The Nepal Police seems to really be in a high drive these days. The Kathmandu division has specially done a good job by arresting many robbers and criminals. Others have also been arrested while trying to rob houses and shops. This is indeed a huge change from the days when even daylight murderers have gone away Scot free.
The most exemplary arrest was made just a few days back when a gang of robbers were arrested even as they were trying to break in into a jewelry shop in the heart of the City in New Road. Four people were arrested, who confessed that they normally robbed such stores during the festive season when the shops were stocked up with gold and other jewelry. What these “robbers” seemed true when another gang virtually hacked a gold shopkeeper a couple of days back in busy Samakhusi.
However, in spite of the efforts of the Police in recent days, some questions still remain in the “cleanliness” within the Police Force itself. There are accusations that none less than the Chief of the whole Force, or the Inspector General of Police (IGP), is also involved in corrupt practices. The present IGP, Ramesh Chand Thakuri, came forth as a clean person and an officer who wanted to clean up the mess left behind by his predecessors. He replaced a person who became the IGP for less than six months, but he himself has a long tenure and he probably thinks he is lucky.
However, in spite of his smiling face and, what the media convey as “good nature”, IGP Thakuri has not been able to control corruption and he himself is allegedly involved in many shady deals.
"Thakuri spent through commission agents more than seventy million rupees to get his present post, so how can he claim himself as clean?" a journalist questioned to me. I agreed, and further informed this colleague that instead of curbing corruption, Thakuri has institutionalized it. "The morale of the whole Police Force has been damaged by this weak and corrupt IGP," one police officer told me on the condition of anonymity.
But to go back in history, the corrupt practices in the Police Force began in the Eighties, when persons like Dil Bahadur Lama and others like him were appointed to the top spot, just because of the money they provided to the decision makers and also the work they did for them. It was no surprise that later on, IGP Lama was accused of being involved in drug smuggling, along with the personal military assistant of late Prince Dhirendra, who was his mentor.
It was a downward journey for the Nepal Police from then onwards. Another IGP, Moti Lal Bohara is also accused of being very, very corrupt. Allegedly, he has land in all seventy five districts in the country, a feat which even corrupt Prime Ministers and ministers cannot boast about. While such accusations may be hyperbolic, still, he does have immense property, which any honest police officer would not have been able to earn in ten life times.
But while these IGPs indulged only in corruption, one dishonourable IGP was Achyut Krishna Kharel, was also involved in inciting and adding fuel to the deadly conflict that took place in Nepal from 1996 onwards. He not only earned money by buying useless weapons and hiring helicopters during the Maoist conflict, but he also fanned the fight between the rebels and the police, in which no one but the innocent Nepalese lost their lives. It is a wonder why the so concerned human rights activists don’t mention this person’s name while pontificating about impunity. IGP Kharel, Home Minister Govinda Raj Joshi, Home Secretary Padam Prasad Pokhrel and their sidekicks, were the people who fuelled the conflict and compelled the Nepal Army to come to the fore and be involved in the war in which both the Maoists and the security personnel were involved in rights violations. So Mr. Bennet, aren’t these people as responsible as those generals and others whom you people are pin-pointing as if only they are responsible for all the misery that was seen in the conflict that lasted ten years?
But to come back to our main themes, the roots of corruption that was sown by none less than the Chiefs of the Force, has started to reach the lowest levels and in spite of the good works trying to be done by some officers, it can be said that more corruption is taking place than can be imagined.
For example, if one asks any person in Kathmandu or other such cities in the country about the behaviour of the police personnel, most express the view that police personnel are corrupt. "Theere is no difference between Police Raj and Goonda Raj," a senior business entrepreneur told me once. Specially the owners of restaurants, dance bars, discos and such entertainment spots complain of how the police harass them. In turn, the police say that these places have become fertile ground for criminal activities. If this is so, then why at all give a license to such business houses, which could be a breeding ground for criminals? This is a logical question, which owners of these places frequently put forth.
Like written a hundred times in different newspapers, it is alleged that police officers from the lowest level, pay huge bribes to their bosses to be posted in the “right” place. By “right” place, it can be the postings in the lucrative places in Kathmandu, at border areas where illegal business transactions take place, at the only international airport, the Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu and such places, mostly in the urban areas where money transactions take place. If some official is sent to a remote posting, then it means either that officer has not been able to grease the palms of his superiors or he has been punished. At least that is what is being said in the Police and bureaucratic circles.
Some good work has been started to clean up the image of the Force itself, but a long journey may be ahead before the personnel can win over the trust of the people. (The writer can be reached at: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it )