KOCHI: Honest policing will remain a dream as long as police officers get support for their misdemeanors, the high court said on Wednesday.
Justice Devan Ramachandran highlighted the issue with the present state of policing in an interim order while directing for a vigilance enquiry against police officers of Kochi who demanded Rs 5 lakh from a migrant family to bring back their missing girl from Delhi and then booked her brothers for raping her when the demand was not met. The family had also alleged that they were forced to buy flight tickets for a five-member police team to go to Delhi and bring back their missing daughter.
While directing for a vigilance probe against the officers, the court said in the order, “As long as the Police Officers even obliquely obtain the impression that they will be supported in spite of their misdemeanors, the eventual requirements of a strong policing and honest law enforcement would remain a chimera.” The court also said, “It is only if the indiscretions of a few individuals in the force are taken note of and stringent action completed will it serve as an example to others, leading to the force being a truly worthy one.” Further, the court said its resolve is to make the police an honest, civilized, modern, and accountable force.
If the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau finds in its preliminary enquiry that further action is required against the police officers, it can initiate such action, the court’s order stated. The court is considering a case registered suo motu on the basis of newspaper reports about the plight of the migrant family selling footwear by the roadside in Kochi.
