Kolkata Police commissioner Manoj Verma on Wednesday instructed officers to maintain professional conduct and exercise restraint when interacting with participants in Thursday’s Reclaim the Night movement.

Verma addressed officers during a preparedness meeting for Independence Day on Friday and the Reclaim protests on Thursday night.

The demonstrations mark the anniversary of the widespread outrage following the rape and murder of a postgraduate junior doctor at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital on August 9 last year.

Organisers have called for congregations on Thursday evening, with major gatherings planned at Jadavpur and in front of the Academy of Fine Arts on Cathedral Road.

Police conduct

“The police commissioner instructed all officers to behave properly while handling the participants of the Reclaim the Night movement and emphasised that everyone must act in a manner befitting a police officer while dealing with the protesters,” said an officer present at the closed-door meeting at Alipore Bodyguard Lines. The officer spoke on condition of anonymity as he is not authorised to speak on the subject.

Verma specifically directed all police personnel to avoid provocations and refrain from making inappropriate comments during their interactions with demonstrators, according to another attendee at the annual pre-Independence Day preparedness meeting.

Context of tensions

The commissioner’s emphasis on proper conduct comes amid allegations from the slain RG Kar doctor’s parents, who have claimed they were harassed by the police when attempting to file an FIR at Shakespeare Sarani and New Market police stations. On Tuesday, the doctor’s father alleged that the police were obstructing their efforts to lodge a complaint against officers over an alleged assault on his wife last Saturday during the march to Nabanna.

Last year’s Reclaim the Night protest on August 14 drew hundreds of thousands of people to Calcutta’s streets in an extraordinary demonstration. However, the same night saw a mob storm the RG Kar Emergency Building.

The mob vandalised the ground floor of the RGKar Medical College and Hospital and destroyed furniture and equipment. Police onduty were overwhelmedand unable to prevent the damage.

City police commissioner Verma specifically instructed officers to prevent any repeat of last year’s vandalism at the medical facility, emphasising that adequate security arrangements must be in place.

I-Day security

Verma also directed increased vigilance at hotels, lodges, and guest houses, along with enhanced vehicle checkpoints ahead of Friday’s Independence Day celebrations.

Officers were instructed to remain alert for unauthorised drone flights over vital installations, with only Kolkata Police-deployed dronespermitted over Red Road and other areas expecting large crowds.