Saviours can also be perpetrators of crime. There have been instances of private security and detective agencies indulging in unlawful activities especially burglary. Says Delhi Police Commissioner T R Kakkar:

"In the past, we have come across cases where the guards were involved in committing a crime in the premises which they were guarding. One such complaint came up against the Payal Security Agency, Okhla. This particular agency's guards were involved in a number of cases." The need to guard against the guards has emerged from the absence of any law regulating the activities of these agencies. Kakkar agrees: "In the years to come, we will have to enact a law like in the West, which must include criteria for recruitment and guidelines for training procedure, especially the use of weapons.

Moreover, the secrecy attached with their functioning arouses suspicion in minds. In fact, many agencies when contacted were reluctant to speak about their business. But Kakkar feels that the transactions of these companies should be made open to scrutiny.

Recent years have seen a mushrooming of such agencies but Kakkar does not agree that it is the growing insecurity which gives them business. "No government can provide spot security. What they can give is only collective security. There is a gap between the demand and availability of manpower with the police." Kakkar feels that the life is no more insecure than it was few years ago. For him the logic behind people opting for private security is very simple.

"When you don't see something, you don't think about it but when you see something, you go for it. And with people having more money now they can afford to spend on personal security."

Is it the `if he has a Ceilo, I want one' attitude which is working on the urban psyche? Though Kakkar's reasoning sounds like that, he also feels that with a large number of industries coming up in the recent past, the market for private security and detective services has increased. "MNCs have an inclination towards employing private security. They do that in their own countries." But for individuals it is a matter of choice. "The people having palatial homes have two options. One, to leave their houses unguarded because they cannot expect a policeman to be posted at every house gate. The other option is to employ private security. So they opt for the second."

The private agencies claim that they employ people only after a thorough verification of their antecedents. Kakkar ridicules the claim. "They have no such mechanism. The question is what you require for verification. Is it enough to know father's name and address. Any verification process should tell what the person in question has been doing all these years. Criminal record should be checked, which they can't. How can they?"

There are, however, claims like that of Sachit Kumar, executive director, Globe Detectives. "Most of the time, people come to us after they have been to the police and it is mainly due to the latter's inefficiency that people start relying on us," says Kumar. Kakkar labels it as a tall claim.

"Investigation can only be done by police under the law. The claim of these detectives that people come to them instead of going to the police is not true."

He feels it is mainly people who have to settle personal and business scores who engage the services of private detectives. "Most of the time their business comes from a husband wanting to get his wife followed or a businessman wanting to keep track of his rival's activities."

The dealing between these agencies and their clients is purely private which is not supported by the law yet people feel that it is required. Police gets cracking only if there is some complaint otherwise it is: "Why should I? How does it affects me. There are many things happening inside the four walls of a house, why should I poke my nose everywhere." Kakkar, nevertheless, sees a silver lining. "They are doing something. They are giving employment."

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.