Guwahati, Criminal-hati

Guwahati, historians say, had derived is a name from the fact that in olden times it was a cluster of haati (villages) where the people grew guwa or betel-nut trees in abundance. There is yet another theory, that the name of Guwahati was derived from a number of haati (villages) that had a number of guha or caves in the hills around them. Well, we can accept both, because while betel-nut palms are still seen in large numbers in different localities in modern-day Guwahati, the Kamakhya temple – the biggest tourist attraction to the city – itself is a cave-temple, going by the way the sanctum sanctorum or garbha-griha of the world’s most important centre of tantric study and practice is shaped. Front-Page news of this newspaper on Monday, however, tells us a totally different image that this ancient city has acquired; that Guwahati was fast transforming into a haven for criminals. According to the news story, the number of crimes registered in Guwahati city has jumped from 18,436 during 2018 to 20,728 during 2019. This is indeed a matter of grave concern, especially because the city police mechanism only four years ago had been upgraded from a Superintendent’s domain to a Police Commissionerate. What is more alarming is the fact that the highest number of cases of crimes has been recorded in the Central Police District, which comprises most portions of the old and most prestigious town that was declared as a city with a Municipal Corporation way back in 1974. The Jalukbari police station has the saddest story to tell with 2,039 cases registered in 2019, while Chandmari has come a close second by registering as any as 1,766 cases of various crimes committed during 2019. Paltanbazar police station, whose area of jurisdiction probably has the highest population density in the state, however, has come a close third by registering 1, 428 crimes last year. Panbazar police station – which is one of the oldest police stations in the Northeast, having its roots in a chowki that the British had set up a couple of months after freeing Guwahati from the clutches of the Burmese invaders in March 1824 – is no better in crime control, registering 911 cases in 2019. While our reporter is yet to write on the different types of crimes that the city registered in the last one year, it is a fact that the number of crimes against or affecting women has been rapidly on the rise in Guwahati in the past few years. Though Guwahati is one of the most peaceful cities in the country, and the police and the people together brought the situation under control within a little over a couple of days after a section of people protesting the passing of Citizenship (Amendment) Bill had turned violent, increasing crimes against women has remained a blot. The nature of crimes against women in the city have been varied, ranging from rape to kidnapping or abduction, sexual harassment or sexual exploitation at workplace and home, dowry deaths and cruelty by husband and his relatives etc. Sociologists have identified rapid and haphazard urbanization, industrialization, migration, psychological attitude, social disorganization, degrading moral values among youth etc as some of the major factors that have contributed to the increasing crime rate in the city. It was in this city that a young woman belonging to a marginalized community from a rural area was stripped by a mob comprising young educated persons in broad daylight just about a kilometre away from the Chief Minister’s office in November 2007, while another young woman was molested and a TV channel aired the ghastly visuals in July 2012 here. The fact, however, remains that the police alone cannot control crime. It is for the society to play a pro-active role. Unforunately, the civil society has decided to remain aloof from such issues, leaving everything to the police and the government. So have the academia. Families are today apparently less bothered than before about what their young members – particularly the males – are doing till late evening or night outside. Communities have lost that layer of members which would till a couple of decades ago play the assertive role of common guardians of children and young adults in their respective localities. Parents are increasingly giving up the age-old good practice of introducing their neighbours to their younger ones as bor-deuta/bor-maa and dodaideu/khurideu, while the wonderful social relationships like tawoi and amoi have simply disappeared. Yet another contributory factor for the increasing trend of crimes in Guwahati city is the increasing number of suspected illegal migrants. It is now common knowledge that more than ninety per cent of the persons arrested for crimes like thefts, burglary, murder, kidnapping, car-lifting, bike-theft, snatching of mobiles, purses and chains, belong to this category of people.