Police should call people 'sir'; not other way round: Kerala judge

Kozhikode: High Court judge Justice Devan Ramachandran said that the police should be calling people ‘sir’ and not the other way round. The Constitution says that every citizen of India is sovereign, and nothing is above the Constitution, the judge said.

Delivering a lecture on 'Youth: Shaping India's Future' in the Kollam district of Kerala, the HC judge said not just lawyers but every citizen should understand that the sovereign power of the state rests in the hands of common people. There is no king in India like in the UK, while each of us is a king. There is no need for the High Court to say that the police should not misbehave with people, he said.

He continued that the fact is people are not aware of this. He said that people need not call the police, sir, since police are public servants. The police, who are the servants of the people, should call people sir. But what is happening here is that we call our servants 'sir,' and they misbehave with people, the judge said.

According to him police using harsh words on people is like a worker berating his boss.

Later, he opined that people in Kerala have a common tendency to shoot opinions on other people’s matters. This nature of Keralites has a big role in children leaving the state and going abroad for higher studies, the judge said. He said that he wanted students in Kerala to pursue their studies in the state itself. He added that he loves the state, particularly Kochi where he was born and brought up.