Policemen in Telangana seem to be jeopardising their careers by losing their temper during their face-off with troublesome citizens who defy the lockdown norm.
At least four recent incidents occurred in Khammam, Wanaparthy and in Moula Ali here, exposing this vulnerability. An ACP rank officer in Khammam was attached to the DGP office here for assaulting a lady doctor, and Mudigonda SI Satish Kumar was attached to Armed Reserved Headquarters for thrashing a few gamblers outside their houses, which evoked criticism.
While in Wanaparthy an on-duty constable got punished with suspension for assaulting a man, his counterpart in Malkajgiri received a show-cause notice for using filthy language against a woman and her son, who abused him. Similarly, there are many cases where doctors, mediamen and essential services delivery staff complained of police brutality and harassment ever since the lockdown was announced, but no action was taken against any cop. Policemen caught on camera beating people and finding themselves in viral videos are ending up with disciplinary action.
However, the other side of the story, where people misbehave with policemen, often goes unreported. On April 1, Murali Krishna, a private employee on his bike, was stopped by police in Wanaparthy for violating the lockdown norm. When the police tried to seize his bike for having over 10 pending challans, Murali Krishna picked up an argument and attacked constable Ashok Kumar, which provoked the latter to overpower him and push him down. Ashok was placed under suspension for his ‘unruly’ act, while a case under relevant sections of IPC and Epidemic Diseases Act was registered against Murali Krishna.
Similarly, in Moula Ali the next day, a woman and her son abused and assaulted traffic police personnel for taking a photograph for their traffic violation. They were riding triple on a bike. When Yousuf Khan and his mother attacked cops with lathi, a constable Damodar Reddy used filthy language to stop her. While the mother-son duo were arrested, a show-cause notice was issued to Mr. Reddy.
“In these testing times, we should not lose temper. Our job is to enforce the law, not take it into our hands and behave like goons. In both cases the officers could have put them behind bars, instead of street brawl,” a senior police officer said.
He said that such behaviour by police would send a wrong message. “In both cases, the action was taken on the accused and police officers as well. It is a sorry state of affairs,” the officer added.
