By IANS
Lucknow : The Uttar Pradesh police are getting to be “extra media savvy” and “developed a passion” for getting their photographs published in newspapers and appearing on TV, said Governor T.V. Rajeshwar in a scathing criticism of the police force.
Addressing officers of the elite Indian Police Service at a ceremonial function of the traditional annual Uttar Pradesh Police Week here, Rajeshwar did not mince words in suggesting, “such officers running after personal publicity should be suspended”.
He told officers at a service dinner hosted by him at Raj Bhawan here Wednesday night: “There is no need for police officers to be extra media savvy.”
Referring to the arrest of three suspected Jaish-e-Mohammad agents here earlier this month, the governor remarked: “It was absolutely improper on the part of the police to present them before TV cameras within hours of their arrest — and that too without their faces being covered.”
Having been a police officer himself until the 1960s, Rajeshwar felt, “such a practice could seriously hinder smooth conduct of prosecution proceedings”.
Virtually reprimanding senior cops for running after publicity, he further observed: “I find that a number of officers have developed a passion for hogging the limelight; they seem to have a craving to get their photos published in newspapers and appear on TV channels.
“Police officers ought to remember that they were in service for the protection of people and not for personal publicity.”
While blaming the state police for “increasing lawlessness and incidents of terrorism” the governor also expressed concern over what he termed as the prevailing “rule of gun” in the state.
“I fail to understand how people in this state are so trigger happy that they pull out and fire guns at the drop of a hat,” he said.
Earlier, the governor honoured meritorious police officers at an investiture ceremony.