Over a dozen policemen guard each of 427 VIPs in Delhi

NEW DELHI: A Union Home Ministry report has said that over a dozen policemen guard each of the 427 VIPs in the national capital and Delhi has the highest number of cops on such VIP security, after Punjab.

The report titled "Data on Police Organizations in India-2012" has been prepared by the Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D) under the aegis of the Home Ministry and has been handed over to Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde recently.

In what could be the answer to why the national capital is so unsafe for women, the data in the report shows that while there is one cop in Delhi for every 253 common citizens, there are 5183 police personnel deployedfor giving protection to 427 persons in Delhi, translating into nearly a dozen personnel dedicated to the security of each VIP.

The protected persons include ministers, MPs, MLAs, judges and bureaucrats. The deployment of a dozen personnel for each VIP in Delhi is the highest strength of cops per VIP for any other state and is virtually four times the national average which is only about three policemen being attached with a VIP for his or her security.

The MHA report shows that for 14,842 protected persons nation-wide, 47,557 police personnel have been deputed for their security for more than six months at a stretch. The maximum of 3,030 persons were given protection in Bihar, followed by 1,798 in Punjab and 1,698 in West Bengal. Punjab deployed the maximum of 5,811 police personnel, followed by 5,183 policemen by NCT Delhi and 4,278 by Assam.