Bihar policemen arrest youth due to poor English

Poor knowledge of English language of a Bihar Police man almost landed a youth from Jehanabad district in the state behind bars when policeman mistook a family court order for inquiry of asset as an "arrest warrant" and arrested him.

The incident, reported from the Makhdumpur Police Station of the district, has come as a big embarrassment for top police officials in Bihar. The man was released the next morning as soon as the police officials realised their mistake.

Neeraj Kumar, a resident of Makhdumpur Dih, said he was arrested on November 25 from his shop, "thanks to the poor knowledge of local police officials, who can't even differentiate between a normal court order and an arrest warrant".

"I made repeated pleas to the policemen that there wasn't any arrest warrant against me. My lawyer also talked to the police, but they were not ready to listen to anything. I was forced to spend a night in the lockup and produced in the court next day in handcuffs."

Neeraj said when the judge of the court came to know about it after reading the family court order, he slammed the police officials and ordered to released him immediately.

Jahanabad Superintendent of Police Pankaj Kumar said the family court had sent an order to inquire about the assets of Neeraj, but the local police officials mistook it for as arrest warrant.

"A probe is underway into how Neeraj was arrested and action will be taken against those found guilty because this incident has put a question mark on the functioning of police," said SP Kumar.

A senior IPS officer of the rank of IG admitted that poor English is a big problem among lower rung police officials.

--IANS

ik/nir