Police stories from Tamil Nadu show stark contrasts within the force

Tiruchy: Institutional responses to human predicaments in the wake of the novel coronavirus pandemic is throwing up stories of contrasts.

Two recent examples involving some policemen in Tiruchy district has brought such paradoxes to the fore, more so with the cops over-stressed, having to work 24x7, taking the sultry heat and mosquito bites.

A police constable attached to the Manaparai police station in the district turned a model policeman the other day. On security duty at the Kovilpatti check-post near Manaparai recently, he noticed a weary couple - a man and his pregnant wife- ambling across helplessly and crossing the post.

Making enquiries, Abhu Dhageer, the constable learnt that the couple- Ezhumalai, a daily wage earner from Reddiyapatti village, and his wife Sulochana had visited a private nursing home in Manaparai for her child's delivery.

However, due to the lockdown, the hospital pleaded helplessness to perform a C-section surgery on the expectant mother as they did not have blood for transfusion.

They asked the couple to first arrange for the blood and then come back to the hospital.

When Abhu Dhageer, with a little more prodding, found that his blood group matched with that of the expectant mother, he readily offered to donate blood to her.

The constable took them to the hospital again, donated his blood and with the help of which doctors performed a C-section on the expectant mother and she delivered a baby girl.

Both mother and child are doing fine and even the State DGP, J K Truipathy, on hearing of this story, had a special word of appreciation and incentive for the constable Abhu Dhageer, while the general public and social activists of Manaparai appreciated the cop's noble gesture.

However, an ageing and sick retired clerk of the sub-court in Lalgudi in Tiruchy district, struggling to handle cash transactions at the local SBI branch - locals aver he was single and had quite a bit of balance in his savings bank account from his pension money-, was not so lucky recently.

The visibly ill man, Pitchai, had reportedly some Rs.1.50 lakh cash in his hands and his bank passbook, but he swooned and fell to the ground.

Two local police constables on noticing him attempted to shift the ailing man to a hospital but allegedly left him near the bus stop, informed the 108 ambulance and left the place.

When Pitchai recovered shortly later, he lamented that his cash and bank passbook were "missing", even as passersby brought it to the notice of the Lalgudi police station.

As this incident went viral in social media on Friday, Lalgudi police are investigating as to what actually happened.