Traffic Police’s mistreatment to the Mayor’s wife in emergency

EDITORIAL

The way Traffic Police of Kathmandu Metropolitan City treated Kathmandu Mayor Balen Shah’s wife, who was in a health emergency, raises serious question about the police personnel’s attitude towards city dwellers. According to media reports, the police stopped the vehicle carrying the mayor’s wife to inquire about using a vehicle with government registration on a public holiday. However, Mayor Shah’s Secretariat has expressed concerns regarding the safety of the general public after the mayor’s wife was allegedly harassed by police personnel while she was returning from the hospital after feeding her baby admitted in the ICU of a hospital. Following the altercation with the police, Mayor Shah on Saturday wrote on social media that he will set Singha Durbar on fire. The press statement issued by the mayor’s secretariat mentioned that the police stopped the vehicle carrying Mayor Shah’s wife Sabina Kafle, who gave birth a few days ago, and created unnecessary hassles and treated them like criminals. The general public has not been able to feel safe due to the bullying of the police, adds the statement. If the police can misbehave the wife of Kathmandu Mayor then what will be the situation when it comes to treat the ordinary city dwellers? Traffic policemen need to be well trained, disciplined and needs to pay attention to sensitivity about humanity. The duty and responsibility of the Traffic Police is not to display power or harass people. Their main duty is to facilitate the vehicle operators, pedestrians and all the city dwellers. We can find many cases in which the traffic police personnel act like a king of the road and treats people like criminals. This must be rectified if they are to win the confidence of the people. The major responsibilities of the Traffic Police is to facilitate people, to educate them about traffic rules, to protect them and to reduce accidents. In most of the instances they can be seen harassing the people and punishing them in minor mistakes. However, they ignore micro buses and trippers running in a dangerous way risking lives of the people. They shut their eyes when trucks and buses are belching thick smokes on the street. The concerned agencies or the Ministry of Home Affairs should take serious such types of incidents and rectify the behaviour of the traffic police.