Patna, Aug. 27: Suresh Kumar Singh (name changed), a resident of Raja Bazaar, was robbed of his cellphone and some cash by a group of armed criminals on Bailey Road when he was going to Patna Junction early in the morning. Singh visited the Shastrinagar police station to report the matter. The policeman on duty asked him to come the next day with documents of his cellphone.

Singh, who works with a newspaper, visited the police station next day to lodge a complaint. The policeman on duty advised him to lodge the complaint in the court as affidavit was not attached with the application. “I requested to the policeman to register the complaint but my plea fell on deaf ear,” said Singh, adding that he finally approached the court, which directed the concerned police station to lodge a case.

Singh’s is not an isolated case. Ganesh Kumar (name changed), a resident of Saguna More, visited the Danapur police station to lodge a complaint about the disappearance of his 18-year-old daughter on August 3. The cop refused to entertain his compla-int on the plea that his daughter might have eloped with her boyfriend. “Search your daug-hter instead of lodging a complaint in the police station,” Kumar quoted the policeman.

A week later, Kumar came to know about the presence of his daughter in Supaul. Kumar approached the Supaul superintendent of police (SP) asking for help to get back his daughter. The SP turned down his request, saying it was none of his business. “First lodge a complaint with the police station under whose jurisdiction she was last seen,” Kumar quoted the SP as saying.

The attitude of the police left Kumar shocked. He lodged a complaint in a Patna court. “The court is yet to take cognisance of the application. By the time the court will issue a directive, my daughter will be shifted somewhere else,” he said, adding that the policemen have now adopted a new strategy to curb the crime — “don’t entertain FIRs (first information reports)”.

A spurt in incidents of crime in the initial months of the current year has left the senior policemen flummoxed.

They have reportedly instructed their sub-ordinates to lodge cases only when it appears to be important. “After all we have to explain to our seniors the reason for the rise in the crime graph. It is revie-wed on a monthly basis in the districts. The station house officers are often rebuked by th-eir bosses for their failure to curb crime,” said an officer on the condition of anonymity.

“Yahan sab aakaron ka khel hai (It’s a numbers game),” he said, adding that the performance of a police officer is adjudged by crime data such as how many fresh cases are lodged, how many them have been disposed of and how many remain undetected.

The indifferent attitude of the police to register FIR has led to unprecedented rise in complaint cases in the courts over the years. Statistics available at the Patna civil court indicate an increase in complaint cases in the court in the past eight years. (See chart).

The police bosses, however, rubbished the claim. “FIRs are now lodged at the police stations even through email and SMSs. There is no question of refusal of complaint by any police officer,” a senior police officer said.