Incidentally, three recent cases, all involving policemen who were still on probation, have kicked up a debate.
Three recent incidents involving newly recruited policemen in the State capital have triggered a debate on different aspects of policing.
Thrashing of two women in the Kukatpally Housing Board police station last week by a Sub-Inspector shocked the city, raising questions about the ‘interrogation’ methods adopted by the police and treatment meted out to women suspects.
Three days earlier, a newly-recruited constable of Kulsumpura police station was arrested for allegedly misbehaving with a woman in an inebriated condition at Secunderabad Clock Tower.
And just two days ago, an SI of Hayathnagar police station was suspended after investigations revealed that an accused in a job fraud case had used his service pistol to intimidate the victims.
Serious questions
The SIs were suspended soon after the respective cases came to light, while the arrested constable was remanded to judicial custody and suspended.
Since the three policemen were still on probation, they would be eventually dismissed from service, senior officers said. Notwithstanding the action against them, questions remain about the way the KPHB SI had ‘interrogated’ the woman suspects in the ‘abduction’ case.
Rules stipulate that no woman should be detained in a police station at night, especially in the absence of women constables.
They should not be threatened in the name of questioning, leave alone using force to elicit information.
But the two women were mercilessly beaten up with hard rubber cut out of truck tyres and the visuals were captured on a spy camera by a TV channel scribe.
While the police higher-ups washed off their hands after suspending the SI, questions are also being asked whether family members of the two women were informed about the detention and if senior officers of the station were aware of the six-month-old case.
Many lessons
Senior officials had brushed aside the case of the Humayunnagar constable harassing a woman in a drunken condition as an ‘isolated’ incident.
But the Hayathnagar case cannot be ignored because the SI was frequently meeting the accused giving scope for the latter to take advantage.
The accused also collected the SI’s service pistol and used it to intimidate persons whom he owed money. The case has many lessons for new entrants into the department and a wake-up call for seniors.
Keywords: police recruits
