HELP HORROR
Residents must submit details of domestic helps, drivers and security guards to police
Desperate times call for desperate measures. The string of murders of elderly people by their domestic helps has forced the city police to take strict measures to prevent such incidents in the future. The Mumbai police are now planning to approach housing societies, asking them to force residents to submit details of their servants and other household helps before hiring them.
A senior police official said they will soon start sending notices to housing societies under Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) for seeking information on newly-hired domestic helps or security guards. "If the society office bearers or the residents don't furnish the details to police, action will be taken against them under Section 188 (not following lawful direction) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC)," the officer said. The maximum punishment for such violation is three-month simple imprisonment, he added.
The officials said the tough stand is being taken by the police administration as it has been observed that residents have a lackluster attitude towards submitting the details of their servants.
"In the recent murder cases, the victims did not submit the details of their domestic helps despite several requests. People don't realize that it is for their own safety," said Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone IX) Pratap Dighavkar. "This poses a great security threat, especially to senior citizens," Dighavkar added.
The police had recently introduced a new initiative called Societies Cops, wherein each cop has been assigned at least five-seven housing societies. Their mandate is to be in regular touch with the office-bearers and members of these societies and also attend their meetings. They are also required to keep a tab on the servants, security guards and other house helps hired by the residents and seek their details from them. "However, in spite of having one-point police personnel at their disposal, it has been observed that the residents have been failing to provide the details to them," the police said.
"We hope that the tougher measures of the law should compel the officer-bearers and the society members to be more prompt in submitting details to the police," said senior inspector Arun Bhagat of the Juhu police station.
The affluent look to background-checking agencies
Shahkar Abidi
Terrorised by the murder of elderly people by their domestic helps, certain high-profile families from the city have started hiring the services of background-checking agencies for recruiting maids, security guards and drivers. These agencies will check the antecedents of maids, drivers and security guards.
However, police sources said that in most of the cases, these details are not verified due to work overload.
Wayne Tollemache, executive managing director of the FirstAdvantage Private Limited, one of the leading background-checking agencies providing services to many corporate giants, said: "Given the rising level of crime statistics in India, it has become crucial to verify the background credentials of individuals like domestic helps."
The industry experts said the background checks will definitely help as the agencies will not be only checking their criminal records and past but are also digging personal details and nature of the servant, apart from verifying the details given by him/her.
"Though the background-checking of employees was there in the corporate world for the past many years, the background checking of servants and other domestic helps is a new trend," said Suryakant Bhande Patil, a private detective.
Experts say though the background-checking agencies charge certain feesfor their services, it gives their clients peace of mind and assurance that their family members are in safe hands.
Residents must submit details of domestic helps, drivers and security guards to police
Desperate times call for desperate measures. The string of murders of elderly people by their domestic helps has forced the city police to take strict measures to prevent such incidents in the future. The Mumbai police are now planning to approach housing societies, asking them to force residents to submit details of their servants and other household helps before hiring them.
A senior police official said they will soon start sending notices to housing societies under Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) for seeking information on newly-hired domestic helps or security guards. "If the society office bearers or the residents don't furnish the details to police, action will be taken against them under Section 188 (not following lawful direction) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC)," the officer said. The maximum punishment for such violation is three-month simple imprisonment, he added.
The officials said the tough stand is being taken by the police administration as it has been observed that residents have a lackluster attitude towards submitting the details of their servants.
"In the recent murder cases, the victims did not submit the details of their domestic helps despite several requests. People don't realize that it is for their own safety," said Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone IX) Pratap Dighavkar. "This poses a great security threat, especially to senior citizens," Dighavkar added.
The police had recently introduced a new initiative called Societies Cops, wherein each cop has been assigned at least five-seven housing societies. Their mandate is to be in regular touch with the office-bearers and members of these societies and also attend their meetings. They are also required to keep a tab on the servants, security guards and other house helps hired by the residents and seek their details from them. "However, in spite of having one-point police personnel at their disposal, it has been observed that the residents have been failing to provide the details to them," the police said.
"We hope that the tougher measures of the law should compel the officer-bearers and the society members to be more prompt in submitting details to the police," said senior inspector Arun Bhagat of the Juhu police station.
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Shahkar Abidi
Terrorised by the murder of elderly people by their domestic helps, certain high-profile families from the city have started hiring the services of background-checking agencies for recruiting maids, security guards and drivers. These agencies will check the antecedents of maids, drivers and security guards.
However, police sources said that in most of the cases, these details are not verified due to work overload.
Wayne Tollemache, executive managing director of the FirstAdvantage Private Limited, one of the leading background-checking agencies providing services to many corporate giants, said: "Given the rising level of crime statistics in India, it has become crucial to verify the background credentials of individuals like domestic helps."
The industry experts said the background checks will definitely help as the agencies will not be only checking their criminal records and past but are also digging personal details and nature of the servant, apart from verifying the details given by him/her.
"Though the background-checking of employees was there in the corporate world for the past many years, the background checking of servants and other domestic helps is a new trend," said Suryakant Bhande Patil, a private detective.
Experts say though the background-checking agencies charge certain feesfor their services, it gives their clients peace of mind and assurance that their family members are in safe hands.
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