We didn't sleep for days: Delhi Police officer revisits gangrape probe

Dharmendra Kumar was in charge of the Delhi police team investigating the December 16 gangrape case. He has recently spoken to IBNLive about the kind of pressure felt by police at the time, how it was handled, as well as his personal response to the gruesome nature of the crime.

Kumar recalls how the police team “didn’t sleep through the night” for the first two days after the rape case was reported. “The moment the investigation began we were on the job,” he tells the channel. “We had a very early breakthrough. We checked all the CCTV cameras on all the possible routes the bus could have taken at the guesthouses. The team was working relentlessly.”

He also offers his theories as to why the protests erupted after the gangrape. “I think it was building up for a long time. I spoke to my 24-year-old daughter, and she was also very angry,” says Kumar. “She told me, dad, you don’t know what women face on the streets. I said it was a social problem but she wasn’t convinced.”

Kumar also points at some of the changes that were implemented in their system after the rape case. Earlier, women who went to the police station were dissuaded from filing a report, and even if they did, the language would be toned down by the police.

“So we held a meeting where all the police was told that if somebody comes with a complaint, you must record it,” says Kumar. “Don’t try to reduce the gravity of the crime or put any of your own words in it.” The women’s cell was also made a 24-hour long unit, he says.

Kumar also says that the police exercised a lot of restraint during the protests, and only resorted to lathi charges and teargas when it was absolutely necessary. “All 5,000 people wanted to go inside Rashtrapati Bhawan,” he says. “There were rowdy elements assaulting police, setting wooden batons on fire…we had to teargas them.”

As for his personal reaction, Kumar admits that he was horrified by the gruesomeness of the case. “It was horrifying. I couldn’t believe how a human could inflict such injuries on another human. I couldn’t sleep for a few days,” says Kumar.