Punjab tenant verification site asks: Are you ‘killer, prostitute, smuggler?’

Nikhil Bhardwaj

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, June 12

Believe it or not, “beggar”, “pimp”, “hired killer”, “drug trafficker”, “bootlegger”, “smuggler” and “gambler” are listed as occupations on the police website for tenant verification. The faux pas by the Community Policing Resource Centre (CPRC) or the Police Sanjh Kendra, a subsidiary of Punjab Police, has left residents in a fix.

Web portal www.policesanjh.in also treats prostitution as an occupation as it allows a “prostitute” to apply for tenant verification too.

Under the law, landlords are required to get tenants who have moved into rented accommodation anywhere in Punjab registered with the police. The aim is to check their credentials to prevent crime.

ADGP-Community Policing Ishwar Singh, when asked how illegal trades could be treated as occupation for tenant verification, said those with a criminal record could select the listed options to inform the police about their past.

However, a senior police official said there was a separate column for information on one’s criminal record and the listing of the aforesaid trades as occupation “was a mistake”. “How can a trade be treated as occupation if a person is facing an FIR on account of it?” he remarked.

 “No one will apply under these categories, and if anyone does, they might invite trouble. The police will not only reject the tenant verification application, but may also summon them for questioning,” he added.