Disha App Row: Self-respect of public will be protected, says DIG Hari Krishna

Anakapalli: Those misbehaving with the public will be taken to task without any discrimination, DIG of Visakhapatnam Range S Hari Krishna said.

Speaking to the media here on Thursday, the DIG said any incident affecting the self-respect of people would not be spared. “We abide by friendly policing and it will continue to be in practice,” the DIG made it clear.

The Disha app introduced for the protection of women should also be part of men’s mobile phones too, the DIG said, as it would help us get alerts if men meet any such untoward incident. “However, the rash behaviour of the constables with Syed Alimulla, a soldier, is regretful,” he stated.

He said four constables have been suspended for behaving rashly with the soldier. The cops have been suspended for attacking Syed Alimulla, a soldier from the 52 Battalion Rashtriya Rifles of Indian Army, who was waiting for a bus at Santhbayalu junction of Parawada to reach Regupalem (V) of Yelamamnchili mandal on October 6.

A Devallu, B Sobha and M Muthyala Naidu and P Ramesh in Parawada police station were suspended based on the orders received from the DGPs office. “Director general of police K V Rajendranath Reddy issued orders to this effect as the constables behaved rudely with the soldier over the row of downloading Disha app,” said Anakapalli district SP K V Murali Krishna.

It may be recalled that the constables Sobha and Naidu approached Syed Alimullah to download Disha app while he was waiting at the bus stop. When the two constables noted down the one-time password generated while installing the app, the soldier questioned them why they were making note of the password and asked them to show their identity cards.

As it did not go well with the cops, they asked him to come to the police station to check their ID cards. They called two more constables and forced Syed Alimullah to visit the police station, compelling him to get into an auto-rickshaw. The cops behaved in a rash manner with the soldier.

As the incident went viral, it caught the attention of the DGP, who called for an immediate action. Based on his orders, the Anakapalli SP attached the constables to the armed reserve and later suspended them.

The SP said an intensive awareness drive has been taken up on Disha App so that more people can download it to make the state safe for women.