Often police are accused of “harassing and torturing” members of the public. But, strangely the personnel in Madurai city police control room themselves have become targets of torture by unidentified persons, who make calls to ‘100’ only to abuse them in a filthy language.
The callers had driven the police personnel mad so much so that they feared to lift the phone receivers and consequently were suspended for dereliction of duty last month.
The police had been put up with this mental torture for more than half a decade without even informing their higher-ups.
The issue came to light during an enquiry over the charge of dereliction of duty against five police personnel of the city control room.
“I was shocked to hear that the control room was getting on an average 200 abusive calls every day. The callers abused not only the police personnel but also their family members,” said Commissioner of Police Shailesh Kumar Yadav.
It was under such tremendous mental agony that the police personnel had either failed to take calls promptly or left the receivers unhooked from the telephones.
The police said some people made calls under the influence of liquor and some called just to harass the police. “The police personnel were hesitant to report this to us,” the Commissioner said.
Mr. Yadav said the police had started collating a list of repeated callers who used a filthy language. “We are in the process of tracing them with their mobile phone numbers and they would face penal action, including arrest,” he added.
The police did not have to tolerate such harassment. “The abusers will be charged with using abusive language and preventing government servants from discharging their duties,” he added.
Those who had called repeatedly and created nuisance would be warned and made to execute bonds for their good behaviour in the future, he added.
