From drones to pranks, TN police fight fire with fire to handle youth

Despite the number of COVID-19 cases continuing to increase in India, some people keep stepping out of their homes for non-essential activities. They even resort to rhetoric like, “To buy essentials”. In countries like China, the lockdown rules are as stringent that people violating them may even land in prison. For some Indians, however, the lockdown has been like going on a holiday.

In this scenario, ensuring that people stay in their homes has fallen solely on the shoulders of the police. In most Indian states, police have been canning violators. They have also been seizing their vehicles in some places. However, the Tamil Nadu police have been using rather creative methods to create awareness among the violators.

In Salem, police painted bikes with yellow, green and red, so that the owners come out only on the days that correspond to those colour. In Cuddalore and Krishnagiri, the police had brought out a COVID-19 awareness song that has been doing the rounds on social media. In Chennai, the went to the extent of prostrating before the violators. However, the police could not work on some youth.

After the state government announced a complete lockdown in five major cities, people resorted to panic buying. Among them were the youth, who had hit the streets to ease lockdown blues. From playing cricket in groups and riding triples on their motorcycles to sharing the videos of indoor feasts on social media, some youth have lately been very naughty.

Like fighting fire with fire, the police too have been playing pranks on the youth in a bid to create awareness. Recently, the state government granted the police permission to use drones to nab violators. Tiruppur district was the first to use drones and a video of a drone chasing a group of youth playing cricket went viral. The public welcomed the initiative and appreciated the police.

A week later, another video released by the Tiruppur police left the people in shock. They played a prank on three youths, who had been riding bikes without masks. The police locked the youths in an ambulance, which had a fake COVID-19 patient. The youngsters are seen trying to jump out of the ambulance. Later, the police say in the video that it was a prank to create awareness.

Though the police had good intentions, the act backfired as some people questioned why should the police take such extreme steps. However, a senior official of the Tiruppur police says they had made it clear in the video that the prank was meant only for creating awareness and not to stigmatise victims. “The person who acted as the COVID-19 patient was not affected by the disease,” he said.

The usage of drones has brought down the non-essential movements in the district, says another policeman. “We have limited manpower and cannot to patrol every street. So, we use drones to identify crowds and our personnel go there and take action,” he says. Drones had helped them nab youths who play in a forest and who brew liquor illegally. But the youth have still not understood the seriousness of lockdown, he says.

However, Chennai-based lawyer N Ramesh says there are no legal provisions that allow the police to engage in such activities. “The police can use drones for surveillance, but not to catch a couple sitting under a tree. It would violate their privacy,” he says. Similarly, the state government has banned the making of prank videos. So, police releasing such videos will set a bad precedent, says Ramesh.

“Suppose, if one a youth had a weak heart and collapsed during the prank, who would be responsible for it?”. Unless they are not harmful to people, the acts are not permissible and the police must refrain from releasing such videos, he says.