The incident of assault on an employee of the health department by IRBn personnel on Tuesday in Nirjuli is really unfortunate. The assault took place when he was on his way back home after attending duty. The employee was reportedly assaulted even after showing all the valid documents. While it is reassuring to know that the police have registered the case based on a FIR filed by the director of health services and are investigating the matter, such unruly behaviour by police personnel is uncalled for. The police personnel on duty should be able to identify those who are on essential service duty and those who are roaming around without any work.
Besides the police, there are several other departments which are part of essential services and are on the field. Many of them are on the duty on ground to ensure that the lockdown measures are successfully implemented. Just like the police are doing their duty, these people too are sincerely performing their duty. Therefore the police really should be careful in their handling. Everyone understands that they are working under lot of duress, but that does not give them the right to physically assault anyone. The senior officers should properly brief those on the field. Many of the jawans presently posted for duty in various parts of the capital have not been properly briefed, which has resulted in the Nirjuli incident. Therefore, the senior officers should take charge and properly brief them in order to avoid such unfortunate incident in the future. In the meanwhile, the police should properly investigate the Nirjuli incident and punish those involved in it.