Kerala High Court directs state police officers to use 'respectable language' with public

The Kerala High Court (HC) on Friday directed the state police chief to issue a circular advising all police officers in the state to make use of respectable language when interacting with the public. The Kerala HC, in its order, asked the state police officers to refrain from using "eda, edi" terminology with the public, which is considered impolite in Malayalam. 

Kerala High Court issues directions to state police officers

Kerala HC's single bench of Justice Devan Ramachandran passed this order when hearing a petition filed by a father of a 15-year-old girl, who complained of rude police behaviour. The father of the girl, in his petition, had alleged that officers of the Cherpu Police Station in Thrissur district used coarse language while speaking to his daughter during a vehicle inspection as a part of COVID protocol management. 

Kerala teen booked for questioning cops, case dropped after video goes viral

Earlier on July 26, an 18-year-old student in Kerala's Kollam district was booked by the police after she questioned cops who were allegedly levying fines on people standing in a queue in front of a bank, citing violation of COVID protocol. The video of Gowry Nanda, the student, standing up to the police, went viral on social media. Gowry also submitted the police complaint to the Kerala State Youth Commission, after which the Chadayamangalam police, who booked Gowry, dropped the case.

In the video that went viral, Gowry was seen having a heated argument with the police. Though it is not clear as to what she was raising questions about, Gowry can be heard saying, “You (the police) are also standing together.” The exchange then became heated as one of the officials is heard saying, “You don’t need to teach me. I know to do my work responsibly.”

He then walks away, and Gowry starts questioning the other officer. He replied, “Since you are a woman I cannot touch you or I would have pushed you aside now.”

Earlier, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that the state would not go into a lockdown despite the surge in COVID cases. He cited the state's struggling economy as the reason for the government's decision.

(Image: PTI-Representative)