Even as the Akhilesh government continues to face flak over the deteriorating law and order situation in Uttar Pradesh, senior police officers in the state attribute “inefficient policing” to the “gro
Even as the Akhilesh government continues to face flak over the deteriorating law and order situation in Uttar Pradesh, senior police officers in the state attribute “inefficient policing” to the “growing interference” of human rights activists and mediapersons.
The police officials want the government to set norms for media and activists in a crime situation.
“Most of our men have almost stopped dealing harshly with criminals because even the slightest incident turns into a case of human rights’ violation. Today, every citizen with a mobile phone has turned into a detective and even a slap is posted on the social media. The cop is instantly perceived as being guilty and is made to face action. This lowers the morale of the police force,” said a senior police official.
The police officials are apparently so upset with this trend that recently led to the suspension of DIG D.K. Chaudhary, who was caught on camera slapping an elderly vendor, that a delegation of the UP IPS Association will soon be meeting chief minister Akhilesh Yadav to seek revocation of the officer’s suspension.
“A TV channel showed the clip with the officer’s raised hand and claimed that he was slapping the vendor. The fact is that he did not slap the old man and this has been confirmed by other vendors in the area. Camera angles can often lie and these days, they invariably do,” the senior official said. Another police officer, earlier posted as SSP Lucknow, said that investigations were becoming increasingly impossible due to the over activism of human rights’ activists.
“When a criminal is detained, we have to use force to make him confess. He will certainly not reveal the truth if we offer him a chair and a cup of coffee,” the senior police officer explained.
Police officers feel that most of the human rights’ activists do not bother to verify facts and rush to the media for their share of glory and the media runs the story with sensational headlines. Investigating officers, on the other hand, claim that intense media spotlight is also derailing investigations. “In fact, media persons are turning into activists themselves. In the recent case of a rape and murder of a school girl whose body was found near the CM residence, cops were hounded for results almost every hour by the media. Investigations take time and evidences have to be corroborated. We have had instances where media persons and human rights activists been talking directly to the accused in police stations and the accused takes advantage of the situation”, said an IG level officer.
