JOIN USThe changing socio-cultural mores in the City are forcing police to don a different hat - that of counsellors apart from their usual duty of maintaining law and order.
The additional responsibility has taken a toll on their primary duties of detection and prevention of crime. Recently, the HAL police, under South East division, had a tough time tackling a case pertaining to a couple, both IT pros.
Amit Khanna (name changed), 27, from Chhattisgarh and Divyagnee Mukherjee (name changed), 26, from Kolkata, were introduced to each other by Vinay, a common friend, at a party three years ago. They worked for two different IT companies in Whitefield and stayed in separate apartments at Marathahalli.
“Soon, they started an affair. She stayed with Amit in his apartment, though once in a while she visited her flat,” Vinay told Deccan Herald. She got pregnant and the duo got the baby aborted. Months later, she became pregnant again. This time, too, they got an abortion done. They continued the affair which resulted in her pregnancy a third time in March, Vinay explained.
Divyagnee approached a doctor who advised against the abortion as it was dangerous and she might not be able to conceive in future. A rift ensued between the couple over the issue, said the HAL police. She forced him to marry her, but Amit refused. After the intervention by friends, he ‘permitted’ her to deliver and agreed to raise the child, but refused to marry Divyagnee. She lodged a complaint with the HAL police in the first week of June, alleging Amit raped her for two years. The police arrested and sent him to the Central Prisons in Parappana Agrahara.
“She applied for leave, prepared food for him and took it to the prison. She approached us and requested us to release him. We told her the FIR could not be changed at this stage,” said the police.
The matter came up in the 10th ACMM court. Divyagnee arranged for an advocate who got Amit bail. Things went wrong again and she moved the High Court seeking cancellation of the bail, claiming he had raped her continuously. She approached the HAL police and pleaded for his arrest. The police took the help of professional counsellors to solve the problem, police said.
“The incident shows the kind of problems police face thanks to the changing nature of relationships and socio-cultural values. The IT pros think just because they have the money they can manipulate the law to their benefit. This affects our basic work,” a police officer said.
Anita Raghavendra, psychologist and counsellor, Bharathi Hospital, Prashanthnagar, said there should be authorised counselling centres near police stations as proper counselling cannot happen inside the station. Such persons should be dealt with care and love as they cannot control the emotions, she said.