Erring cops face same law

SURAT, May 5: What happens when a policeman, provided with a weapon to guard the life and property of the common man, uses the weapon for...

SURAT, May 5: What happens when a policeman, provided with a weapon to guard the life and property of the common man, uses the weapon for a contrary purpose? 8220;If a policeman breaks the law, he is treated in the same way as an ordinary person would be under the circumstances and the rules that apply to the civilian would apply to the policeman8221;, says city commissioner of police Kuldip Sharma.

Officials here agree that while policemen are themselves prone to committing crimes, the power of enforcing the law is withdrawn from the person in question as soon as the offence is discovered. 8220;A policeman is provided a weapon without licence and is supposed to use it for the safeguarding the life and property of civilians. He has this power to use it, but when it is misused, he is stripped of this power and is treated like any other criminal8221;, says Sharma.

Officials here, responding to questions, said there was no separate set of rules for policemen.

According to procedure followed by the department concerned, the policeman in question is immediately placed under suspension pending inquiry. Cases of men in uniform actually committing murders or attempting murder are rare; most suspension cases include reporting for duty in an inebriated state, demanding or accepting bribes, threatening to kill, insubordination and the like.

An official of the department then conducts an inquiry, after which the offender is usually inducted back into the force after a certain suspension period and, in most cases, with a demotion.

Officials here agree that stress plays a role in 8220;out of code behaviour8221;. Ironically, Jetsinh8217;s act of virtual lunacy yesterday came when the city police department is holding the first-ever yoga-cum-meditation camp, attended for the past week by 800 policemen, from commissioner to constable. Sharma, who agrees that policemen get stressed out, explained that the motive of the camp is to instill the virtues of concentration, patience and tranquility along with the more obvious advantages of physical fitness.

Officials here dismiss, however, any comparison between the shooting by Sanjay Badgujar in the court premises in February and yesterday8217;s incident, saying that the former was a case of personal revenge and the latter a case of mental imbalance.