A police officer in Madhya Pradesh was on Sunday, March 29, taken off field duty for shaming a man by writing ‘keep off me as I have violated lockdown’ on his forehead.
Amid the 21-day nationwide lockdown, several people have been found violating it, loitering on the streets without any valid reason.
According to police, the incident took place when Sub Inspector of Gaurihar police station, Amita Agnihotri, on Saturday, March 28, was directing people in Chandrapur village, close to the Uttar Pradesh border, to keep indoors and not violate the lockdown.
‘She got hold of one man loitering around, and with a sketch pen wrote on his forehead ‘keep off me as I have violated lockdown’. A probe began after senior authorities got to know of the incident,’ News18 quoted an official as saying.
Madhya Pradesh: A Police Sub-Inspector writes ‘I have violated lockdown, stay away from me’ on forehead of a labourer in Gorihar area of Chhatarpur. SP Kumar Saurabh says, ‘This is unacceptable. Action is being taken against the police woman as per the law’. #CoronavirusLockdown pic.twitter.com/bf6IizgPjD
â ANI (@ANI) March 29, 2020
Chhattarpur Superintendent of Police, Kumar Saurabh, confirmed that Agnihotri has been taken off duty as a punishment, or has been ‘line attached.’
‘Her act was unacceptable,’ he said.
The Logical Indian Take
While there is no doubt that violating the lockdown imposed to combat coronavirus could lead to lives getting endangered, the police’s way of handling the situation highlights the collective failure of the investigative agencies in dealing with such issues.
Shaming the man instead of taking proper legal action against him points at the police’s inability to handle a situation without reducing themselves to a level of perversity.
Publicly naming and shaming people, not only tarnishes the image of the police force, but also leads to our failure at being humane. Our approach to issues such as these needs to amend.
Also Read: Coronavirus Lockdown: At Least 22 Migrant Workers Died While Returning Home Since March 25
