How Visakhapatnam Police is planning to give a second chance to rowdy-sheeters

Standing true to the saying, “the job of a policeman is to eliminate crime and not the criminal”, the Visakhapatnam City Police have introduced a new initiative, ‘Marpu’. A brainchild of Visakhapatnam City Police Commissioner, Manish Kumar Sinha (IPS), the programme aims to give a second chance to the reformed rowdy-sheeters to lead a normal life.

Speaking to Yo!, Visakhapatnam DCP (law and order) Aishwarya Rastogi, informed that under the initiative, the names of former offenders, whose rowdy-sheets have been inactive, can be deleted if the officers concerned feel that the individuals in question are deserving candidates. Shedding light on the reason behind introducing this unique programme, the Visakhapatnam DCP said, “Once the history sheet, in terms of rowdy sheet or a suspect sheet, is opened on the criminals, they get branded and tagged in the society. The sheets help us keep a close watch on them. However, in certain cases, the sheets do continue years after the individuals have changed their course of life.”

Mentioning one such incident, Mr Rastogi said that in a recent case, an individual whose rowdy sheet dated back to 2007, applied for a police clearance certificate for a passport, intended job purposes. “Unfortunately, he was unable to get the passport since his name was listed. There were several other instances where reformed history-sheeters lost opportunities due to the existence of rowdy sheets in their names. Considering these cases, the Visakhapatnam City Police Commissioner has launched – Marpu,” he shared.

A review committee consisting of Visakhapatnam DCP (law and order), along with ADCP (City Special Branch), ACP Task Force, and jurisdictional ACP, has been instituted by Mr Sinha. The committee will scrutinise all history sheets of rowdies in compliance with the AP Police Manual orders. Based on the observations, the special team will recommend continuance or closure of the sheets.

Elaborating the process of evaluation, the Visakhapatnam DCP noted that the rowdy-sheeters can directly approach the committee or the SHOs of the police stations concerned. He further said, “A thorough background check of the applicant will be carried out. Their criminal history and current source of income are key parameters to evaluate the former offenders. In Visakhapatnam, there are over 450 persons on whom rowdy-sheets are being maintained at different police stations. If we are able to help at least a handful of genuinely reformed history-sheeters, our purpose would be served.”