Top cop blames ‘promiscuity’
Mumbai police commissioner Satyapal Singh, speaking to a news channel, pointed out that in 2011 and 2012, only 5 per cent of rape cases registered in the city were by persons unknown to the victim, while 95 per cent rapes were committed by relatives or friends.
These included cases of fathers raping their own daughters. “Can any police force in the world stop such crimes?” Dr Singh asked.
The problem, he said, is one of “mental sickness”, of which the rapes were a physical manifestation. Dr Singh went on to say that the “mental sickness” was growing in society and asked whether doctors should be blamed for increase in the number of diabetes cases.
While pointing to several measures the force has taken for women’s security following the Delhi gangrape, he said the size of the police force in Mumbai is too small for a city with Mumbai’s population.
Asked about “moral policing”, he said: “Should the police do moral policing or immoral policing? On the one hand, people wanted to “encourage this kind of culture”, he said, replying to a question about dancing in pubs and kissing in parks, “while on the other hand you want to stop sexual assaults”. He said “on the one hand you want a promiscuous culture, on the other hand you want safety for women”, and said that the society needed to work out a balance.
He said there were “modern youth” in society who wanted freedom of all sorts, but did not want to be harassed by police.
A caller on the show asked whether legalising prostitution might help reduce sex crimes, to which Mr Singh said, “Today, you want to legalise prostitution, tomorrow you will want to legalise rape… we have to stop somewhere.” He admitted to political interference at the local level, but said it was up to senior officers to ensure the force remained accountable to the law.
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