Alarmed by the rising incidents of assault on police personnel on-duty, the Mumbai Police Commissioner has issued a circular for taking strict action against such persons. The offenders may now lose their driving and arms licences, face problems while getting a job, character certificate or passport and travelling abroad.
The police also plan to send the list of names of such offenders to all major international airports in the country to make sure that the person isn’t able to travel abroad.
“It has been noticed that there are rising incidents of attacks on police officials in the city. Such incidents can be demoralising for the force. They need to be taken seriously, as attacking police personnel is synonymous with attacking the state,” the circular has stated.
“If such attacks don’t stop, they will send wrong signals among the people. People may feel if even the police cannot protect themselves, how will they protect the people? Thus, strict action needs to be taken against people who attack police personnel,” it stated further.
Police said the move is aimed at making the culprits understand what problems they can face in their day-to-day lives if they assault a policeman/policewoman on duty.
Apart from registering a criminal offence against such persons, the police will now approach their employers to inform them of their acts and request them to mention it in their confidential report so that they can be blacklisted.
From now on, every police station will have a separate register of such offenders. The police station records will have a copy of their PAN card, driving licence, Aadhaar card, arms licence, passport, details of occupation.
The police will issue letters to the passport offices, restraining them from issuing a new passport to such a person, or renewing his passport. They will also dissuade employment exchanges from offering any opportunities to the accused.
The Special Branch of the police will add the culprits’ names and passport numbers to the ‘Lookout List’ on each and every international airport.
