Cops punish lockdown violators by posting their pics online

Kolhapur Police in Maharashtra have come up with a new idea of publicly shaming lockdown violators by posting ir pictures on social media. drive was launched on Tuesday and over 40 offenders were punished as part of it, a police official said. This was done after police found several well educated and "over smart" people, who were aware of situation, coming out of ir homes for morning and evening walks and violating lockdown guidelines, he said.

"To punish such people, we created some selfie points with mess I am irresponsible, I am selfish'. offenders are asked to click a selfie re and it is n posted on Facebook p of police," Kolhapur Superintendent of Police Abhinav Deshmukh said.

This kind of punishment will put social pressure on educated people, who violate prohibitory orders by coming out of ir homes without any valid reason, he said. selfie points have been created by police at Kalamba and Phule Wadi. Those caught so far for violating lockdown include doctors, teachers and young students, he said. Police also recorded videos about reasons why se people came out of ir homes and all of m gave unsastifactory replies, official said, adding that some even gave false identities.

"One can understand if a labourer or daily wr comes out of home in search of work or food for his family. But se people are coming out for morning and evening walks, which is a very irresponsible behaviour at this crucial time," Deshmukh said.

He said many of offenders did t even wear masks and did t follow social distancing guidelines.

"y have a feeling that thing will happen to m," he said.

police are hopeful that this drive will make people realise ir mistake and y would stay indoors.