COMMENTARY
INTERVIEWS
CHAT
ARCHIVES

The Rediff Business Special / Arup Chanda

In the land of the welfare economist, businessmen aid rehab plan to combat crime

The police in West Bengal have evolved a novel method to combat kidnappers and extortionists who step out of custody on bail ad nauseam.

The police have roped in businessmen and traders who are usually at the receiving end of these dreaded criminals. Rich businessmen and traders in Calcutta are contributing generously to help the police rehabilitate these criminals.

A large section of Calcutta's top industrialists and businessmen resides in Alipore and New Alipore, on the western side of the crowded metropolis. So do some dreaded gangsters -- only a few kilometres away, in a sleazy and dingy slum called Sahebmahal.

Despite claims by the ruling Marxists that Calcutta is an oasis compared to Bombay and Delhi as far as organised crime is concerned, the city witnessed many cases of kidnap, extortion and murder of businessmen in the last few months.

In many cases, the victims who usually belong to rich families pay up silently without even informing the police. They allege not only police inaction but in many cases even of police-criminal nexus and are not willing to take any risk.

Sahebmahal is just like any other slum in the city complete with unemployed youths taking to crime. Most of them specialise in armed robberies, extortion and snatching. There is not a single family that does not have a member against whom criminal cases are not pending with the state's Criminal Investigation Department or the city's detective department.

However, things began to change after an energetic police officer, Subir Chatterjee, took over the reins of Behala police station as officer-in-charge. He meticulously studied the crime pattern in his area and found Sahebmahal being the most crime-prone area. He also studied the background and modus operandi of the dreaded criminals.

Twenty-three-year-old Pinkal Halder's name spreads terror among businessmen in parts of west and south Calcutta. He is a member of the Noche gang and specialises in extortion, snatching and robbery. There are seven criminal cases pending against him.

Pinkal's close associate is Gautam Das alias Dacait. Known to be an explosive expert, he is said to have committed a series of robberies in New Alipore and Behala areas. Like Pinkal and Gautam, there are other dreaded ones like Pradip, Pata and Jhantu, many of whom even enjoyed political patronage and the police could do nothing but seeing them free after a few days in jail.

Chatterjee decided to tackle the problem in a different way. He decided to give them a chance instead of resorting to the much popular third-degree method. His new strategy was to unite the people of the area against goons and criminals, involve leaders of all political parties, local businessmen and traders and try to rehabilitate some of these dreaded criminals.

A joint action committee comprising businessmen, traders, teachers and government officers residing in the area came in aid of Chatterjee. Said Romesh Bhandari and Arun Ghosh, two local businessmen who were till the other day at the receiving end of these criminals, "There was complete chaos and lawlessness in Behala. The administration had become defunct. Every trader was forced to fork out substantial sums as protection money to these criminals. Those who dared to disobey their diktats paid with their lives."

Chatterjee explained to the businessmen that arresting and torturing these criminals was a short-term solution. "I told them that we have to provide these youths with an alternative source of income to lure them away from crime," he said. The best way, he told the joint action committee, was to help these misguided youths set up small businesses.

The idea worked. As they received feelers that they could either be on the run with the police after them and get eliminated by rival gangs or lead a normal life with the help of the police and joint action committee, the youths responded.

Gautam Das alias Dacait said he was ready to make an effort. He was helped to set up a vegetable stall in the area and from December 20 he has been selling vegetables each morning.

Soon other dreaded criminals like Pinak, Pradip, Pata, Jhantu and Kishen followed suit. The joint action committee with the help of Chatterjee will set up small shops for them selling grocery and chicken.

Bhandari said, "We have received feelers from other criminals but we do not want to rush things. Our main aim is to sustain the drive and ensure that these reformed criminals do not return to the world of crime."

According to Pradip, who is on the reform path, "No one is a born criminal. I had approached all political leaders in Behala and the police begging for an opportunity to earn a decent living. Politicians ignored us and the police implicated us in false cases at the behest of the leaders."

But who are the ones who are most happy? They are the alleged criminals' family members. Pinkal's wife Rita said, "We lived in constant fear of the police, rival gangs and political leaders. I am grateful to the police for providing us an opportunity to live without fear and with dignity."

However, many police officers are sceptical of this novel scheme. "Once used to easy money by the use of a gun, a criminal will never be satisfied by earning only a few hundred rupees by selling vegetables," said one police officer.

But businessmen like Bhandari, who has heaved a sigh of relief, are optimistic. "It is a long-term rehabilitation plan. We don't know what the future has in store but at least we have made the beginning. And we are confident of sustaining it," he said.

Others said it is only apt that this programme was launched in Calcutta, the land of Amartya Sen, the economics Nobel prize winner, who has been emphasising welfare measures for the underprivileged and the poor.

Specials

Business news

West Bengal