Three police officers land in a hospital after jumping off a train to catch a suspect.

MUMBAI: The city policemen have been told to videograph the police escort parties that transport detainees from different jails to the courts by city police commissioner Satya Pal Singh. A police official stated, “This is to see if a policeman is befriending an accused beyond what is allowed or how he is behaving with the inmates.” Even though there was no such circular, the commissioner gave directions, according to a senior IPS official. The suspected Indian Mujahideen operative Afzal Usmani may have fled from the Mumbai Sessions court grounds before being apprehended on the Indo-Nepal border a month later, according to the officer. “The commissioner’s instruction is to send a message that the escort parties are being monitored,” the officer continued. According to other reports, police took payment to let detainees visit their family on the grounds of the court or hospital and even served as their messenger. The members of Special Branch, the intelligence division of the city police, may be given the task of video graphing. The movements of police officers and their body language while accompanying the inmate will be observed, and if anyone is discovered to be hand in glove with the inmates, he or she may face action, according to a police source. “A police escort team may be video graphed even outside the jail premises, or on their way to court or hospital,” said the source. Many others, nevertheless, question if instructions will actually work.