When cops watched 'Border' with villagers

  With an aim to instil confidence in the person sitting in the remotest area, the cops have decided to don a new mantle and become people-friendly.

With this backdrop in mind, an array of men in khakhi reached Khudaganj, a small hamlet, in Nalanda district. Normally, villagers here panic seeing police as the place borders the naxal-infested Gaya district. But much to their astonishment, they found the cops were carrying a film projector and a huge sound box. It was then revealed that the cops would watch the movie “Border” with the villagers.

But before the screening of JP Dutta’s magnum opus, the village elders were asked to undergo a medical test conducted by a team of doctors who had accompanied the cops. “The exercise was part of the ‘community policing’ in which the doctors examined the blood pressure and conducted diabetes test for the senior citizens,” said DGP Bihar, Neelmani, explaining about the new role of his men-in-uniform.

While the village elders underwent the medical check-up, the policemen distributed sweets among the children present there. When it was dark, the projector was set in motion. Nearly 4,000 villagers, accompanied by the sub-divisional officer, block development officer and local policemen sat together and watched “Border.”

“You need not fear at all, as we are always with you,” was the parting shot of the cops, who intend to continue the community policing elsewhere too to instil confidence among those who face the naxal threat most.

The other side of the police was seen in the previous regime of Nitish too, when men in khaki were seen counselling and coaxing drop-out children to rejoin the school and get basic education.

The programme, nicknamed Police chali school ki ore, had run for almost one month and yielded rich dividends. In the first month itself, around 20,000 students were enrolled afresh in different primary schools.