Another effort of 'people friendly' police

ALLAHABAD: In yet another direction towards making police, `people friendly', IG zone Surya Kumar Shukla has directed the citizens to stand up against extortion on part of police personnel or their representatives (touts) while issuing instructions to the subordinates to try and resolve petty disputes amicably at the police station level.
Presence of touts at police stations is a universally accepted fact.Even police personnel meekly admit to the presence of touts while expressing their inability to deal with the situation. However, when a senior official lays emphasis upon the need of completely doing away with the practice, it certainly creates hope in the mind of public that perhaps, things are headed in the right direction and at last police would become people friendly.
Shukla's terse comments about the over whelming presence of touts at police stations have created a flutter amongst the lower rung officials. The official observed that no self respecting person likes to venture into a police station to narrate their tale of woe because of the unbecoming behaviour of the subordinate staff including `pehra' (guard) `deewan' and `munshi'. This attitude calls for an immediate and drastic change, the official observed.
Even the relevance of thana diwas needs to be understood in the right perspective, he felt. According to the IG, thana diwas have failed to fulfil their objectives on two counts primarily owing to the importance accorded to touts at the police stations which portray a negative image about the entire police force.
Once a tout is spotted mingling with the station staff, the first impression a visitor gathers is that touts hold sway at the police station and it is safer to contact the touts instead of officer concerned for redressal of grievance. Ironically, the redressal in whatever form comes directly from the police officer and not the tout but still the victim is all praises about the tout.
The second reason for thana diwas failing to meet its desired objective is the behaviour meted out to a complainant on part of the staff present at the police station. The pre-conceived notion in the minds of police personnel that the complainant is a defaulter, a habitual offender and must have committed something wrong before approaching the police station needs to be done away with, the IG observed.
He felt that a courteous behaviour with the complainant can work wonders and the investigating officer would have all the liberty to carry out impartial investigations and there would be no extraneous pressures upon him as he has given a patient hearing to the complainant who has left the station completely satisfied. More often than not, `sifarish'(recommendations) are made once the station staff have not heard the full version of the complainant, the officer opined.
Even senior police officials acknowledge the fact and points out that a majority of complainants who come to the office are simply requesting that their version be heard by the police station staff. Senior officials just make a noting in the application seeking a status report and things start moving smoothly. Once the station staff bring about an attitudinal change, the work load on every officer would reduce considerably which in effect would transform into good policing and a peaceful society.