Justice Raina said he was “appalled” to find racist term being used for an African(Representational)

Chandigarh:

The Punjab and Haryana High Court has pulled up the Punjab police for using a racist slur while referring to an African national in police documents.

The single-judge bench of Justice Rajiv Narain Raina has asked the Punjab Director General of Police to notify instructions in order to ensure that offensive terms are not used while referring to black people.

Justice Raina said he was “appalled” to find a derogatory term being used while referring to an African national in the challan papers presented under Section 173 (Report of police officer on completion of investigation) of the Criminal Procedure Code before the trial court in a case under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985.

“This is a highly offensive word across the globe and no one has any business to use it, and much less the police. Hence, it is directed never to use the unprintable word in any police document including in challans or anywhere else on case papers including in investigation reports,” the judge said in his order dated June 12.

“This brings shame to India and hatred for the country,” the judge observed.