Not a single crime in 107 years

Over the last few months, India has witnessed a rather disturbing increase in the number of criminal incidents. Be it eve teasing, rape, molestation or other crimes against women, there seems to be no end to these incidents.

A somnolent police force and an equally insensitive Government  coupled with a lethargic executive have not helped matters. Though the judiciary is severely overburdened, it has taken upon itself the task of  putting some accountability among the powers that be.

The judiciary is trying to show the way that the executive has to follow but there seems to be little or no positive reaction. The people too seem to feel that the Government be best left to itself.

Even as  the society in India is searching for ways and means to combat the rise in crimes, a village in Chattisgarh, which is one of the most heavily Naxal infested State in the country, is showing the way.

This village has never witnessed any crime for more than a century and surely this must be a event that is fit enough to be entered in the all the record books.  

The village is in Korba district and it has never witnessed any crime case for last 107 years. The name of the village is Fuljar and it is located 60 kilometres from Korba  which is generally labelled as the power hub of Chattisgarh.

Though Fuljhar comes under Urda police station limits,  the police there have absolutely no record, either oral or written, about incidents of theft, loot, quarrel, assault or any other crime.
This is not to say that there is no machinery or institution to maintain law and order in the village. The villagers say that the Choupal plays the role of a police station where they register their grievances before the  Panch (a team of chosen village people). The Panch hears the complaints and resolves them then and there.

This appears to be no easy task as Fuljar has a population of nearly 2,000 people. What makes the Choupal work is the trust and faith the villager shave in the indigenous system. Since the Choupal serves as a police station, no complaints go beyond it.
Compare this zero crime rate with the 35658 incidents of cognizable offences registered by Jharkhand in 2011. This statistic is by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) which maintains a data base of all crimes and accidents in India.

No wonder the villager was declared the best by the Chief Minister Raman Singh a few years ago. Is it not time for  other villages to follow suit. Trust the local system and ensure that it works, whether it deals with law and order or any other issue.