New Delhi: Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday lauded the Delhi Police for its probe of the riots which shook northeast Delhi and stressed the need to have the roadmap for the next five and 25 years as well.

Shah, who was addressing 75th Raising Day parade of the Delhi Police, said: “The Delhi Police has worked hard during the northeast Delhi riots and the coronavirus pandemic. For the way the Delhi Police investigated the riot cases and presented them in the court, I congratulate them.”

Admitting the fact that Delhi Police faces several difficulties and being the police force of the national capital, it has several duties that include providing security to dignitaries, ensuring that various programmes happen without glitches. “The Delhi Police has changed with the times. The Delhi Police Commissioner and the Union Home Secretary to prepare a road map for the next five years and 25 years as well,” he said.

It was on February 16, 1948 that the first IGP of Delhi was appointed and the total strength of Delhi Police was increased by 1951 to about 8,000 with one Inspector General of Police and eight Superintendents of Police. A post of Deputy Inspector General of Police was created in 1956. With the rise in the population of Delhi, the strength of the Delhi Police kept on increasing. It was over 12,000 in 1961. Presently, the sanctioned strength of the Delhi Police is 83,762.

In 1966, the Government of India constituted the Delhi Police Commission headed by Justice GD Khosla to go into the problems faced by the Delhi Police. It was on the basis of the Khosla Commission Report that the Delhi Police was once again reorganised. The Delhi Police Commission also recommended the introduction of the Police Commissioner System which was eventually adopted from July 1, 1978.

The population of Delhi and the attendant problems of policing kept on multiplying and following the recommendations of the Srivastava Committee, the strength of the Delhi Police was increased to the present level of above 76,000. Today, Delhi Police is perhaps the largest metropolitan police in the world larger than London, Paris, New York and Tokyo. /BI/