KOCHI: State police chief Shaik Darvesh Saheb, who appeared online before the Kerala High Court, on Thursday submitted that soft skills and in-service training on how to behave toward the public were given to police officers. However, sometimes due to stress or provocation from other parties, the police may show deviant behaviour. He submitted that if such acts on the part of any police officers were noticed, action would be taken against them. Besides, constant effort is being made to see that the officers do not behave badly toward the public, the police chief submitted.
The police chief’s submission was in response to a contempt case against a former Alathur police sub-inspector for using abusive language against a lawyer when he arrived at the police station on behalf of his client.
Justice Devan Ramachandran pointed out that everybody is working under stress, and the fact that the police officer was working under stress did not give him the license to use abusive language against a citizen. Even the workers on the street are also under stress.
"The court is aware of the stature of the Kerala Police but it would be empty words if an incident continued to happen. If the directives in the circulars are properly implemented, there would be a change at the ground level. It may be that a few officers were guilty of such violations, but its stigma would be cast upon the entire force, inflicting an affront on the collective dignity of the officer as well as the citizen", the court observed.