Indecent police officers: HC orders strict action

KOCHI: Indecent behavior by police officers is on the rise despite repeated circulars by state police chief and such tendency should be strictly dealt with, the Kerala high court has directed.
The directive was issued by a division bench comprising of justices PR Ramachandra Menon and Devan Ramachandran in the judgment on a petition (WP-C No. 41290/2017) filed by Siddique Babu I of KK Road in Kochi through advocate A Rajasimhan.Siddique and his wife had questioned the indecent behavior and unnecessary harassment by Hill Palace circle inspector PS Shiju.
In the judgment authored by justice Devan Ramachandran, the court said it is voicing its opinion due to the apparent surge in writ petitions alleging harassment to citizens by police officers. Expectation of citizens to be treated fairly and with decency by police is at the core of all policing requisites but the court is seeing that citizens regularly rushing to it alleging that police officers are acting in defiance or in deliberate contravention of accepted behavioral and jurisdictional standards, the court said.
The government pleader tried to argue on behalf of Hill Palace circle inspector that the officer’s behavior was in response to the petitioner’s rude behavior, in not exhibiting the basic courtesy expected at a police station. Disagreeing, the court said, “It is not possible for us to approbate any situation when a police officer breaches limits of decency and professional behaviour. If he behaves so, that Officer is not fit to be called an Officer or to be a part of the disciplined professional force.” Police officers are expected to conform to civilized behaviour to all citizens, from the prince to the pariah, and to deal with complainants and accused alike with the highest standards of probity and comportment, the judgment said.
Asking state police chief to initiate necessary action to curb the indecency of police officers, the court said, “Even though we are informed by the learned Government Pleader that the State Police Chief has been issuing circulars from time to time necessitating and prescribing decent and decorous behaviour to the public by the officers, in practice, we often see these being thrown to winds, at least by some of the officers. This should now be checked by the State Police Chief scrupulously and we order him to make sure that all officers fall in line with the requirements in such circulars so that no citizen will feel fear in approaching an officer for assistance and this nation can finally be rid forever of the colonially cemented apprehension of Police being persecutors and tormentors, rather than being their friend in need, as the Police Force is now perceived in various other countries.”