Mumbai Police is one of the most social-media friendly police accounts. Not only does it make the best use of the platform to educate the citizens on being responsible online it also proactively reaches out to distressed citizens on its own to help. However, Mumbai Police has reportedly blocked film actor Payal Rohatgi on Twitter.
https://twitter.com/Payal_Rohatgi/status/1149177267307855872?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Payal Rohatgi took to Twitter to voice out her grievances against Mumbai Police. She said that with the ‘biased behaviour’ of Mumbai Police, she is scared of living in India. Without really getting into her allegations, the fact that a police twitter account has blocked a citizen is not a good thing.
Mumbai Police is duty bound to protect citizens, including Payal Rohatgi
As a citizen of India, the Police is duty bound to protect the citizens, including Payal Rohatgi whether or not they agree to their views or not, including the Mumbai Police. And while the police accounts mention that their social media accounts may not be monitored 24×7 and they should call 100 for an emergency, blocking someone on Twitter is wrong precedence. What if the citizen, Rohatgi or anyone, they have blocked, is indeed in an emergency? What if tweeting is a safer option than calling? Some followers may amplify such tweets such that the Police gets intimated but what if it is too late?
And not just Mumbai Police, any public entities especially politicians and police accounts should ideally not be blocking citizens, even if they disagree with them. Should the behaviour of citizens tweeting to them is unruly and they feel threatened, they should file a police complaint or take a legal course of action.
UPDATE: Mumbai police responded to Payal Rohatgi and said her getting blocked was unintentional and the ‘technical team’ is looking into it.
https://twitter.com/MumbaiPolice/status/1149263851218771968?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw