A jilted lover and a hostage crisis

Satish Kumar Sharma

JILTED lovers can be dangerous. They can harm or even kill the person they love. During my career in the police, I was very careful in handling such cases.

In 2010, I was a Joint Commissioner of Police in Ahmedabad. One day, I was sitting with the Commissioner of Police (CP) when information came that a dagger-wielding intruder had taken a middle-aged woman hostage in her house. He demanded that the CP should come there and listen to him. On my request, the boss let me handle the situation.

When I arrived at the spot, a crowd had gathered outside the ground-floor house. Before entering it, I asked an officer to call an ambulance in case anything went wrong. I went inside and found that in an about 12’x12’ bedroom, a bearded young man was sitting on the bed. He had the woman in a chokehold and was brandishing a big knife.

On seeing me, he shouted: ‘Stay out! Who are you?’ I introduced myself. He said: ‘You stay there but send everyone else out!’ I did the needful and told him from the door: ‘I am unarmed. You need not be afraid of me. I have come to listen to you. Just don’t harm the woman. Give me the knife!’ He did not give it, but lowered his hand and started talking.

The man said that he and the woman’s daughter studied at a college in Indore. He fell in love with her, but she made a false complaint of harassment against him to the police, who lodged a case and arrested him. On being released on bail, he had come to confront her. On not finding the girl at home, he had made her mother a hostage.

I realised that he was desperate. He said he wanted the girl to give it in writing that her report was false. He wanted me to send it to the Madhya Pradesh Police so that they could drop the case against him. I told him that the girl was not in the city and any statement made under duress was not admissible in a court; still, I assured him that if he let the woman go, we could talk to the MP cops to resolve the matter.

He looked uncertain. I kept talking to him and told him that the woman was innocent and if he harmed her, things would become more complicated. In half an hour, he realised that his action was rash. He handed me the knife and let her go. We registered a case and arrested him. I counselled him to try to forget the girl and focus on his studies. I assured him that if his conduct was good, we could try to persuade the girl to not proceed further against him.

He was released on bail some days later. Before leaving for Indore, he asked me: ‘Sir, why is the MP Police not like the Gujarat Police?’ I said nothing. He then asked: ‘Where are you from, sir?’ Pat came my reply: ‘MP. That’s where I got selected in the police service.’

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