New Delhi: Police personnel deployed at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar during protests demanding Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation were seen without name tags.
Officials familiar with the deployment said the decision was taken deliberately to prevent individual personnel from being identified and targeted on social media, according to Hindustan Times (HT).
Thousands of protesters had tried to march towards Parliament from Jantar Mantar over alleged examination paper leaks and demanded the resignation of then Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan. The march ended in clashes, with the police using tear gas and baton charges to disperse protesters who breached barricades. The experience influenced the police approach at Jantar Mantar this time. The decision was visible on the first day of the ongoing protests. Several demonstrators photographed police personnel and asked why their names were not displayed. Videos shared online showed some officers saying their tags had fallen off during the commotion. Several personnel declined to explain the decision.
Because they could come off during crowd control, some said they had removed the tags deliberately. The police decision on name tags dates back to the experience of personnel during the July 20 Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) march. More than 100 police personnel and over 60 protesters were reported injured.
Officials said several police personnel involved in crowd control were later identified on social media. Their families also became targets of online posts and memes, said the publication, citing an officer familiar with internal review meetings held after the July clashes. Senior officers were told that personnel would not face action for removing name tags if they were carrying out their duties within the law. “While most IPS (Indian Police Service) officers, who are easily identified by the public, chose to retain their tags at Jantar Mantar this time, many junior personnel were allowed to be on the ground without wearing their tags,” the officer said, according to the report. Others said they had forgotten to attach them.
Some officers even reported that their families had been deliberately targeted by colleagues at work and through memes on social media,” the officer said, according to the report.
“Many officers said their families were called out by friends or in social circles.
