Cops in plain clothes wielding lathis during CJP protest: Necessity or ambiguity?
The deployment of plainclothes police officers wielding lathis during a protest in New Delhi has sparked public debate regarding transparency and law enforcement tactics. While senior officials defend the practice as a logistical necessity for undercover and intelligence operations, critics argue it creates dangerous ambiguity.
Why it matters
The incident raises questions about police accountability, the use of force, and the balance between operational security and public trust in democratic policing.
NEW DELHI: Visuals of Monday’s protest showed a few men in civilian clothes, wearing little more than shirts, trousers and chappals, yet equipped with police helmets and actively engaged in crowd control, wielding lathis.The images attracted sharp criticism regarding who these people were and why they were not in uniform with name tags.A few such cops have had their addresses, Instagram handles and phone numbers splashed across social media.In some cases, users identified them wrongly.A cropped video of one such cop, identified on X and Instagram as Honey Dagar, was released on social media, sparking a debate on whether cops without uniform should be deployed for law and order duties.Pointing to the operational realities of modern law enforcement, serving and retired senior cops say police departments routinely maintain specialised detection units and intelligence wings whose mandates require them to operate covertly.“For these officers, the absence of a uniform is a…
Get smarter about the news
Sign up free for a feed built around what you actually care about, Dive Deeper research on any story, and the full text of every article.
Create free accountAlready have an account? Sign in