IEP DEHRADUN
The murder of Ankita Bhandari by a resort owner in Gangabhogpur area of Yamkeshwar in Pauri district has renewed the long standing demand for abolition of the old system of revenue police in Uttarakhand. In more than 60 per cent of the territory of the State the revenue Patwaris are also given police powers. Vidhan Sabha speaker Ritu Khanduri sent a letter to the chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami in which she requested that the system of revenue police should be abolished with immediate effect and police posts and stations should be set up in place of revenue police posts.
“ VS speaker writes letter to CM on the subject ” She said that the old practice of revenue police is still prevalent in many areas of the State. Khanduri said that in Ankita Bhandari could have lived had the normal police been functioning and the general public would not have been so much agitated as they are today.
She said that in today’s time when victim can file zero FIR from any part of the country and register his or her complaint one is pained to observe that revenue police personnel which lack modern arms and no training to deal with criminals are operating in an area which is only 15 kilometres away from the Rishikesh city.
Khanduri requested that police stations and posts should be set up in the areas which are under the jurisdiction of the revenue police so that the repetition of such incidents is prevented.