The wife of a Delhi Police personnel has written to Police Commissioner to ensure “duty in shifts” so he can take care of his family (Pixabay/Representational)
Fed up with her husband’s long duty hours, the wife of a Delhi Police personnel, purportedly posted at Rashtrapati Bhavan, has written to Police Commissioner Amulya Patnaik to ensure “duty in shifts” so he can take care of his family. In the letter to Patnaik, the woman wrote that long duty hours can lead to depression and even suicide. She added that if her husband takes a drastic step, the police will be responsible for it.
However, the letter is yet to be verified as it was sent via e-mail to the police chief’s official mail and does not mention the officer’s name and rank. It only mentions that he is posted with the security unit at Rashtrapati Bhavan. About 700 police personnel — including four ACPs, one DCP and a joint CP — are deployed in the security unit of Rashtrapati Bhavan.
According to sources, soon after receiving the letter, the police chief on August 29 forwarded it to the joint commissioner and the deputy commissioner responsible for security at Rashtrapati Bhavan to verify her claims and do the needful.
The email, written in Hindi, said: “My husband… has to do 12 hours of job daily. He leaves for work at 7 am and comes home only after 9 pm. Due to this, he can’t give time to his family… We are disturbed.”
“He has to perform 12 hours of standing duty… Nobody can remain alert while standing for 12 hours,” it said, adding that officers should instead be told to do “six-hour shifts”.
The email also said the police force ought to do welfare work for “lower-rank officers”. “The officer can then give time to his family, else he may commit suicide out of stress and the force will be responsible for it,” the woman wrote.
According to the data compiled and verified by police sources, 43 Delhi Police personnel — all men — committed suicide between January 2012 and July this year. This year alone, four police personnel killed themselves.
