HYDERABAD: While allegations of police behaving rudely with the public are on the rise in the process of implementing the lockdown, Rameshwar, Siddipet assistant commissioner of police (ACP), decided to check the charges, and experienced first-hand what was going on.
Rameshwar went incognito during the lockdown hours to see for himself how the police on the ground were behaving with the people. A video where he was being checked by the police personnel, apparently unaware of his identity, is being circulated widely on social media.
Rameshwar travelled through 12 check-posts on a motorcycle in civil dress with a towel covering his face, from about 10.30 pm on Monday night during the curfew. He introduced himself as someone out to get medicines as he was feeling sick.
As a precaution he kept his identity and vehicle documents during the ride, which lasted about an hour.
Asked about his adventure, Rameshwar, who joined the police force in 1991 as a sub-inspector, told this newspaper: "I suspected that the police personnel behaved differently in the presence of senior officials. I wanted to check how they were behaving at other times. I went late at night because usually the patience of police personnel on duty may be weak.”
His experiment bore fruit. In one of the videos, a constable is heard speaking rudely with him. Rameshwar pretended to talk to the personal secretary of a minister. In return, the police seized his bike.
Rameshwar appreciated the police for not paying heed to those trying to use political influence to bypass rules. However, when he revealed his identity, the police were shocked and returned his bike.
Sharing his experience, Rameshwar said, "At one check-post, there were around six police personnel and a woman constable among them. She came forward to stop me and enquired why I was out during the curfew. I told her I was suffering from fever and had come out to buy some tablets. She stepped back and let me go.”
