PUCL against profiling people

CHENNAI: The People’s Union for Liberties, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, on Tuesday condemned police’s attempt of profiling people belonging to other states. They said the idea was against the fundamental rights stated in the Constitution. In a statement, National Secretary of PUCL, V Suresh, said the idea behind collecting information about other state people was “tantamount to ethnic profiling.” Article 15 of the Constitution states that the State shall not discriminate a citizen based on religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth. Calling for compulsory registration of people belonging to other states was discriminatory, the release said. Charging the reason behind the collection of such data as “arbitrary and irrational,” Suresh said the knee-jerk reaction of the police for tackling such an issue was dangerous and counter-productive. Experiences from other countries, where similar profiling was initiated, revealed the dangers of collective hysteria.What can begin as an ethnic profiling by the police, could also create deep communal discords among people in future, leading to social strifes. Therefore, the police should stop making such attempts and come up with a more feasible method to combat crime, the statement said.