Delhi Police commissioner B S Bassi shoots from hip at meet

NEW DELHI: "Mein jab pange leta hoon toh bahut khatarnak tarike se leta hoon (I am dangerous when I get after someone)." Police commissioner B S Bassi was surprisingly unguarded at the last full-scale press interaction of his career on Monday. Without naming Aam Aadmi Party, with which he has worked for 11 tense months, he left nobody in doubt about the target of his barbs.

The top cop said it will be Delhi's "badkismati (misfortune)" if its police are placed under the state government as they will be under "local pressure". He added that pressure from the Centre is easier to shrug off as no Prime Minister can have a local interest in Delhi unless he belongs to the city.
Bassi peppered references to the government with expressions like "crocodile tears" and "drama concerns" while insisting that police were more sensitive to and concerned for the people of Delhi.

If there was a note of derision for AAP, Bassi praised the interactive apps launched during his tenure like a proud parent. In a first for a Delhi Police chief, he used animation and video clips to showcase his "smart policing" moves. Be it Himmat—an app for women's safety—or others meant to apply for police clearance certificates and report vehicle theft, he let the videos do the talking.

Bassi didn't elaborate on the across-the-board increase in crime. Although he meant it as practical advice, his suggestion that people insure their houses and valuables because "70% of burglaries and theft" are never solved, raised eyebrows.

The commissioner took a fiercer line on rape, saying police would shoot or hang rapists if the law allowed it. He blamed society for the increase in rape, and added that the number of cases had also increased because of growing awareness and easy registration.

Bassi, who is fond of wrestling and workouts, said women should be empowered and trained in self-defence so that each one can fight off four men.

He skirted questions on core policing issues, investigation and crime prevention, quickly moving on from posers on the Sunanda Pushkar case, several unsolved robberies and murders.

The "khatarnak" remark came towards the end of the conference, but it didn't seem like a slip because he signed off saying he knew the media would play up such remarks.