THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The police department has ordered a probe against three officers of the Kollam city police for allegedly mocking members of the Armed Police Battalion by depicting them as street dogs and circulating its video on social media platforms.
South Zone IG Harshita Attaluri ordered investigation against the three officers -- Sreejith, Chandra Babu, and Vinod -- based on a complaint filed by Armed Police Battalion DIG P Prakash. The ‘offensive’ video was allegedly shot by the officers in the last week of September and it went viral after being shared in a WhatsApp group named ‘Kaval Karunagappally’.
In the video, the police personnel on duty with the Traffic Enforcement Patrol Vehicle are seen giving orders to stray dogs resting in front of an empty house. What irked the battalion police officers was that the cops were seen giving orders to the dogs, deploying them at various points. One of the dogs was seen as being appointed as party commander to lead the entire team.
It was alleged that the video was shot to denigrate the image of battalion cops. The armed battalion officers deployed at the local station are usually assigned duties by the respective station house officer. The officers attached to the local stations often complain that the battalion cops get promotions quickly and this argument has been a bone of contention between the two.
After the video went viral, the battalion officers registered their protest with the senior officers, following which the Special Branch Assistant Commissioner in Kollam city was asked to identify the policemen who appeared in the video. In the order, IG Harshita termed the incident as gross indiscipline and misconduct and said it cannot be tolerated. She also observed that the video was deliberately created and distributed with an intention to show the battalion officers in poor light.