Too often, the hard and dangerous work of our Police Officers go unnoticed: Calcutta High Court

There is a need to appreciate and acknowledge the services rendered by police officers, whose hard work and sacrifices are often forgotten, remarked the Calcutta High Court recently. [Sri Writuraj Sen & Ors. Vs The State of West Bengal & Anr.].While declining to quash a case involving an alleged assault on police officers while they were carrying out their duties, Justice Shampa Dutt (Paul) observed,"Too often, the hard and dangerous work that our police officers do go unnoticed or at least unrecognized. Most people don’t really think about what police do every day in their community until they need assistance from them. There are a lot of reasons to thank the local police department...".The Court went on to observe that the local police are often tasked with uncertain and dangerous work and that they "continuously face the bad" so that citizens can be safe. Every day, police officers protect people from dangerous elements and situations that could end in hurting them or killing them, in the interest of public safety, Justice Dutt added. It is not a job that many are willing to do and it is sad that many ignore such good work and instead find faults in the police when "we [the public] ourselves are far from perfect", the Judge said.Adding to the kind of work that the police are tasked with, the Court noted that it is not physically or mentally easy for police officers to deal with troubled people in society all the time. "We feel safe seeing the police around, though exceptions (very rare) are there in all streams. Their work is exhausting physically, mentally and emotionally and they are not compensated in proportion to the work done not even in the facilities extended", the Court commented further. The Judge proceeded to acknowledge that there may be cases where powers conferred on the police by statute may be misused and that an adverse reaction to such misuse may rightly ensue. All the same, she urged the public to treat police officers with respect, given the nature of their work."The uniform gives the public confidence though they being human too, may react emotionally. If you treat them with respect, they will reciprocate. Officers take a lot of abuse from people who don’t know them and simply don’t like the police. Showing a little respect will go a long way ... It’s easy to forget all the hard work and sacrifices police officers make on a daily basis. Everyone loves acknowledgement and appreciation, the Police are no different. Their work deserves appreciation and acknowledgement so that they are inspired to do more service effectively.".The Court was dealing with a case that involved cross-allegations of assault. The petitioners before the Court were in college and school when the incident occurred, around 2017. As per the petitioners, they were assaulted by the police when they were celebrating Kali Puja with a few firecrackers atop a police station rooftop. The petitioners further alleged that they were forced not to file a case against the police through threats and intimidation. While so, the petitioners claimed that the police filed a false complaint against them, alleging that the petitioners had obstructed policemen from carrying out their duties and assaulted them. Denying the allegations levelled in this complaint, the petitioners had moved the High Court to quash pending criminal proceedings in the matter. The petitioners asserted that the story in the complainant was concocted only to save police personnel who assaulted the petitioners.The police, meanwhile, maintained that they were the ones who were assaulted by the petitioners after the officers directed the boys to stop bursting firecrackers atop a police station roof. .The High Court, in turn, declined to quash the case, given that there was prima facie material to indicate the commission of the alleged offence. In this regard, the Judge took note of the various firecrackers seized by the police at the time of the alleged incident. The Judge also observed that the alleged offence of obstructing an officer on duty cannot be taken lightly and must be heard by a trial court.."Quashing a proceeding of such a nature where there is prima material, will be an abuse of process of law/court and will also give a very wrong message to the society as here in this case it is the protectors (in law) seeking justice ...the inherent power of the court should not be exercised to stifle a legitimate prosecution (in the words of the Supreme Court)", the High Court said. .As such, the petition was dismissed. Advocates Md. Sabir Ahmed, Md. Abdur Rakib, Biswajit Sarkar, and Dhiman Banerjee appeared for the petitioners. Advocate Rita Dutta represented the State..[Read Judgment]