Known for his out-of-the-box thinking, Bihar's new Director General of Police, Abhayanand, has taken some stringent steps to improve the system of policing in the State. Discussing the next course of action with Bureaucracy Today, the top cop tells about his stratagem to curb crime and corruption in the State.
Abhayanand comes from the family of IPS officers. His father retired as DGP in 1986. This 1977 batch IPS officer took three notable decisions on the very first day as DGP on August 31. Explaining in brief DGP Abhayanand says, "These decisions were planned by me even before my appointment as DGP. The first directive was that SPs would have to take permission from the IG (Operations) for deploying Special Auxiliary Police [SAP] units for anti-Naxal operations. Secondly, all the files of IPS officers and DSPs would remain with the wings concerned of the Home Department, not with the DGP's confidential cell. Thirdly, anyone who is dissatisfied with the performance of a police officer can directly lodge a complaint at the police headquarters and if found guilty the officer concerned would be suspended in no time without completing any bureaucratic formalities".
Will not these steps lead to conflict among Bihar policemen? To which Abhayanand replies, "Yes, there is a feeling that some of the policemen may get demoralized but everyone has to understand that we are trying to create a stronger defence system. I am just waiting for the drama to unfold. Besides this, the common man has a perception that the police is a law enforcer and is corrupt, and I have been continuously trying to improve its image. There is nothing which can weed out corruption completely. Unless the mindset of the corrupt person changes, corruption cannot be controlled. Policemen should be an agent of law and not law enforcer only".
Tackling crime and Naxalism is a major issue for the Bihar police, but as per recent reports Maharashtra seems to be ahead of Bihar in terms of crime rate in the State. The DGP says, "Yes, the situation was worse in Bihar a few years ago but due to our constant efforts it is now under control. We believe that it's Crime Vs State and when the legislature, the judiciary, the police and the reformatory elements work together crime can be controlled. My only theme is Kanoon hi hamara shastra hai aur kanoon hi hamara dharm".
Abhayanand is a philanthropic person. He is also a physics teacher. His image is even bigger than that of the DGP because of his contribution to society in terms of arranging free IIT coaching for poor students in Super-30, Rahmani-30, Magadh-30 and Triveni-30.
The combination of the above story and the recommendation by many officers got Abhayanand the 'Bureaucrat of the month' slug for October 2011.
