A batch of 150 police personnel participated in a workshop organised here on Tuesday by the Mangalore Police Commissionerate to raise awareness about the “seriousness” of custodial deaths.
Police personnel of ranks from constable to Assistant Commissioner of Police participated in the workshop, Commissioner Seemanth Kumar Singh said after inaugurating the workshop. Retired Superintendent of Police Ibrahim and retired Deputy Superintendent of Police T.C.M. Sharif were resource persons.
Urging the policemen to “think seriously” about the consequences of custodial deaths which are “one of the most heinous crimes”, Mr. Singh said the “working style” of police personnel had to be changed.
He said that one such incident reflected on the whole police force in the State, which had more than 1,000 police stations.
Asked about the police “brutality” later, Mr. Singh said that it would “automatically” be covered when dealing with custodial deaths.
Mr. Singh said that the police must know the legal procedure if an instance occurred. Recalling an instance of custodial death during his one of his postings as Superintendent of Police, he said the police personnel of the station where the death occurred had run away in fear and out of ignorance.
“If it happens, it happens… it should not be hushed up,” he said, adding that the police should know the legal procedure to be followed.
When asked about “police methods” leading to custodial deaths,
Mr. Singh said that they would be taken care of with the setting up of a fully equipped interrogation room to make the process more transparent.
He said that the workshop was being organised for the policemen on the directions of the Director General of Police in the wake of allegations of human rights violations. Police personnel of all ranks would be trained together and two more such sessions would be held to cover the rest of the Mangalore city police personnel.
The workshop included a session on consumption of alcohol among policemen and its consequences.
