The Neighbourhood Policeman Friend or — — — — — — — — !
The topic of my blog this week is not any societal, esoteric or spiritual issue but something which concerns all of us intimately in our daily lives- the extent of reliance that we can place on the law and order machinery, in particular, the neighbourhood policeman, the local police station, the traffic police and the like on, on whom we are dependent on any mishaps, God forbidding, that may befell on us.
To provide a proper background to the issue a recapitulation of two chronologically dispersed issues would be in order. A couple of years ago, a theft occurred at a close friend’s house in broad daylight in Central Delhi, in the presumably, impregnable and safe cordon of Lutyen’s Delhi. While thankfully, in this case, there was no physical harm, the financial loss was substantial. Mind you, this friend of mine was even compared to Delhi’s exalted standards, reasonably influential and well-connected — however, what happened after pulling all stops, following all procedures and making a show of an in-depth investigation and seemingly telling efforts was the concoction of a hardly believable theory — the details of which would make interesting, if not hilarious reading and the case was “ostensibly” solved, of course, with no recovery and my friend was left ruining his fate as pulling his hairs in frustration at the futility of the entire exercise.
Similarly, in an incident, a couple of months back, with the added possibility of significant physical harm, my sister-in-law was assaulted in East Delhi by a bunch of hooligans carrying acid bottles just as soon as she had stepped out from a shop. Thankfully in the ensuing melee, while the acid bottle fell on the floor, thereby obviating any physical damage, the financial loss was humongous and substantial. Here again, in spite of moving heaven and earth at all levels, politically, socially, using contacts among the bureaucracy and the police, no results came out — in fact in this case the ostensible investigation reached a dead end as unsolved. While the circumstantial evidence, of course, admittedly without proof, pointed to some kind of a link between the shop and the hooligans whereby the information was passed on in some manner, no efforts were made and the case again in this consigned to records. The manner in which events have unfolded in these two events bears an eerie similarity and a worrisome and disturbing trend.
While people may agree, perhaps relying upon the principles of statistical sampling, that it would not be justified to extrapolate any conclusions on the basis of these two happenings alone, to my mind, it would be fallacious to ignore the trend and the broader malaise exemplified in them. Mind you, if supposedly influential and well-heeled persons of society can suffer such a fate, what would be the fate of the common populace burdened as they are with the weight of anonymity and relative insignificance. The daily travails and suffering of these people would scarcely get noticed — let alone get publicity or be worthy of being highlighted in media (print, television, social or any other form) and that too in a state run by an Aam Aadmi for the aam aadmi, in a country run by a political party, which came to power on the promises of “Acche Din” and where the principal opposition parties are constantly raising issues designed to create din and noise bereft of solidity and relevance. There is no reason to believe that such a situation is not present in other States across the country. The public discourse seems designed to granting freebies, doles or politically emotive issues aimed to whipping-up frenzy in the electorate punctuated with the possibility of significant electoral gains.
The point to be highlighted in the entire scenario is the utter lack of faith that we have come to have in the law and order machinery. How in spite of the sustained public relations exercises undertaken by the Police Department, enactment of laws including the Good Samaritans Law (aimed at protecting the informer or whistle blower), the first impulse is to run away from any scene of crime or to ignore certain small injustices which we seem to have come to routinely accept. All this talk of modernising our police force and the law and order machinery and presenting a people friendly force seems just small talk — mind you, it is our tax-payers’ money which feeds this Department. Is it not time that we seek accountability wherein seeking answers to our questions gets a sense of urgency and the rights of the common man get their rightful place, as in any vibrant democracy?
