Within a few hours of a man from Tiruvallur tagging Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin's official Twitter handle complaining that a sub-inspector had fine him ₹500 for violating lockdown, while he was on his way to purchase medicines for his child, senior officers intervened and police arrived at his doorstep with the money and medicine for the child.
On Friday, R. Balakrishnan, a resident of Tiruvallur, had posted a tweet tagging @CMOTamilnadu and stated that the attitude of the police will not change irrespective of the political party that comes to power. "Around 11.30 a.m, I had gone to purchase medicine for my 9-year-old son who is autistic. I get the medicines once in ten days from a shop in Kakkalur," said Mr. Balakrishnan who was with a social media wing of a political party and is currently unemployed.
However the shop was closed and when he was riding back home, he was stopped at the Kakkalur checkpost by a sub-inspector. "I was not wearing a helmet. The police officer pointed this out and also told me that I had violated lockdown norms and took the ₹500 from me. I dont mind giving a fine, but I was feeling bad that they had taken the money for my son and I didnt have any other cash to pay for the medicines,' said Mr. Balakrishnan.
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After returning home, he tagged the Chief Minister M.K. Stalin's official Twitter handle and tweeted a picture of the prescription. "Soon, a media person called him and later a senior police officer called and pacified me. Within a few hours, a police inspector came home and returned the money and also gave medicine for my son. After this incident my perception about the police changed completely," he added.
K. Shankar, IG, North Zone, confirmed the incident. "We are enforcing lockdown strictly, but we also have to be humane. Collecting fines is just a deterrent. When we came to know he had no money and had gone to buy medicines, the Tiruvallur Taluk police were directed to return the cash and additionally buy the medicine for the child," he explained.