Shri. V. Balakrishnan IPS presently serves as Joint Commissioner of Police, North Zone, Greater Chennai City.  He has over 17 years of experience in Law and Order and other subjects of policing. With the prestigious Chevening scholarship, he completed his Post Graduation Human Rights from University College of London and with ICAR fellowship he pursued MSc Agriculture from Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi. 

During his stint as Deputy Commissioner of Police, Mylapore, he was the Chief Negotiating Officer in the Jallikattu protest movement in 2017. He also ensured rescue and rehabilitation of people from slum areas in Kotturpuram in Adyar river during the unprecedented flood in Chennai.

Balakrishnan’s interest lies in fighting crime against women and children, rehabilitation of juvenile delinquents and cybercrimes. 

In an exclusive interview, Shri V. Balakrishnan IPS shares with Marie Banu his passion for issues affecting women and children.

About the Police Boys Clubs and Policy Girls Clubs you launched in Trichy schools?

When I joined as DIG of Trichy, I had five districts under my command: Trichy, Pudukottai, Karur, Ariyalur and Perambalur. Although Trichy is a city, the rest of the delta region and the districts surrounding Trichy are essentially rural.

We analysed the problems in the area and identified issues related to women and children. One of the strategies we adopted to address these issues was to launch Police Boys Clubs and Police Girls clubs. In fact, it was conceived initially to have these Clubs at College level. We even conducted a meeting for the College Principals in all the five districts and started the Clubs in few colleges too.

The statistics and the analysis of ten years of crime data revealed that the focus should be on school-going children. The problem starts when the child is at the age of 13-14 and therefore there is no point in addressing the issue at the College level where their ideas are already cyrstallised. This led us to launch the Police Boys Clubs and Police Girls Clubs in schools.

For the Pilot project, we chose five schools in each district based on the under-age marriages that were reported. We initially called it child marriage, but it conveyed a different meaning. Basically, it is teenage marriage i.e. before they attain the legal age for marriage. Our concern was not love marriage per se, but to tell the children to postpone their decision until they complete their Collegiate education.

We found that early exposure to social media was one of the reasons for under-age marriages.  Through the Police Boys Clubs and Police Girls clubs we created awareness on cyber crimes and promoted safe usage of social media. Now, with the COVID scenario children have access to internet due to the online classes. When we look at it in hindsight, it was a good decision.

We selected five students from eighth, ninth, and tenth standard and these 15 students were trained by experts. We called them Ambassadors of Child Security; our messengers. When they observed signs of children getting into relationships, they counselled them, took up the issue with their teachers and parents, and ensured that stringent actions were not taken.

We took it up as a research project and are now coming up with a report to understand the effectiveness of the Clubs.  The findings would lead to replication in other areas.

The impact of evidenced based policing with regard to crime against women?

Evidenced based policing is a popular concept world over.  But this has not been used in cases on crime against women in our country. We analysed 75,000 cases [on crimes against women] that occurred over the last 10 years and plotted them on a GIS map to identify the hotspots in each area. 

Under the current set up, the crime against women is dealt by the All Women Police Stations. For each DSP Sub Division there is an All Women Police Station and in Trichy we have five of them. In each of these jurisdictions, we found five hotspots, hence introduced a Special Police Beat. It was more focused on prevention rather than reaction because the damage is already done when an incident happens in cases related to crimes against women.

The women police officers visit the villages and identify factors which are conducive for crime against women. This was done after a lot of deliberations and field studies. I have personally interacted with the village women and discussed issues they faced at home and outside. We were able to instill a sense of security in them.

We realised the need for improved follow up systems to being carried out for victims. Hence, we volunteered to conduct a ‘Family day’ at our Police Station every month. We invited families who had lodged complaints in the last six months to come and share their experiences so that other families can benefit. The intention was to ensure that they are living happy.  We also invited Gynecologists on this occasion.  This was because there were many cases of suicide among women being reported for the reason that they could not conceive and were harassed and stigmatised in their community.

Your effort to include Transgenders in Police Home guards in Madurai?

In 2014, before the Supreme Court pronounced that Transgenders should also be considered for Government jobs, we included them in the Police Home Guards. In fact, we were looking for solutions to find a legal source of income for them, especially for those who were involved in sexual crimes. This idea came up, as there was no bar on recruiting Home Guards in any service. It was basically a mindset, and we tried it out.

As it was a new initiative, I saw that the initial teething issues were sorted out. After I got transferred, it continued for a while and then died out. Fortunately, the Supreme Court Judgement now makes them eligible for recruitment in Government jobs.

Is the present media (including social media) a bane or boon for policing?

I was in Indian Information Service and worked for Press Information Bureau for a while. I had close interactions with the top journalists in Delhi and have maintained a friendly relationship with the media from the beginning. According to me, whenever there is a problem with the authorities and the media, it is due to the failure to understand each other’s compulsions.

Media want to take the information to the public first while the authorities have a protocol to follow before they communicate to the public. 

The problem with social media is that there is no time tag or credibility check attached. It is an extension of freedom of expression although there are constitutional limitations in certain areas. We cannot discredit the entire social media just because some people are misusing it.  Social media gives lot of power to the common man and when one uses it liberally, we should try to inculcate a sense of responsibility in citizens. Curtailing the freedom in social media is not a solution.

Recently, there was a news item about Kasimedu fishing harbour, but the picture shown was a file photo –which was taken before the incident happened. Unwittingly, they ended up in sensationalising the entire issue. A sense of responsibility is therefore essential while reporting.

I consider social media as a very good medium not only for the public but also for the police officials. This is the fastest medium now, faster than 24×7 news channels. When news with videos are posted, the credibility increases. Sometimes, the videos are also edited and projected out of context.  Readers should not be judgmental and jump to conclusions. They should verify the facts and the source of information.

As a police officer, social media has been extremely useful for me as I am able to communicate with the public. Also, the media persons take a cue from my posts and if it is a news of interest, they collect more details.