Reporter's Diary: Policing the mane-iacs!

CHENNAI: Our trial courts are not known for speedy justice. The number of pending cases is a testimony to that. But, from time to time, the courts come up with rebukes which fall under the category of poetic justice.

A magistrate in The Nilgiris did one such this week, which is sure to cheer those who disapprove of the moral policing methods of Tamil Nadu police. A police constable who turned up before the magistrate flaunting his ‘Singham’ Suriya moustache was censured by the judicial officer for his appearance and questioned whether he had the necessary permission from his ‘higher ups’.

Within minutes of his ego getting clipped, the cop made his way to the nearest salon and got his moustache too clipped.

Incidents of police personnel going to low-income neighbourhoods and organising haircuts for youths with funky hairstyles had invited criticism from several quarters. It also raked up a moot question of whether the cops would try the same in gated communities in urban neighbourhoods. To those with similar thoughts, this censure by a magistrate could be a small win. However, in further hair-splitting, one would be left wondering whether any judicial officer would do the same to an IPS officer or whether the magistrate was right in censuring the constable in the first place. Or, since inadvertently, with ‘singham’ becoming a matter of discussion, care to join the insightful debates on their depiction on the newly-inaugurated National Emblem atop the new Parliament?

— Srikkanth Dasharathy, Chennai