If there is a DGP who has backbone, policemen will feel protected: TP Senkumar
Thiruvananthapuram: Former DGP T. P. Senkumar said that if there is a DGP who has a strong backbone, the police force will feel protected when they work. He was speaking at a session on ‘Police Raj: The dilemma between atrocity and suicide’ along with former IPS officer Hormis Tharakan and psychiatrist Dr. S. Krishnan at the second edition of Mathrubhumi International Festival of Letters (MBIFL’19) being held at Kanakakkunnu here on Saturday.
Senkumar noted that more than 34,000 police men have sacrificed their lives for the country after independence. But unlike army men, police men are not glorified. In most cases, the police are trapped between the media, political system and the government. They are suffocated with the pressure of duty and at the same time they are also ruled by the guilty feeling for not taking care of family. When the stress is too much, some of them take resort to suicide.
He went on saying that the police have direct accountability only to the court and the judiciary and not to the politicians and government. They have to ensure the rule of law and have to satisfy only the law. When police men are working with a DGP who have firm stand on certain issues, they will feel protected and confident to work under him. On the contrary, if the higher officials are unable to take a stand and change their opinion to favour the authorities, their attitude will adversely affect the police force and their commitment.
He pointed out that even woman police officers who are pregnant are assigned traffic duty and other tough tasks in the name of gender equality. If the head of the police force had a strong stand, these things would not have happened. Also the insufficient man power causes huge stress to the police force. They are burdened with overwork and this multiplies their responsibilities as well as stress. This is one of the major reasons behind police men committing suicide, he opined.
Veteran IPS office, former DGP and former chief of the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) Hormis Tharakan said that more police men are killed during political demonstrations than encounters with criminals. They are also suffocated with high amount of stress while working amid the political demonstrations. Attack of criminals on police is rather low compared to this.
Psychiatrist Dr. S. Krishnan who has completed a thesis on suicides said that the number of suicide attempts is even larger than the number of suicides among police men. Having conducted workshops to reduce stress in cops, he observed that studies have shown that about 96 percent of the police officers carry negative emotions in their mind. They require help of psychiatrists rather than clinical psychologists. He also suggested that practicing mindfulness can help reduce suicidal thoughts in police men as it thickens the brain and improve mental health.
After the conversation, P. V. Chandran, the managing editor of Mathrubhumi Printing and Publishing Company Ltd. Handed over token of gratitude to T. P. Senkumar, Hormis Tharakan and Dr. S. Krishnan. The programme was conducted at the Palace Hall at Kanakakkunnu at 12 in the noon. Mathrubhumi International Festival of Letters 2019 is conducted in eight venues here from January 31 to February 3.