Be careful while using force: Rajnath to police

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday asked police forces to be careful while using force, saying it could end up counter-productive.

Delivering the 30th Intelligence Bureau(IB) Centenary Endowment Lecture he said, The police is not expected to be a "brute force" and it should act judiciously while dealing with contentious law and order situation.

"There are times when police need to act tough. The sheer presence of police during law and order problem brings the situation to normalcy. But one should keep in mind how much force is to be exerted. It should be decided judiciously as forceful reaction proves counter-productive," Singh said.

Singh also advocated the need for adopting smart policing concept with the latest technology. "There should be cyber-crime experts in every police station," he said even as he emphasised the need for more hands in muscle policing.

He also said senior officials should be cautious while taking action against young police officers, who have erred. "You should apply a lot of thought before taking action. You should remember you can ruin someone's career easily," he said.

While lauding the efforts of security agencies in tackling terrorism and left-wing extremism, he said there is a need to have more efforts to increase public's trust and confidence in the police.

Last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi delivered the IB Centenary Endowment Lecture while Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had delivered the lecture in 2015.

In the past, Presidents Pranab Mukherjee and A P J Abdul Kalam, Union home ministers, including L K Advani, Shivraj Patil and P Chidambaram had delivered the lecture.