The Maharashtra State Human Rights Commission has directed the state government to pay ₹1 lakh as compensation to a young man who was allegedly assaulted by a police inspector for not addressing the latter as ‘Sir’ during a phone conversation.
The case relates to an incident that occurred on February 23, 2025, when Dheeraj Raju Gedam, a student working as a parcel delivery executive with an e-commerce platform, contacted a customer to confirm the latter’s name before delivering a parcel.
According to Gedam, the customer was Keshav Thackeray, a police inspector attached to Arnala Marine police station in Yavatmal district.
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Dispute began over how police inspector was addressed
When Gedam asked over the phone, “Is this Keshav Thackeray speaking?”, the inspector took objection to not being addressed as ‘Sir’ and questioned Gedam over his manner of speaking. Thackeray went on to allegedly abuse Gedam during the conversation, and later visited the courier office along with police constable Yogesh Giri.
{{/usCountry}}When Gedam asked over the phone, “Is this Keshav Thackeray speaking?”, the inspector took objection to not being addressed as ‘Sir’ and questioned Gedam over his manner of speaking. Thackeray went on to allegedly abuse Gedam during the conversation, and later visited the courier office along with police constable Yogesh Giri.
{{/usCountry}}At the office, Thackeray allegedly abused and assaulted Gedam and at one point, almost strangled him.
The complainant submitted CCTV footage of the alleged assault and an audio-recording of the phone conversation to the commission as evidence supporting his complaint of police high-handedness.
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Taking serious note of the complaint, the Human Rights Commission said that there is no provision in law requiring citizens to address police officers as ‘Sir’.
The commission observed that such insistence is indicative of a feudal mentality and is incompatible with democratic values. As such, the commission directed the state government to pay ₹1 lakh in compensation to the victim over the incident.