Kejriwal asks police chief for details on crime against women

Delhi Police Commissioner Bassi arrives to meet Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal yesterday.IANS/New DelhiDelhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal yesterday asked Police Commissioner B S Bassi to provide details about crime against women in the national capital.The Aam Aadmi Party leader made the request at a meeting with Bassi at the chief minister’s office, four days after the brutal murder of a teenager here made the Delhi government reiterate its demand for control of the police force.“We asked Bassi to give us details on the number of FIRs (first information reports) registered on the basis of complaints by women and FIRs not registered by police,” Delhi Home Minister Satyendra Jain told reporters after the meeting.Kejriwal also asked Bassi to make public names of inspectors who were being repeatedly made heads of police stations in the city and inspectors who were ignored for such postings, Jain said.Delhi police, which report to the federal home ministry and not to the Delhi government, has some 1,500 inspectors who alone are eligible to head police stations.Jain said Bassi declined to share this information.The commissioner gave Kejriwal a list of 500 people who had been murdered in Delhi, and said the chief minister must give their families too compensation he announced for the relatives of the teenager murdered last week.“When we told him to give this list to the prime minister, Bassi said the prime minister did not have time for all this and he was too much preoccupied in other matters. “He (Modi) has no time for Delhi police,” Jain quoted the commissioner as saying.Jain insisted that Kejriwal had a right to ask these questions to Bassi “as we are people’s representatives.”“The chief minister has the right to ask these questions. It is also his duty to ask these questions.“Those whose salaries come from public funding must provide answers to the public,” Jain said.