It has become the mindset of police to harass common people, this needs to be changed: CM Assam

Jan. 29: Assam Chief Minister Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma on Saturday vehemently criticised the attitude of Assam Police towards the common people of the state. “It has been in the mindset of the police to harass the common people and abuse them in each and every pretext. A man whose house has been robbed needs to give money again to the police to nab the thieves! What king of system is going on? This implies double loss for that ordinary citizen.” This was stated by CM Sarma while addressing the 73rd Foundation Day of Village Defence Organisation at Police Training College, Dergaon.

“Police shall have to provide the best possible services to the common people who come to the police stations for redressal of their grievances. Some might have work of police verification, others come for passport verification, while many come to lodge an FIR- all such and other ordinary citizens should be helped to the best possible extent by the police. It’s high time, you need to change your old mindset,” asserted the Chief Minister.

CM Dr Sarma further warned the state police and said, “No policeman should abuse any common people. Since I became the Chief Minister, I have noticed that when my car passes through the streets and if at that time by chance any rickshaw puller/ bike/ handcart puller etc. comes in the way, the police starts abusing or even thrashing that person. The Chief Minister can stop for 2 minutes, but at no cost the poor rickshaw puller should be abused by the traffic police.”

He also said that the role of the police should be stern towards any criminal and soft towards ordinary citizens. “The moment police notices any criminal, they should imitate Lord Krishna and inflict Sudarshan Chakra towards them. There should be zero tolerance towards the criminals,” said the CM. He said that police should learn to respect those who earn their livelihood by doing hard work. He added, “It is strange that even when a person comes to the police station to lodge an FIR, he needs to pay money for that. The common people when comes to the police station should feel that his work has been done in priority basis as that of the Chief Minister. Police should give same treatment to the common people as that of the Chief Minister. It is these people who by casting their precious votes has made us ministers. So now it’s our responsibility to help them in return. So the police should change their mindset.”