Kolkata: Probe after shorts-clad men refused entry to police station – Times of India

KOLKATA: Two men, who had rushed — wearing shorts — to a police station last weekend, were refused entry by a constable on the grounds that they were “dressed inappropriately”. When one of the duo raised the issue on Kolkata Police’s Twitter handle, the social media cell of the force asked them whether they would attend office in such attire.
The cops have, however, started a probe after one of the men posted the issue on his Facebook wall, threatening to file an RTI inquiry into whether one needed to follow a dress code to enter a police station. The cops’ initial reaction and the complainant’s Facebook post drew significant social media attention.
Barnik Dutta, a resident of Picnic Garden, was walking past a temple near his home in the morning last weekend, when he noticed several items stolen from the structure. He alerted his friend, Avishek De Biswas, and the two of them rushed to the Kasba PS to report the theft in the clothes they were wearing. But the constable at the main entrance stopped them, curtly telling them they couldn’t enter unless “properly dressed”. If they wished to file a report, they would have to come back wearing trousers, they were told.
Stung by the cop’s reaction, the duo went back, changed into trousers and filed an FIR. But the issue continued to rankle Biswas. On Monday, he wrote on the Kolkata Police Twitter handle whether there was an official dress code to enter police stations. The reply left him stunned: “Would you go to your office in shorts?” Furious, Biswas posted on Facebook that he was “denied entry… because I was wearing shorts and a T-Shirt,” adding, “I will next file an RTI query…. My purpose is only to create an awareness regarding ‘citizens’ rights to essential services’ so that no citizen is denied any essential service on frivolous reasons.”
Biswas’s post went viral, with netizens posting more queries. Although Kasba police refused to comment, DC (south suburban division) Rashid Munir Khan said a probe had been ordered. “We have asked an assistant commissioner to inquire into the incident. We have identified the constable on sentry duty who had asked the men to be dressed properly. Action will follow very soon,” he told TOI.
Senior officers at Lalbazar clarified there was no dress code for complainants. “We are an emergency service. A proper probe will be conducted,” said an officer.
Sociologist Prasanta Roy said: “The constable’s first instinct was to drive away complainants. Maybe he saw a good excuse in the shorts they were wearing. But what really is ‘civilized’ dress?… Tomorrow, if a woman, wearing a nightie, is attacked, will the cops not listen to her?”
Former police commissioner Tushar Talukdar, however, felt there should be a “minimum dress code” in any government office, including a police station.