Police will keep data of students coming to Kota

Police will keep data of students coming to Kota - Jaipur - City - The Times of India

Rao Jaswant Singh, TNN, Jun 14, 2010, 06.29am IST
JAIPUR: For the first time, the Rajasthan police has decided to prepare a database of all the students coming to Kota from other places to ensure their safety and security.

According to sources, details like permanent address, contact number and the name of local guardian will be collected which would help the police in cracking the case if any untoward incident happens.

Nearly 80,000 students from all over the country come to Kota every year for preparing for various competitive examinations like IIT-JEE, AIPMT and AIEEE, among others. In the recent past, there have been several incidents in which students from other states were targeted by criminals. Also, ‘non-serious’ students were found indulging in criminal activities.

Recently, IG, Kota, Rajeev Dasot held a meeting of two DySPs and SHOs of Vigyan Nagar, Mahaveer Nagar, Dadabari and Jawahar Nagar police stations under which coaching institutes are located. During the meeting, he directed them to gather details of all the students coming to coaching institutes and hostels from the current session.

Talking to TOI, the IG said that a few local criminals have entered the coaching industry by setting up hostels and mess services and there is a chance that aspirants might fall prey to them. “While generating database, police will also collect details of those who run hostels and mess services in the city. There are several students who are not-so-serious about preparations and have been sent to Kota forcibly by their parents,” he said. “Such students, if found indulging in criminal acts, would be packed off to their native places,” he said.

Besides, senior police officers would visit coaching institutes and interact with students so that they could approach them directly in case of any emergency. Patrolling has also been increased in areas where coaching centres, hostels and messes are located, the IG said.

Recently, soon after two students were caught stealing mobile phones, police started keeping a tab on the activities of suspected students. Those who spend more time outside coaching classes and are involved in non-academic activities are already under police scanner, said an official. Nearly 15 students, who are suspected to be involved in criminal activities to make quick money, have already been identified, he said.

CEO of Career Point, Pramod Maheshwari said that the coaching institutes will welcome the move as it is an effort by the police for the benefit of students. However, police stations are yet to get fully computerized. Therefore, there might be challenges in the effective implementation of the new measures, he said.

Recent incidents:

March 2010: An engineering student, Yogesh Chaudhary (22), a native of Mathura, was found hanging from a tree in front of his rented accommodation in Riddhi Siddhi area of Kota.

December 2009: Two IIT-JEE aspirants - Nitin Prakash and Deepak Soni - arrested for mobile phone thefts. Eighteen mobile phones and a motorcycle were seized and cases were filed against them at three police stations.

October 2009: Ritu Yadav (20) of Jhajjar district of Haryana committed suicide by hanging herself from the ceiling of her room in Mahaveer Nagar of Kota. She was preparing for medical entrance examination in a city-based coaching centre.

September 2009: An engineering aspirant and a native of Bhind district in MP, Anand Singh (19), committed suicide in his room.

September 20: A native of Alwar and PMT aspirant, Nisha (17), committed suicide by jumping before a train near Keshavrai Patan village.