemen I had come across. I have been both a senior journalist and an advocate which means I have interacted with several hundred policemen during my routine work. In Mumbai, the lower level policemen like constables do not know basic English. The PSIs (police sub-inspectors) who sport two-stars on their uniforms do speak English which is often pidgin English, but this does not detract from their efficiency as policemen charged with maintaining law and order.
Now, ASI Velip summoned the main accused and got her to give him an allegedly bogus Sale Deed which was registered apparently by bribing the then sub-registrar whose name I will not mention. He had a notorious reputation both among the policemen and also among a section of the advocates who knew what he was like.
ASI Velip read out the Sale Deed which was totally bogus and drafted by an advocate for the village panchayat where my ancestral home was located, under the instructions of the main accused, who continues to be an employee of the panchayat till date.
I asked ASI Velip to arrest the accused persons but he did not do so. I also wanted an FIR to be registered but he did not do that as well despite the Supreme Court verdict cited above. He tried to convince me that this was a civil dispute where the Goa Police would not interfere although the Sale Deed was a clear fabrication, and an Affidavit had also allegedly been prepared by the same accused to mislead the courts.
What is more, ASI Velip’s superior, the then PI Gurudas Gawade pompously told me: “Your complaint has been taken on record.” When I asked him if he would register an FIR, he rudely replied: “That is not your look-out.” I told him that it was indeed my look-out because I was the complainant in the case and by not registering an FIR, he was helping the Accused to escape without being punished. He rudely replied: “You are nobody to tell me how to act. Do whatever you want.”

BOGUS EXCUSES
ASI Velip continued to give bogus excuses not to register an FIR until I approached the then SP (South) of Goa, Chandan Choudhary, IPS. She summoned her deputy, Dinraj Govekar who was told to verify my complaint. The FIR was lodged after verification which took a few days. And ASI Chandrakant Velip was left with no choice but to investigate a crime he did not want to investigate because of his poor health.
That was not the end of my ordeal.
ASI Chandrakant Velip continued to give some bogus excuse or the other to avoid doing his duty which under law he was duty bound to do. He lied to me that he had written to the Joint Mamlatdar-III at Salcette when he had never done so. He lied to me that he was gathering evidence when in fact, he never ventured out of the police station to collect evidence for this case.
Now, ASI Chandrakant Velip was supported in the gross negligence of his duty to investigate by an equally gross negligent PI, Gurudas Gawade, who shouted at me over the phone when I called him to report about the gross dereliction of duty on the part of ASI Chandrakant Velip:
“Why are you disturbing me? I have given you an Investigating Officer (IO). You deal with him. Why do you keep phoning me?” When I told him I would complain against him to his superior officers, he laughed and replied: “You are threatening a police officer. Your calls are being recorded and I can take action against you.”
(This is the first of a three-part series by the author, to be continued next week.)