Provide periodical counselling to policemen: Allahabad HC tells UP govt

Lucknow: The Allahabad High Court on Friday asked the Uttar Pradesh government and police department to provide periodical counselling to policemen to reduce their stress as they work under high stress and pressure.

The order came on a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by L K Khurana on Tuesday.

The PIL stated that the state government must take adequate remedial measures so that incidents like the murder of Apple executive Vivek Tiwari in the state capital last month are not repeated.

The court asked the state agencies to make the police force more people-friendly.

A division bench of Justice D K Arora and Justice Rajan Roy said, "To instill the confidence of the people in the institution (police)...By making the police more people-friendly, the police personnel should be put to periodical counselling by the department as law enforcement is a high stress and people-intensive profession."

The court asked additional advocate general V K Sahi to place before it on October 23 the remedial measures taken by the state government and the police department in this regard.

"The State shall also inform whether any pre-employment psychological test or periodical assessment is being conducted to evaluate the personality traits to help and formulate an opinion about whether or not a candidate is fit for police department," it said.