The Mumbai police has issued a circular that makes the presence of an armed policeman mandatory with teams of traffic policemen carrying out routine nakabandis. The new circular was issued by police commissioner Datta Padsalgikar on Friday amid a spate of recent cases involving motorists assaulting on-duty traffic policemen who had stopped them. One such policeman, Vilas Shinde, had died on August 31.
Following the circular, the city’s traffic police department has asked all senior traffic officials to ensure that the points laid down in it are implemented. Senior traffic police personnel have also been told to hold training sessions so that the circular can be effectively implemented.
The circular lays down a set of guidelines under three categories — ‘inspection checks and check points for vehicular checking, place and time of the checkpoints’, ‘teams in the checking squad’ and ‘barricading’. It adds that from here onwards, all check points will have police officers and traffic policemen manning them, with both having to coordinate with each other about time and place.
The circular also makes it mandatory for a minimum of eight police personnel, including a traffic policeman and a woman officer, to be present at every checkpoint meant for vehicular inspections. “Every inspection team should be headed by an officer of assistant police inspector or police sub inspector level,” the circular said. “The officer heading the team will ensure that of the five policemen present, one of them should be holding an issued weapon,” it added.
The move comes in the wake of the recent attacks on policeman, including the assault on Shinde in Khar by a minor and his brother, which eventually led to the traffic head constable succumbing to his injuries after struggling to stay alive for more than a week. Following that incident, early this week, a constable attached to Worli police station was hit by a minor on a bike when the constable stopped him for a routine check near Worli naka.
The circular also adds that officers would have to make video recordings of all the proceedings that take place at a checkpoint. A senior traffic officer said that the traffic cops and policemen have been asked to record the videos on their mobile phones. “The senior officer in the team will brief all the police personnel present and ensure that things run smoothly,” the officer said.
A senior traffic police officer confirmed the contents of the circular and the order and added that this would be implemented fully immediately. “They have asked to inform the local police station every time a check point needs to be set up and be accompanied by police officers during the same,” said an officer.
