Foot patrolling essential

Harminder Singh, 29, was clubbed to death at Aroma light point in Sector 22 on Friday when a police control room vehicle was parked just a few metres from the spot. This has evoked sharp criticism of UT police. Legal experts, former cops and city residents emphasize the need for foot patrolling instead of cops sitting in the comfort of automobiles at places where chances of brawls are high.
The youth could have been saved if cops were on foot patrol instead of being in PCR vehicle. The claim of Chandigarh police officials that altercation was not spotted by PCR cops is not believable because both were present outside the entry point of eating joint in Sector 22 where the fight started. This leaves little room for their not noticing the violence
Mahinder Singh Malik | Former Haryana DGP
Mere police presence is enough to avoid any kind of provocation and assault at a public place. But for that to succeed, police personnel should be on alert. On January 12, when Harminder was murdered, there were only two policemen there and one was a home guard volunteer. It shows negligence on part of senior police officials, who deployed just two personnel at such a highly sensitive point
Prem Singh Malik | former UT DSP
Dunk youths routinely cause nuisance outside Aroma eating joint. I am sure assailants were drunk when they attacked Harminder. The presence of just two cops cannot be considered enough and shows a lack of seriousness on part of senior officials. This makes me feel that Tricity is not all safe
Naresh Malhotra | Businessman, Sector 22
Harminder could not have been saved even if there were four cops in the police vehicle instead of two. The presence of cops in a police van is never enough. They should step out of their vehicles and be visible to the people so their presence works as a deterrent against violence
Dr Sandeep Vyas | Senior researcher
The bloody brawls have become routine outside this eating joint. But the murder of Harminder has exposed laziness of police personnel deployed at the point for maintaining law and order. It is cold, but they should step out when there is noise and obvious violence
Mandeep Daniel | Sales executive