09 September,2015 11:20 AM IST | | Vinay Dalvi
Javed, a decorated police officer, knows the city in and out. He will, however, only get less than six months at the coveted post, with his retirement slated for January 31, 2016
In a sudden development, Ahmad Javed, the Director General of Home Guards, yesterday took over as the city's 39th Commissioner of Police from Rakesh Maria, who was promoted to the rank of Director General and will now occupy the same post that Javed is vacating.
Ahmad Javed took over as the 39th Police Commissioner of Mumbai yesterday. Pic/Bipin Kokate
In Javed, a decorated police officer from the 1980 batch, the Mumbai Police will get as their chief a man who knows the city in and out, having previously served as the Joint Commissioner of Police (Law and order) and Additional Commissioner of Police. Javed has also previously served as the police commissioner for Navi Mumbai and Solapur.
Addressing the media from the Commissionerate in Crawford Market as controversies continued to swirl around his appointment (see box), Javed said, "My priorities are the security of women and children.
I want to concentrate on service delivery and bringing in transparency in the Mumbai Police. "The system is already in place but there is a need to make it effective so that the common man gets justice. With the Ganpati festival nearing, it is important to keep tabs on anti-social elements."
Javed added that his focus would also be on new-age crimes like cyber and economic offences and that he wanted to strengthen the force to deal with such crimes. He will, however, only get less than six months at the coveted post, with his retirement slated for January 31, 2016.
Controversial past
In the early 2000s, Javed, who belongs to an aristocratic family, had found himself at the centre of a controversy, with several people pointing out that he was a regular in the Page 3 and Bollywood circuits and used to party a lot.
A police officer's character in Madhur Bhandarkar's movie Page 3 was also reportedly inspired by Javed. Tongues had begun to wag about Javed's commitment to his work, but the talk gradually ceased as he began to distance himself from the party circuit.
