A young woman thwarts a burglary attempt but is robbed of the dignity to exercise her choice because of her impoverished background.
An indigent village is looted to feed the nexus between the authorities and the criminals.
Crimes against humanity hold a universal truth: poverty is the worst form of violence. Its wounds run deep as they violate basic human rights and dignity.
On the Trail of Thugs and Thieves firmly belongs to the genre of truth being stranger than fiction as it traces the footsteps of former Director-General of Police Aloke Lal through thirty-seven years of adorning the khaki. The gripping accounts of sensational larcenies from the yellowing pages of police records reveal that while it is easy for the police to deal with crimes as per the law, it is onerous to heal the social malaise that causes them. Though the larger implications of solving these crimes are priceless because lives are saved, reformed and dignified.
The human narratives recounted with wit, humour and a great deal of sensitivity by the decorated IPS officer not only expose inhumanity of the gross kind, but also evoke moral outrage and shake our collective conscience.
Aloke Lal is a rare amalgamation of decorated cop and acclaimed artist. A gold medallist IIT-ian, he joined the Indian Police Service (IPS) in 1975. He served with distinction in the crime-infested belts of the Hindi heartland for thirty-seven years rising to the top rank of Director-General. He received two medals from the President of India-one for 'long and meritorious services' and the other for 'distinguished services' Even in the time of his most challenging postings, he kept his love for the fine arts alive by holding painting exhibitions and writing newspaper columns. He is the bestselling author of The Barabanka Narcos: Busting India's Most Notorious Drug Cartel and co-author of Murder in the Bylanes: Life and Death in a Divided City. He is a TEDx speaker and has been a quiz master on television. He also served as the cultural advisor to the Governor of Uttarakhand.
Maanas Lal has built a formidable reputation across genres of art at a young age. Apart from penning hundreds of columns for the print media, he is the co-author of the bestselling Murder in the Bylanes: Life and Death in a Divided City. His work in the fields of painting, photography and digital art has found collectors across the globe. A software engineer and ex- Infoscion, he has used his expertise in technology to develop a unique style of digital painting. He travels the world with a six-string on his back and has starred in viral music videos. He loves teaching, and his soft skills workshops are a regular feature in India's leading schools and professional institutions. He has been conferred with several prestigious awards for his contributions to art and culture. He is a TEDx speaker. He frequently appears on television debates to talk about subjects that range from global warming to gender inclusivity. He is also a state-level sportsperson. He wishes to become a better reader of books and situations through the course of his life.
In the pecking order of importance, burglaries are mostly placed way below what are known as serious crimes, for instance, murder, dacoity and rape. Though it goes without saying that decoding such 'minor' crimes has its own challenges for detectives, they rarely become a talking point for the public at large.
In this book, I have shared anecdotes from my career pertaining to investigations mostly into theft and burglary cases. The interesting feature of these investigations was that what appeared on first impression as simple theft turned out to have many more dimensions. They brought out matters of caste, village politics, corruption and gender bias, among others.
Zeenat Aman to the Rescue' describes a raid by a gang of bandits in an impoverished village which barely offered anything to loot. However, we ultimately stumbled upon something much more sinister.
Women are suppressed in our patriarchal society, and when it comes with the exacerbating influence of the unequal caste equations, the matter becomes even more oppressive.
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