Hired Guns: Who Will Run A Check On Private Guards Employed By The Rich?

The rich have problems the rest of us don't adequately appreciate. Signifiers of wealth and status outlive their utility all too frequently. The material allure of expensive vehicles, clothes, accessories, elite education and club membership all fade considerably when others at a dinner party also possess them.

It is at the cusp of this problem and a unique VIP culture exacerbated by the ubiquitous movement of political figures with their armed commandos, that the trend of personal security officer was born. By all accounts, the number of businessmen opting to keep a posse of armed private security personnel wherever they go has risen dramatically in recent years.

Many choose to mimic the movement of political heavyweights, driving in a convoy with two white Maruti Gypsy jeeps, and outfitting private guards in safari suits to resemble the commandos of the elite Special Protection Group.

Several exclusive urban enclaves, where the protected gather for work or pleasure, are now overwhelmed with armed PSOs. This gives rise to problems that range from the banal to the potentially fatal. The entire business appears to operate in a legal grey area, and the Supreme Court this week took suo moto cognisance of the deadly Chhattarpur shootout that killed businessman Ponty Chadha and his brother, asking the Union home ministry to clarify the guidelines under which such guards were operating. 

"People look at it as a status symbol. It's all about how many blonde women are on your arm and how many PSOs are around you. This has become a nuisance for everyone," said AD Singh, the restaurateur who runs Olive, and together with actor Arjun Rampal, the popular Delhi nightclub Lap. His establishments do not allow PSOs. When the Capital's nightclubs barred entry of PSOs after fights broke out between such guards, hotel lobbies used to resemble a convention of bodybuilders with dated sartorial taste. Now, many five-star hotels prohibit PSOs from entering and waiting in the lobby.

In Mumbai, this problem is unheard of. India's richest industrialists are rarely seen with a security guard with a concealed firearm. "That's true, but some of the younger members from the big families have started moving around with entourages," Singh, who also runs establishments in that city, said. 

In Delhi, the trend has become so widespread that even those who don't need to employ guards on a monthly basis sometimes hire them on a daily basis. Nivedita Kaul, who describes herself as a young entrepreneur, takes an armed guard along when she goes out.

"Delhi is not a safe city and people don't give women the respect they deserve. I have had people stalk me and harass me, and ever since I started having a guard, my life has become really peaceful. In this city, if you are a young woman trying to do something on your own, you need protection," she said. Kaul takes her guard along when she goes to the market or to social dos in the evenings. An armed guard can be hired for upwards of Rs 1,000 per day.

Security Agencies

There are legitimate businessmen who feel the need for armed guards when they must travel by road to distant factories. JCT Mills MD Sameer Thapar, who is a former shooter himself, carries a .357 magnum revolver and is accompanied by PSOs when he travels. "I take a spare vehicle and guards when I have to spend time on the highway, travelling to my factory in Punjab. In Delhi, I never use them," he says.

Thapar says he sees young men from business families carrying armed guards with them as a status symbol in Delhi all the time. "It shows them in a poor light, but they don't realise it," he said. The growth in the PSO business is an offshoot of the growth of the security agency business. For large companies with industrial operations, private security is a critical operation.

Airport operator GMR, for instance, needs so many guards that it runs its own security company “Raxa Security Services Ltd.”. Reliance Industries employ a large number of highly trained armed guards at its refineries and exploration sites and have their own security  wing. The Private Security Agencies (Regulation) Act of 2005 made the industry an organised one, but data on the size and employees are hard to come by. The Act itself is silent on the use of firearms by security guards. The arms used by PSOs and other armed security guards are licensed to them personally.

States are expected to lay down specific guidelines. Such guidelines are silent about the use of arms by security guards. "The law doesn't say anything about the use of arms by guards. There is no provision for it, but it is not prohibited," said GP Singh, additional secretary at Delhi government's home department, who is authorised to grant licences to security agencies operating in the city. There are 335 agencies with such licences, while nearly double that number are awaiting licences.