Delhi Police Chief Neeraj Kumar rejects demands of his resignation

NEW DELHI: Delhi Police commissioner Neeraj Kumar today ruled out his resignation in the wake of alleged police insensitivity in dealing with the child rape case but promised exemplary action against policemen found lax in handling it.

"If my resigning will prevent such depraved action of the society, then I am ready to resign a thousand times. But that is not going to address the problem," he said at a press conference, the first media interaction after the case of a five-year-old child being raped and brutally assaulted by a neighbour in East Delhi came to light four days ago.

"But that is not going to solve the problem. The problem is one of mental depravity, one of psychopathy, the problem is one of mental sickness and that is not going to be sorted out by anyone resigning," he said.

When a reporter asked him whether he would resign following demands made in the context of the rape case, Kumar asked a counter question, "If you do some wrong reporting does your editor resign?"

The Police Commissioner had come under severe scrutiny and demands were made for his removal even during the agitations in protest against police inaction at the time of gang-rape of a girl in a moving bus on December 16 last year.

Asked whether he feels that Delhi Police was doing a bad job, he said "not at all".

"Absolutely," replied Kumar, who is set to retire in July, when asked if he was satisfied with his tenure as Delhi Police Chief.

Kumar said police personnel who allegedly offered Rs 2,000 to parents of the child to hush up the case are yet to be identified. He admitted that the police personnel did not act the way they should have done.