New Delhi: An inquiry has been ordered after a thief was garlanded with shoes and slippers, made to sit on the bonnet of a police jeep and paraded on busy Jammu streets by some cops. The entire incident was caught on camera.
A footage showing the police’s highhandedness and despicable act went viral, drawing huge public outcry. The department dubbed the excessive moral policing of its personnel as “unprofessional and unbecoming”.
Reports said that the incident took place after a thief was caught red-handed in Bakshi Nagar area, stealing money while buying medicines. .
The police team, headed by the Station House Officer of Bakshi Nagar police station, was accompanied by several local residents while he was being paraded.
The video of the incident was circulated widely on social media and the police action came under scanner. Later, the Jammu police admitted that the conduct of the police team was “unprofessional, unbecoming of the members of a disciplined organisation” and vowed action against the personnel involved.
Joginder Singh, SSP, Jammu, has ordered a departmental probe into the incident. A police statement said, “Taking serious note of this, an inquiry has been ordered. It has been entrusted to SDPO City North, Jammu. He will submit his findings within a week. Jammu police firmly believes in upholding the rule of law and, at the same time, any non-professional tendency/approach on part of any officer/official will not encouraged and desired departmental/legal action will be taken against such delinquent members.”
‘Police are not mobs’
The incident drew massive criticism from civil society activists, who called it a kind of “medieval vigilantism”. The public humiliation of the person triggered serious legal and ethical questions.
Taking to X, Nasir Khuehami, the national convener of the Jammu and Kashmir Students Association, said, “Police are not mobs. They are the custodians of the law. The duty of an SHO is to investigate, not adjudicate to uphold justice, not to dispense punishment through public spectacle.” He pointed out: “Such crude displays of “instant justice” erode public trust, delegitimize the institution, and push our democracy one step closer to the abyss of lawlessness.”
Bakshi Nagar Police in Jammu have arrested a suspected thief and turned the incident into a public spectacle by placing a garland of shoes around his neck and making him sit on the bonnet of their official vehicle. Instead of following standard procedure and placing him inside… pic.twitter.com/zEJt81qG6N
— Nasir Khuehami (ناصر کہویہامی) (@NasirKhuehami) June 24, 2025
This is the third incident of public shaming of crime suspects within a month in Jammu city. Last week, two youths accused of assaulting a woman and snatching her gold chain were paraded barefoot through the Janipur area of Jammu. On June 11, three men accused in a shooting incident at Gangyal Chowk were publicly thrashed by police personnel after their arrest.
