City police commissioner Anuj Sharma has reminded his officers to follow the standard operating procedure (SOP) on how to behave when someone approaches them for help and expressed his anguish at the tendency of some to violate it, sources said on Tuesday.
In a WhatsApp message sent to all officers of Lalbazar late on Monday, Sharma said he had suspended a sub-inspector of Beniapukur police station for refusing to register a complaint citing jurisdiction. He has also sought an explanation from the officer-in-charge of the police station.
But a suspension or seeking an explanation doesn’t address the key issue, the message suggests.
Sharma said he would crack the whip if there was any deliberate attempt at defying his order. Calcutta police, the top cop reminded his officers, should act as a team.
The WhatsApp message reiterated that no distinction be made between cops from the traffic department and police stations while handling a complaint or battling any crime.
Sharma’s message has created ripples in the force with the officers-in-charge of all police stations across the five divisions wondering whether a slip-up next time would invite stern action from the boss.
“We repeatedly ask officers to follow the SOP. But a section of them still cites jurisdiction to those who want to lodge a complaint,” an officer-in-charge of a police station in south Calcutta said.
A sub-inspector of Beniapukur police station was suspended on Monday for allegedly refusing to register a complaint citing jurisdiction when a woman reported that her three-year-old daughter had been missing since Sunday night, officers said.
Sources said the woman, a resident of Tiljala Road, had alleged that her husband had abandoned their daughter at the Park Circus Maidan around Sunday midnight.
The sub-inspector allegedly refused to register a complaint on the ground that the spot where the child had been abandoned was under Karaya police station. He asked the woman to lodge a complaint with Karaya police station.
The SOP was drawn up after a model alleged that an officer refused to help her citing jurisdiction when she told him that some bikers were harassing the driver of the app cab she was travelling in.
Sharma refused to comment when contacted by The Telegraph.