Criminal Activities Among Students In Education Institutions Will Be Dealt With Seriously: DGP

Bhubaneswar: Director General of Police (DGP) Rajendra Prasad Sharma
on Tuesday instructed all Superintendents of Police (SPs), DCPs of the
twin cities, SRP Rourkela, SP Economic Offences Wing (EOW) and
officials of Special Task Force (STF) to initiate special measures to
check increasing trend of criminal activities among students like
stalking, hacking, etc, due to advancement of technology within the
cyberspace.

Stating that instances of students pursuing studies in different
educational institutions, indulging themselves in various criminal or
anti-social activities like rape, murder, criminal assault, unlawful
activities, eve-teasing, molestation, kidnapping for ransom, theft,
drug addiction etc have come to the notice, the DGP suggested a set of
advisories for the managers of educational institutions as well as
parents of the students to prevent these unhealthy practices.

“The magnitude of such crimes among students has been increasing
manifold day by day which has been a major concern for college
authorities as well as parents in particular, and police in general.
There is an urgent need to undertake suitable measures to deal with
this sensitive problem and endeavour to make all the educational
institution a crime-free zone”, Sharma said, adding that regular
patrolling in and around the college premises will be intensified by
deploying PCR vans, action should be taken to stop the sale of drugs,
tobacco and contraband products in shops near and around the
educational institutions, special drive under COTPA & JJ Act should be
conducted to remove all tobacco shops near educational institutions in
co-operation with revenue authority/local municipality
authority/police and to make the institution a tobacco-free zone and
the police should take immediate steps against outsiders and
ex-students as per law, who create anti-social activities within the
campus.

Issuing similar instructions for the educational institutions, the DGP
said, “It is noticed that there is a general tendency of management
to avoid police and report only when a major crime takes place or a
Law & Order situation breaks out. However, it is impressed upon that
many of such situations could have been prevented by timely
intervention of police. Therefore, the management should take police
into trust and keep police in loop for all matters related to crime and
law & order. It is also observed that there is a trust deficit amongst
management, parents and students, whereas it is advised that
management of educational institutions should be more participative &
involve parents and share information with regard to activities of
their wards on a regular basis. Besides, the college authorities
should create a data-base of all students studying in the institutions
and share the same with local police.”

A sizable number of students studying in various professional
educational institutions are from outside Odisha and when they leave
home for the first time and stay outside, it is noticed that the air
of freedom gives them a kick to freak out and fall into association of
bad companies. Therefore, the parents are also advised to frequently
visit their wards to look after their well being and keep a watch on
their activities. The parents may be impressed upon to ensure the
followings in respect of their wards. The students should keep good
co-operation with police and college authority. They should discuss
their problems and must not resort to violence, he added.