'Be compassionate towards subordinates', TN DGP writes to officers

CHENNAI: Director General of Tamil Nadu police, C. Sylendra Babu has directed the district superintendents and commissioners of police to show compassion towards their subordinates.

He wrote a letter to the officers urging them to show more compassion while sanctioning leave to the subordinate officers.

The DGP was referring to the denial of leave to a Special Sub Inspector of Police in Sivaganga. The SSI, who was to participate in the engagement of his daughter, was instead denied leave and posted on security duty in Coimbatore. The Sub Inspector had to cancel the function. He later aired his ordeal on a television programme. This led to the DGP taking up the matter with the District Superintendents of Police and Commissioners.

Sylendra Babu in the letter to the District Superintendents of Police/ Commissioner said, "The Station House Officer and the Sub- Divisional Officers should have had the basic compassion for an SSI, who had wanted to attend the engagement function of his daughter which was fixed a long time ago. The SSI should have been excused from the security duty in Coimbatore."

He instructed the officers to have empathy and to use their discretion while examining the genuine requests of the sub-ordinate staff for leave and to grant the eligible leave to the men and women in their charge depending on the nature of the occasion to which leave was sought.

The DGP also said that denial of leave for such a crucial function would lead to major mental distress to the field staff.