Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (SP)
Mangaluru, May 15: Reports of police from other districts resorting to caning those who violate lockdown rules and unnecessarily visiting public places, are heard and read. However, Dakshina Kannada (DK) police have emerged as a model force as they have not wielded their lathis. This need not be construed as the law abiding nature of the citizens here. It is just that the police have exercised restraint and not beaten up the unruly people. Those who visit the town without strong reason are stopped and sent back, and in case of vehicles violating guidelines, they are seized and owners are penalised. The citizens have praised the police for their duty consciousness and the skilful manner in which they have been managing the situation.
The Dakshina Kannada police have proven the notion that batons are there to hit, wrong. They may be holding the canes, but people who see them, change their decision to go to the town, and return to their homes.
During the curfew relaxation period, many took to streets and crowded the markets. The police did not lose their patience even in such cases. Those who behaved arrogantly have faced cases, and those roaming around without masks have been penalised. When the police take the vehicles into custody, they book the owners under two cases, The Prevention and Control of Infectious Disease Act and Natural Disaster Management Act under which they have to pay fine at the court and get their vehicles back. It also becomes difficult to get bail under these cases, and the police had alerted the citizens about this fact in advance.
District superintendent of police, Rishikesh Sonawane, said that there are instructions against unnecessary caning the people, and that the people have been extending cooperation to the police. Deputy commissioner of police, Mangaluru, Hariram Shankar, said that after cases under tougher acts were registered, vehicles coming to the towns has become very less. He also said that the people here have been respecting law, being conscious of their duties.