The widespread criticism over policemen assaulting a man protesting over his daughter’s unnatural death in Sangareddy district reached Telangana police top brass, compelling them to hold an introspection of those policemen’s behaviour.
State police chief M. Mahender Reddy held a video conference, close to three-and-a-half hours, on the incident on Thursday. It was attended by all ranks of police personnel from home guards and constables to Additional Director General of Police rank officers.
With main focus on Sangareddy district issue involving two policemen kicking a man, video of which had gone viral on social media, suggestions were invited as to how to deal with situations better. Mr. Reddy spoke first for nearly 45 minutes on the incident.
Reiterating that police personnel should remember that they were getting their salaries from the tax paid by people, the DGP made it clear that every citizen should be treated with respect. Mr. Reddy, who often explains that police personnel should remember that they get monetary benefits even after retirement due to taxes paid by citizens, remarked that people are the ultimate authority in administration.
Conceding that behaviour of the policemen in Sangareddy district incident was wrong, he told the entire force to be cautious while dealing with such situations. Policemen of different ranks, who responded, too unanimously held the incident showed the entire department in bad light.
One of the officers suggested that policemen having track record of high-handed behaviour should be identified and trained continuously. Inclusion of a training module based on behavioural science on how to respond to a tricky situation should also be included, another officer said.
The concept that citizens are the ultimate masters should be driven into the minds of every police person through continuous persuasion and monitoring, the DGP said. The video conference was held using Zoom, a software based video-conference application secured as part of Digital India programme of the central government.
Links of the video conference were sent to the mobile phones, tabs, laptops, desktop computers and video screens. The application enables to cover 10,000 locations. From police station, divisional offices and unit head quarters, police personnel of all ranks of the State police force attended the meeting.
