THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: At least a dozen circulars and advisories have been issued from the police headquarters to field offices instructing that the police should behave in a civilised and dignified manner while dealing with public.
Interestingly, the latest circular issued by state police chief Anil Kant recalls at least eight such circulars issued since 1965, directing officials to behave politely and treat public with dignity. Such circulars have been issued in 1965, 1983, 1995 (twice), 2002, 2004, 2006 and 2018.
Many more were issued on the finer aspects of the same matter, the last one being an advisory from former state police chief Loknath Behera on September 14, 2019.
Behera had issued a set of guidelines on improving the professionalism of the force on the basis of a meeting convened by chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan on July 16, 2019.
“Police officials should not use foul language and instead, their behavior should be with compassion towards the people approaching them,” the guidelines had stated.
On January 12, Vijayan had informed the assembly that the government has been able to ensure decent behavior from the part of the police towards the public. He had also said that the government has asked all district police chiefs to strictly comply with orders from courts, rights commission and the government.
Contrary to the CM’s claims, such assurances mostly remain on paper, which is testified in the latest circular issued by the state police chief on Friday.
“It has been noticed that despite several instructions, incidents of police officials misbehaving with the public in police stations and public places are increasingly being reported. Some police officials are still behaving in such a way that defames the dignity of the police force and invites court’s scathing criticism. Such issues are being seen seriously,” it said.
“Even several senior officials are behaving in an undignified manner with their subordinates, which is mostly arising out of their sense of insecurity. Numerous circulars have been issued from time to time and issuing those alone would not suffice. The only way to curb such behaviour is by taking action against such officials and the public and other police officials should come to know about it,” former DGP Vinson M Paul said.
The human rights commission had through an order on April 12, 2018, asked the government to initiate action against police officials involved in crime as stipulated under Section 86 of the Kerala Police Act, 2011.
The government had taken action against eight officers on the basis of the instructions of the commission.
