© 2025 Connecticut Public

FCC Public Inspection Files:
WEDH · WEDN · WEDW · WEDY
WEDW-FM · WNPR · WPKT · WRLI-FM
Public Files Contact · ATSC 3.0 FAQ
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

How To Nab Suspects While Social Distancing? Indian Police Try Giant Tongs

Police in Chandigarh, India, tweeted a video of officers using a pole with a movable, two-pronged claw for catching a suspect around the waist.
DGP Chandigarh Police/Screenshot by NPR
Police in Chandigarh, India, tweeted a video of officers using a pole with a movable, two-pronged claw for catching a suspect around the waist.

For police, the new coronavirus poses a dilemma: How do you apprehend a suspect in the era of social distancing?

In India, they've come up with a way to lengthen the long arms of the law: giant tongs.

In what looks more like a scene from a cops-and-robbers cartoon, this week police in the northern city of Chandigarh tweeted a video of an officer demonstrating how to use a 6-foot pole with a two-pronged claw at the end to detain a suspect. The officer, wearing a surgical mask, clamps the device around a man's waist and forces him into a pickup truck.

"We call it a 'social distancing clamp' or a 'lockdown-breaker catcher,' " head constable Gurdeep Singh told NPR by phone from Chandigarh Police headquarters. "This is especially used in instances where we suspect that someone has the coronavirus and they are not cooperating with us."

Chandigarh, the joint capital of the Indian states of Haryana and Punjab, has been declared a containment zone, with a high concentration of COVID-19 cases. Nationwide, India has more than 24,000 active cases and has counted about 1,100 deaths — though testing has not been widespread.

Officers in Chandigarh are still practicing with a prototype of the claw contraption and haven't yet put it into use against criminals, Singh says.

"Great equipment, great drill !!!" their director-general, Sanjay Baniwal, tweeted with the video.

Not everyone agrees. On Twitter, some people called the device "appalling" and a violation of "human dignity." Others applauded the police for their creativity to "control stupid people."

This is only the latest unconventional innovation by Indian police during the coronavirus crisis. In the central Indian city of Nagpur, officers were filmed in March forcing lockdown violators to do exercise squats in the street. And near the popular tourist resort of Rishikesh, in the north, when foreign backpackers strayed from their hostels, police made them write "I did not follow the rules of lockdown. I am very sorry" 500 times.

As for the giant tongs, Chandigarh policeman Singh says he got the idea from police in Nepal, where officers have reportedly detained over 1,400 suspects using a similar "multifunctional arrest device."

But he says the one designed in India has additional features.

"We can expand the size depending on the person's waistline," Singh explains.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Lauren Frayer covers India for NPR News. In June 2018, she opened a new NPR bureau in India's biggest city, its financial center, and the heart of Bollywood—Mumbai.

The independent journalism and non-commercial programming you rely on every day is in danger.

If you’re reading this, you believe in trusted journalism and in learning without paywalls. You value access to educational content kids love and enriching cultural programming.

Now all of that is at risk.

Federal funding for public media is under threat and if it goes, the impact to our communities will be devastating.

Together, we can defend it. It’s time to protect what matters.

Your voice has protected public media before. Now, it’s needed again. Learn how you can protect the news and programming you depend on.

SOMOS CONNECTICUT is an initiative from Connecticut Public, the state’s local NPR and PBS station, to elevate Latino stories and expand programming that uplifts and informs our Latino communities. Visit CTPublic.org/latino for more stories and resources. For updates, sign up for the SOMOS CONNECTICUT newsletter at ctpublic.org/newsletters.

SOMOS CONNECTICUT es una iniciativa de Connecticut Public, la emisora local de NPR y PBS del estado, que busca elevar nuestras historias latinas y expandir programación que alza y informa nuestras comunidades latinas locales. Visita CTPublic.org/latino para más reportajes y recursos. Para noticias, suscríbase a nuestro boletín informativo en ctpublic.org/newsletters.

The independent journalism and non-commercial programming you rely on every day is in danger.

If you’re reading this, you believe in trusted journalism and in learning without paywalls. You value access to educational content kids love and enriching cultural programming.

Now all of that is at risk.

Federal funding for public media is under threat and if it goes, the impact to our communities will be devastating.

Together, we can defend it. It’s time to protect what matters.

Your voice has protected public media before. Now, it’s needed again. Learn how you can protect the news and programming you depend on.