IPS Manish Kumar is a 2021 batch officer of the Rajasthan cadre and currently posted as Superintendent of Police in Dungarpur-a predominantly tribal district.Kumar has launched a unique policing model to tackle growing and dangerous trends among local youth.

 “One of the major problems I noticed was delinquency in the youth. Tribal youngsters, especially those between 16 and 20, were getting attracted towards gangster culture” he says. Expensive superbikes, aggressive styling and social media fame through projecting themselves as local “dons” were becoming symbols of power and coolness, even among teenagers from BPL families.

To combat this, Kumar launched Operation Sanskar. “They were losing their sanskars,  their values and harming their parents, society and the general public. So we named it Operation Sanskar” he explains. The initiative was designed to work on two fronts: firm legal action and a strategic attack on the social media ecosystem that was glorifying crime.

The unique feature of the initiative is that the police force started making reels and short form videos featuring the rogue youth and shaming such behaviour. Those who flaunted knives and were acting all don-like were now seen saying sorry, reciting bhajans and themselves asking youth not to do such things “When we started, our Instagram page had only around 500 followers. We began posting reels to name and shame this behaviour to break the cycle and show that this is not cool and people will laugh at you,” he says. Many of these reels went viral and were shared throughout Rajasthan setting a new benchmark of modern policing.

On the ground, the pattern was equally alarming. “Even when their families were earning hand to mouth, they were forcing their parents to buy bikes worth ₹2-3 lakh on EMI.” These bikes soon turned into entry passes into gangs. “They would roam in large numbers, fight with people, stop girls on the road, and create fear.”

But the real fuel promoting such youngsters came from social media validation . “First they would get a bike, then get into a gang, then post gangster-type reels showing knives, stunts, loud music and say, ‘I can do anything.’ When these videos got views and comments, they became more motivated” Kumar quoted. It created a vicious cycle, where digital applause translated into real-world crimes.

Under Operation Sanskar, Dungarpur Police booked several offenders under the Arms Act, seized nearly 500 superbikes and took visible action against those flaunting weapons and threatening the public.

The impact was evident, such crimes declined and community support also poured in. “People started supporting us, sending content and the trend itself began to break” he notes. Investigation’s found “When we checked the phones of the accused in a murder case, all of them had gang-style accounts called ‘Don’ and ‘Shooter’. This showed us clearly that today’s youth is being influenced not by newspapers, but by reels. So we targeted reels” he says.

IPS Manish Kumar’s Operation Sanskar has emerged as an example of how modern policing is fighting crime in new age ways.