Citizen-police panels to be revived to address law and order concerns in Delhi
The move, officials said, is aimed at bridging gaps in communication and trust between local police and residents, particularly residents' welfare associations (RWAs), market bodies, civil society representatives, and elected officials.
'The order has already been given for the formation of thana-level committees across all police stations in the city and also at the district-level. There is no deadline, but the process... has already been set in motion. These committees are likely to be formed within a couple of weeks. A direction regarding the constitution of these committees had recently come from the ministry of home affairs,' a senior Delhi government official said.
Thana-level committees will function at every police station and be chaired by the local MLA. According to documents reviewed by HT, each Thana-level committee is chaired by the local MLA and includes the sub-divisional magistrate (SDM), assistant commissioner of police (ACP), municipal officials, and representatives from RWAs, women's groups, and traders' associations. The total membership is capped at 15, with the station house officer (SHO) serving as the committee's member-secretary.
Their mandate includes addressing everyday issues such as thefts, traffic congestion, neighbourhood disputes, and civic grievances. They are also expected to raise concerns about gaps in civic infrastructure — including poor street lighting or the absence of CCTV cameras — and promote awareness around women's safety, cybercrime, and drug abuse.
District-level committees, meanwhile, will function as supervisory bodies and be set up across each of Delhi's 15 police districts. These will be headed by local MPs and include MLAs, DCPs, other senior officers, and representatives from civil society. 'They are designed to tackle broader policing and law-and-order challenges that span multiple police stations in a district,' an official said.
Delhi home minister Ashish Sood on Friday said the city government is reviving Thana-level committees to strengthen community policing and foster closer ties between citizens and the police. 'These committees will empower people to participate in ensuring their own safety and security. Public involvement in crime prevention not only reinforces community policing but also helps build a police-public partnership aimed at creating a crime-free society,' Sood said.
Thana-level committees are required to meet every two months and are chaired by the local MLA, while ACP-rank officers often attend. The district-level bodies are expected to convene quarterly meetings and will be chaired by the area's MP, with DCPs and other senior officials participating.
The TLCs were first introduced in 1995 during the tenure of former chief minister Madan Lal Khurana and remained functional for several years. 'The committees bring police and people closer and improve trust. The police get real information about challenges that people, markets, and neighbourhoods are facing, while the public gets a platform to directly raise concerns,' said former home minister and BJP MLA Arvinder Singh Lovely. '
Their revival will play a big role in improving law and order and reducing petty crime,' he added.
The TLCs were scrapped in 2016 during the tenure of the then lieutenant governor Najeeb Jung. In September 2024, AAP MLAs had raised a demand in the Delhi Assembly to revive thana committees, citing a deteriorating law and order situation, but the proposal did not move forward at the time.
Lovely said the forums remained defunct for over a decade under the AAP government due to 'a lack of trust between the AAP leadership and the administration'.
An AAP office-bearer alleged that the BJP-led central government had stalled the formation of Thana-level committees as 90% of Delhi's MLAs belong to AAP. 'They were afraid the committees would begin holding local police accountable at the police station level,' the leader said.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Hindu
2 hours ago
- The Hindu
Centre notifies Single Window System for appointing State DGPs
The Union Government has notified a Single Window System for appointing State Director-General of Police/Head of Police Force. The new policy effective April 22, 2025, comes against the backdrop of several States not following the Supreme Court orders in the Prakash Singh case and the Ministry of Home Affairs guidelines as regards appointment of DGP/HoPF. The Single Window System comprises a detailed check-list and standard easy-to-use formats for the States to send proposals enabling a smooth and expeditious process of empanelment by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC), police sources said. Pointing to major discrepancies in the proposals sent for DGP appointments in the past, the Centre fixed responsibility on the State by asking an officer not below the rank of a Secretary to Government to certify minimum tenure of DGP-rank officers sent for empanelment to the UPSC. The apex court guidelines and consequent MHA circulars made it clear that an officer considered for appointment as DGP/HoPF should have a minimum residual services of six months from the date of occurrence of vacancy. Also, the States should send proposals to the UPSC at least three months before the vacancy arose or the date of superannuation of the DGP/HoPF. TN yet to send proposal In Tamil Nadu, though the vacancy for DGP/HoPF arises on August 30, 2025, when the incumbent police chief Shankar Jiwal is set to retire, the State is yet to send the proposal. Though two officers were not eligible for the top post as per the Supreme Court and MHA guidelines as they would not have a minimum of six months service, the Home Department was still getting their consent in the willingness form, the sources said. 'The Single Window System was notified in the last week of April with detailed check list and annexures making it easy for States to follow. Even if the two officers who are not eligible is cleared by the DGP's office, the Home Department would remove their names from the list as a Secretary-rank officer would have to certify the eligibility criteria. Finally, 8 DGPs in the Level-16 pay matrix would qualify for empanelment and the UPSC would send back three names – Seema Agrawal, Rajiv Kumar and Sandeep Rai Rathore – in the order of seniority,' a senior police officer told The Hindu on Tuesday. Communicating the Single Window System, the MHA in a circular to States said proposals having major discrepancies would be returned immediately. 'It is requested that suitable instructions may kindly be issued to the concerned department in the State Government responsible for sending proposals for empanelment of officers for appointment to the post of DGP/HoPF of the State to ensure submission of all proposals in future as per the guidelines prescribed for the Single Window System'. It is pertinent to note the Supreme Court is hearing a batch of petitions which alleged that the norms prescribed by the apex court in 2006 in the matter of appointing State DGPs were being flouted or not being followed in letter and spirit. A senior advocate moved the top court saying the due process was not followed in the appointment of Jharkhand DGP Anurag Gupta.
Hindustan Times
2 hours ago
- Hindustan Times
BJP lodges police complaint in Delhi against Mamata Banerjee over ‘fake video'
Kolkata: West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee's allegation that the Delhi police physically tortured a toddler and his mother on July 26 during the ongoing drive against migrant workers from her state on the suspicion that they were illegal Bangladeshi immigrants triggered a row on Tuesday with the Bharatiya Janata Party lodging a police complaint against her in the national capital. West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee addresses the gathering at a language movement rally, in Birbhum, on Monday. (PTI) In the complaint letter, a copy of which was seen by HT, Banerjee was charged with 'dissemination of fake and communally provocative content on social media intended to defame the Delhi Police and disturb public order.' It was filed on Tuesday afternoon at the cyber crime branch at the Delhi police headquarters by Soumendu Adhikari, the BJP Lok Sabha member from Contai and brother of the leader of the Opposition in Bengal Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari. The complaint letter said Banerjee should be booked for several offences including 'wantonly giving provocation with intent to cause riot' and 'cyber terrorism.' On July 27, Banerjee posted a video of a toddler and his mother on social media and alleged that Delhi police physically tortured them during the drive. 'Atrocious!! Terrible!! See how Delhi police brutally beat up a kid and his mother, members of a migrant family from Malda's Chanchal. See how even a child is not spared from the cruelty of violence in the regime of linguistic terror unleashed by BJP in the country against the Bengalis! Where are they taking our country now?' Banerjee wrote on X. She posted the video hours after the Trinamool Congress (TMC) launched its year-long 'Bhasa Andolan' (language movement) alleging that police in BJP-ruled states were specifically targeting migrant workers who speak Bengali. Banerjee referred to the video again on Monday while leading a protest in Birbhum district. The video was apparently recorded by a man who pointed at some scars in the child's left ear and forehead. 'Police tortured my wife and one-and-a-half year-old son,' the man could be heard saying in the video. The Delhi police countered the allegation on Monday, calling the charges 'fabricated' and 'politically motivated.' Addressing the media, deputy commissioner of police (East) Abhishek Dhania said: 'Upon inquiry, we identified the woman as Sanjanu Parveen. During questioning, she alleged that on the night of July 26, four men in plain clothes posing as police personnel took her and her child to a secluded spot and demanded ₹25,000, which she claimed to have paid.' The DCP said police investigation, analysis of footage from local security cameras and local intelligence revealed inconsistencies in the woman's statements. 'During sustained questioning, the woman admitted that her relative, a political worker from Malda district in West Bengal, had asked her to make the video. The video was then circulated locally in Bengal and later surfaced on social media,' Dhania said. 'This appears to be a deliberate attempt to malign the image of Delhi Police through a politically motivated narrative. The matter is still under investigation,' he added. On Tuesday, while Suvendu Adhikari addressed the media in Kolkata and showed a security camera footage recovered by the Delhi police, the chief minister stuck to her allegation while addressing an administrative meeting in Birbhum. 'Check the records. The woman was held overnight by Delhi police and threatened. She is still in their custody. We want all of them to return safely. After that it will be clear who is lying and who is telling the truth, ' she said. Bengal BJP unit president Samik Bhattacharya targeted the chief minister. 'We all know she is a creative person, a painter, a poet and a writer. It is surprising that she composed such a weak script. The lies have been exposed,' said Bhattacharya.
Hindustan Times
3 hours ago
- Hindustan Times
Mumbai ‘encounter specialist' cop Daya Nayak promoted to ACP rank
Senior police inspector Daya Nayak, once known as an `encounter specialist', was on Tuesday promoted to the rank of Assistant Commissioner of Police, an official said. 'Encounter specialist' Daya Nayak(X/@bandranews_com) Senior inspectors Jivan Kharat, Deepak Dalvi and Pandurang Pawar too were promoted as ACP by the order of the Maharashtra home department, he said. Nayak, who joined Mumbai Police in 1995 and is currently posted at the Bandra unit of the crime branch, rose to fame in the 1990s as one of the police officers who gunned down a number of gangsters in `encounters'. A film was also made on him. In 2006, the anti-corruption bureau registered a disproportionate assets case against him, but he was later given a clean chit. Nayak also served in the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) and was part of the team which solved the case of the Ambani residence security scare and subsequent murder of Thane businessman Mansukh Hiren in 2021.
