Cop draws ire after outburst over filing plaint

After he raised the issue with the top brass and earning brickbats from the public for the official’s behaviour, a senior officer contacted the activist expressing regret over the incident.

“Even if you go to the Supreme Court with the complaint, you will finally have to come back here,” the policeman at Ayanavaram station is heard telling the activist for lodging a complaint.

The incident happened on Saturday when the activist, M Kasimayan of Ayapakkam, went to Ayanavaram station to physically submit certain papers in connection with a complaint regarding excess fare charged by a theatre when he bought a ticket to watch a recently released Tamil film.

“But the police personnel were not in a mood to receive my complaint and register FIR. I was not insisting for FIR, but they were not even ready to give a community service register (CSR) acknowledgement, citing the absence of inspector in the station as a reason,” Kasimayan said on Sunday. 

When the personnel refused to give even a CSR, he raised a complaint with the control room over WhatsApp. When the officials at the control room asked the personnel at the Ayanavaram station to look into the complaint, one policeman reminded Kasimayan in an intimidating tone that even if he lodged a complaint at the Supreme Court, he would have to come back to the station for any investigation. 

“I have sent the video to senior officers of city police to highlight the way petitioners are treated at police stations in the city,” Kasimayan said.

On Sunday, he received a call from a senior officer, who expressed apology for the behaviour of the policeman at Ayanavaram station. “I told him that I was not looking for an apology but wanted to highlight the plight of the people approaching police stations,” Kasimayan said. 

When contacted on the incident, the Assistant Commissioner of Police, Ayanavaram noted that the issue has come to the notice of senior officials. He also added that steps will be taken to make sure that policemen interact with the complainants with courtesy.