With broad daylight murders on rise, is Chennai losing its 'safe' tag?

For Vikram (name changed), a resident of Baker Street in Vepery, murder was something that he had read about in newspapers or watched in films, until Tuesday afternoon, when he witnessed the killing of RTI activist J Parasmal. The image of the businessman bleeding to death has left him shaken and his once familiar residential neighbourhood has lost its sense of calm.
Chennaiites who felt their city was comparatively safer than other metros no longer feel so.The perception has changed after a recent string of murders by hired killers, in broad daylight in residential areas like Kodambakkam and Vepery . Murder behind closed doors may be intriguing but when it is committed in the open it becomes a public spectacle and has a greater impact as it instils fear in people and shows the utter disregard for law and order.
Police records show that fewer goons are being detained under the stringent Goondas Act, which has always been considered a deterrent for criminals. “Generally , offenders with several criminal cases should be detained under Goondas Act, because we know that once they are out they are likely to commit offences again. After they get released, they should be monitored,“ former DGP Walter Issac De varam told TOI.
Data from National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) shows the first half of 2014 witnessed a surge in murders particularly in the northern parts of the city . However, after media reports, a handful of transfer orders were issued to strengthen the police force in these areas. Tough measures were put in place, gangsters were detained under the Goondas Act and visible policing ensured that by the end of 2014, the city was in safe hands. The murders in the infamous Pulianthope district, which included areas like Vyasarpadi, MKB Nagar, Basin Bridge and Sembium, came down from 27 in 2013 to nine in 2014 and 2015.
The situation has changed from then. More than statistics on murder, the growing perception that criminals have no fear of police and public has put law and order in the city under the scanner. In the past few months, lack of visible policing and efficient crackdown has emboldened small time gangsters who are now taking up contracts to kill for a price. In the murder of Kodambakkam lawyer C Murugan, the key accused Shanmuganathan hired killers from Vyasarpadi, who hacked the lawyer to death in front of an apartment during the day . Neither the presence of CCTV nor the residents deterred them from committing the crime.Similarly in RTI activist Parasmal's case, the gang murdered him with sickles in a dense residential area. In the case of Sowcarpet travel agent Babu Singh, the killer shot him on the busy Erulappan Street on May 2. In another attack on May 21 in Vyasarpadi, a gang of four men on bikes attacked at least seven residents outside their house. They told police there was no particular motive for the attack.“Criminals who were fearful about the stringent laws and police now have a free run. Some of them have violated the law just for the sake of it,“ said advocate R Chander, who feels the increase in violent crimes is due to lax policing.