Two-hour traffic duty for a week: Rowdy schoolboys get police rap

A day after two policemen on duty had a narrow escape when some high school students allegedly tried to mow them down under the wheels of their cars, the Faridkot police on Sunday decided to punish these pupils with two-hour duty of assisting the traffic police on roads after schools hours for a week.

Keeping in view the teenage of these students, this punishment is a disciplinary measure designed to teach the students responsibility and possibly deter them from engaging in disruptive behaviour in the future, said Dr Pragya Jain, SSP, Faridkot.

In this incident of alleged rowdyism, two groups of students had a clash outside a private senior secondary school in Faridkot on Saturday.

It is alleged both group of students were armed with sharp-edged weapons. After getting information, two constables of Police Control Room (PCR) reached the spot on a bike and tried to prevail upon the fighting students. “Riding in their cars, some of these students hit our bike and tried to mow us down under their wheels, but we had the narrow escape,” alleged the constables.

After knocking down our bike, the students fled away from the scene, they alleged.

The constables immediately informed the senior authorities in the department and the matter was raised with the school authorities to identify the students with the help of CCTV footage installed at the entrance of the school gate. It was found some of these youths were outsiders and other were Class XI and XII students of the school.

Keeping in view their future, the police decided to impose a punishment on them by making them do traffic duty after school hours.

This traffic duty involves students standing by the roadside and assisting traffic police in directing traffic or making sure pedestrians are safe. The goal behind this punishment is to instil a sense of civic responsibility, awareness of road safety and to correct their behaviour in a constructive way, said Tarlochan Singh, DSP, Faridkot.

We have warned the parents and school authorities and will assess whether it effectively addresses the root causes of the students' rowdyism or if alternative forms of discipline might be more appropriate, said the DSP.