INDIA: Police's senior citizen cell progresses at snail's pace

NEW DELHI (Press Trust of India), August 7, 2008: By Ashwini Shrivastava With Delhi police claiming to leave no stone unturned in protecting old people, statistics reveal that the much touted Delhi police's senior citizen cell is moving at a snail's pace. Even as crime data shows that criminals are striking elderly people frequently, the senior citizen wing of the Delhi police has registered only less than 8,000 such citizens from the city in the last four years. According to a Delhi police data, mere 7,313 senior citizens out of the national capital populace were registered with its cell since its inception four years back. A total of 3,507 people between 60-70 years age group, 2,875 of 71-80 years, 918 between 81-96 years age group and 13 falling in 96 and above age group are registered with it, it said. "We are committed to providing a healthy atmosphere to our people in and around the city. But people should come forward to get themselves registered. This is how we can better ensure a secure atmosphere around them," said Singh, adding "there was no crime committed against the people registered with our cell," Kewal Singh, Additional Commissioner of Police and incharge of the senior citizen cell told PTI, adding that "no crime was committed against the ones registered with our cell". Though the data didn't specify registration of senior citizen with respect to the locality, sources say that most of the such people are from posh localities while many of the areas are out of its ambit. What is more worrying is the fact that out of nearly seven thousand individuals, nearly 300 of them have registered complaints of crime, extortion and harassment. Source: Press Trust of India