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A Village Burnt Overnight: Tears, Loss and Survival in Dhamangaon Blaze

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  Sitting amid the blackened remains of his home, 32-year-old Nikesh Gawali carefully broke open a half-melted plastic box with a screwdriver. His hands shook slightly, not out of fear, but out of hope. “I’m trying to find my daughter Aarti’s gold earrings,” he said quietly, still focused on the box. “She’s just five. I got them made recently after months of labour work.” The plastic box, warped and blackened by heat, was one of the few things left from his two-room house on the outskirts of Dhamangaon village . All around him lay ash, broken tin sheets and charred wooden beams. The walls had cracked under the heat and the front room’s tin roof had caved in completely. What remained was a blackened debris all around - almost nothing to suggest a home once stood there. Nikesh earns his living as an agricultural labourer, like many in the village. Work is uncertain and depends on the season. Those earrings weren’t just jewellery - they were a small dream, a reward for his hard work,...
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30,946 mobile phones stolen in last six years

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Cops are reluctant to file mobile theft cases

Citizens of Nagpur have lost 30,946 mobile phones in last six years though officially only 1,300 have been registered as being stolen by unknown thieves. The statistics indicate growing trend of mobile thefts and missing cases across the city over the past five years. 
In response to an RTI application filed by The Hitavada, Nagpur Police have furnished statistics of mobile missing cases and theft cases which reveals machinery’s approach to not recognise mobile loss as theft and merely record it as a missing case. Many police stations have not filed a single mobile missing or mobile theft cases “some” years.
mobile theft

The cumulative statistics of Nagpur Commissionerate since year 2010 stated that total 29,646 mobile phones were stolen in six years and, 1,300 mobile theft cases were reported in the city. 

In the year 2010, Nagpur police registered 2,988 mobile missing cases and 135 mobile theft cases. In the year 2011, missing cases increased a bit and touched 3,057 while 143 mobile theft cases were registered. Next year i.e. 2012, a total 2,928 mobile phones went missing but officially only 146 were recorded as stolen. In the year 2013, the mobile missing and theft cases almost doubled and rose to 6,369 and 260 respectively. The instances of mobile missing cases decreased in year 2014 however, the number of mobile thefts increased. The city police registered 302 mobile theft cases while 4,901 missing cases were registered. Most alarming trend was noticed last year as whopping 9,403 mobiles went missing in city along with 314 mobile theft cases. 

Official figures about the police station wise missing mobile cases and theft cases between year 2010 and year 2015 reveals that some police stations have registered the moble theft cases without any inhibition while some did not even accepted mobile missing cases. 

For example, not a single mobile phone went missing or stolen from Gittikhadan and Jaripatka police station area in year 2015. But this is far from truth, since as a matter of strategy many police stations simply shooed away complainants and refused to acknowledge the incident of mobile theft. 

Imambada and Nandanvan police stations have registered whopping 2,030 and 1,941 mobile missing cases in a year. Sakkardara, Hudkeshwar, Ajni and Dhantoli Police Stations have registered 1227, 902, 855 and 688 mobile missing cases respectively. All these six police stations fell under then Zone IV of the city police. 

Analysis of statistics proved that there is trend of registration of missing cases in various zones and police stations. Ambazari police station has registered only 16 missing cases, Rana Pratap Nagar police has registered only 35 cases, Kotwali registered 46 cases, Kalmana has registered 69 cases in a year. 

Every police station of city police covers around 1 lakh population. But the variation in instances of theft raises some elementary questions as to how can there be only 16 cases of missing mobiles in Ambazari police station area when neighbouring Sitabuldi police station area recorded missing report of 613 mobile phones.

A senior police officer said that police station officers used to deal with mobile theft cases as mobile missing cases as they are directed to keep statistics “under controll.” Hence, the figure of mobile missing cases is far more than number of mobile theft cases. “If cops will freely register mobile thefts then the cops will have deal with extra paper work. It will also double the figure yearly crime statistics of each police station and pressure of detection,” the officer said. 
Former Director General of Police (DGP) Pravin Dixit told The Hitavada that complaint about non-registration of mobile thefts by police stations were pouring at DGP office. Hence, a “e-mobile complaint App” was launched for free registration of mobile thefts and missing cases. 

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