New Delhi:
There are at least 20,000 Very Important Persons (VIPs) in India and each have average three cops assigned, while policemen to common men ratio stands at staggering 1 to 663.
Data was compiled by the Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D), a home ministry division revealed that there are almost 19.26 lakh police officers in the country.
Out of this, 56,944 are deployed for the safety of 20,828 VIPs across 29 states and six Union Territories.
The average comes out to 2.73 cops for each VIP.
That leaves just 19 lakh cops to protect over 1 billion Indian citizens.
India is one of the least policed countries in the world, with just one policeman looking after every 663 Indians.
The shocking police-to-population ratio is a contradiction with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other politicians' promise to cut down VIP culture.
In April 2017, PM Modi banned the use of red and blue beacons, in an effort to end VIP culture. However, it seems, states have paid no heed to PM Modi's statement.
The data reveals, Bihar has the highest VIP protection, 3,200 VIPs protected by 6,248 cops.
This is followed by West Bengal, with 4,233 cops guarding 2,207 VIPs and Jammu and Kashmir which has 2,075 VIPs getting security from 4,499 policemen.
In Uttar Pradesh, 4,681 cops are guarding 1,901 VIPs, reported the TOI.
In Delhi, which is home the PM and President, there are just 489 protected persons but has the maximum number of cops, 7,420, deputed to secure them.
On the other hand, Maharashtra has just 74 protected persons secured by 961 cops, while Kerala has only 57 VIPs and 214 policemen.
Lakshadweep is the only state/UT where no one has been given dedicated police protection.
