Two men who had gone to report a theft at Kasba police station wearing shorts were asked to go home and return in trousers to get their complaint registered.
When one of them reported the incident on Calcutta police’s Facebook page and Twitter handle, he got a response asking him whether he would go to office in shorts.
Barnik Datta, 33, from Picnic Garden Road, and his friend Avishek De Biswas, 31, from Deshapriya Park, had gone to Kasba police station on July 17 to report a theft at the Datta family’s temple.
“We went to the police station wearing shorts. At the entrance, a policeman who was not in uniform stopped us and said we should change to trousers before entering the police station,” Datta, who works as a consultant in a start-up, told The Telegraph on Friday.
“I still entered the police station and requested the duty officer to accept our complaint. But he, too, said there were women in the police station and we should be wearing full pants.”
Dutta and De Biswas left the police station. Datta, who lives nearby, returned in an hour wearing trousers to get his complaint registered.
Told about the incident, several IPS officers, serving and retired, said there could be several types of circumstances under which a person had to visit a police station.
Former Calcutta police commissioner Prasun Mukherjee told this newspaper: “This (imposing a dress code on a complainant) could be (a reflection of) an inherent mentality of members of the uniformed force…. This could be an individual’s opinion.... To my knowledge there is no written order that defines the dress code of a visitor to the police station. There are dress codes only for the uniformed forces.”
De Biswas and Datta said their intention to highlight the matter was “not to complain” but to seek clarification on the dress code, if any, for a visitor to a police station.
Later on Friday, deputy commissioner (south suburban division) Rashid Munir Khan told this newspaper: “We have started an inquiry in the matter as there is no such dress code. The constable who said this (at the police station) has been identified. It appears that he said this out of ignorance. We will initiate a departmental inquiry against him.”
Datta said: “Once I came back wearing full pants, I received extreme cooperation from the police. I must mention that, too.”
De Biswas, who said he was an actor, had posted a query on the Calcutta police Facebook page and Twitter handle asking whether there was a dress code for people visiting police stations.
“@CPKolkata @KolkataPolice please clarify if it’s mandatory to wear full pants to visit a Police Station and file a complaint of theft. I was just rejected entry by Kasba P.S because I was in my gym shorts. It is necessary to dress up to report any emergency?” De Biswas had tweeted on July 17.
De Biswas said he received a response from the Calcutta police Twitter handle: “Would you go to your office in shorts”.
“I was shocked to see the response as what I wear to my office was not the police’s lookout at all,” De Biswas said.
As he posted screenshots of this conversation on social media, the matter apparently caught the attention of senior officers.
Datta and De Biswas both received a call from Kasba police on Friday and were asked to visit the police station, where a senior officer told them that there was a mistake.
An hour later, they were re-summoned to meet an officer of the rank of assistant commissioner, who had started an inquiry into the matter.
Arrest
Police on Friday arrested Dibakar Das alias Tridib for his alleged involvement in the murder of Subhrajit Dutta in Birati. Cops tracked him down based on CCTV footage. Dutta, 39, had been shot dead on Wednesday night.
