Police told to ensure equal seating for public at grievance, peace meetings

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The police conduct various meetings with citizens at the police station, district and range levels, including peace committee meetings, SC/ST grievance meetings, monthly public interaction meetings, awareness programmes, and more. | Photo Credit: File Photo

The Karnataka State Police Complaints Authority (KSPCA) has urged the Director-General and Inspector-General of Police to ensure that members of the public are provided seating arrangements on par with those of police officers during grievance and peace meetings.

In a letter to the State police chief, KSPCA member Mohan Kumar Danappa said making members of the public sit on the floor, while police officers and other officials occupy chairs, was unacceptable and contrary to the principles of a people-friendly police system.

The police conduct various meetings with citizens at the police station, district and range levels, including peace committee meetings, SC/ST grievance meetings, monthly public interaction meetings, awareness programmes, and more. Such meetings are intended to strengthen police-public relations and facilitate better coordination in maintaining law and order.

However, Mr. Danappa said some instances had come to his notice where citizens were made to sit on the floor while police officers and other officials sat on chairs. Similar scenes have also surfaced on social media, including in posts shared through official police department accounts.

He said such practices could undermine the self-respect, dignity, and honour of citizens and create a perception of inequality between the public and police. Such conduct is contrary to the concept of community-oriented policing, he added.

“The police are the protectors and servants of the people in a democracy, and it is essential that they interact with citizens with dignity and respect,” Mr. Danappa said.

He stressed that peace meetings, grievance meetings, and public interaction programmes should be platforms for hearing citizens’ concerns and building trust and cooperation, rather than occasions to display differences based on status or position.

Mr. Danappa has urged the DGP and IGP to issue clear directions to all police stations, offices, and units across Karnataka to provide suitable and equal seating arrangements for members of the public at all police-public interaction meetings and awareness programmes.

The directions should cover meetings conducted by police personnel at all levels, including beat staff and senior officers, and equal seating for citizens should be made mandatory, he said.

It may be recalled that in October last year, Director-General and Inspector-General of Police M.A.