Lucknow: With most outposts deserted, you are on your own at night

LUCKNOW: On the day of the Krishnanagar dacoity, TOI had reported that there was nobody in the police outpost located barely 200 metres from the spot. Despite the murders and loot, police seem to have learned no lesson.


The incident occurred at 9.15pm. In a reality check conducted around the same time, TOI visited around 50 police

outposts

in various localities of the city and found that most of them were either locked or deserted.

A TOI reporter visited a busy Charbagh crossing and saw the Pandariba police outpost empty. Despite waiting for 20 minutes, no cop arrived.

Similar was the scene at Sadar outpost where the reporter saw lights on. In the 15-minute period, no cop turned up.

Bhootnath police outpost wore a deserted look with not a single policeman in the area.

The very important Polytechnic crossing outpost was locked. For the 30 minutes that the TOI reporter stood there, no cop arrived. Lalbagh police outpost was also found locked.

Furthermore, about 80% police and traffic police booths were either locked or deserted. In booths of Badshahnagar and Bhilawa, no cop was seen. Jopling Road booth was found locked.

SSP Lucknow Kalanidhi Naithani said due to Mahashivaratri, police were given additional duty and that might be the reason behind their absence.

“This might be the reason they were missing. Otherwise, they are present in the outposts,” he added.