When the supreme bosses are showing the way, the followers
are bound to follow them dutifully.
After Manmohan’s insensitive brief on what he thinks about
the Delhi gangrape and the subsequent public outrage and after Mr. Shinde
comparing young protesters with Maoists, it was turn of their yet another
ardent follower (in delivering verbal volleys - and they are plentiful),
Delhi’s police commissioner, Mr. Neeraj Kumar. Please
excuse me if I am exaggerating.
In the aftermath of the Delhi gangrape protests, one thing is crystal
clear that had it not been the huge public outcry on the streets, we would
never have seen whatever developments have been so far in the case given the
kind of blind leads the case had thrown initially.
And the fact that the crime itself owes its origin to some
glaring lapses by the police slaps Delhi Police squarely in the face. These
lapses are always there but whenever the criminal elements exploit them to
perpetrate some inhuman crime like the Delhi
gangrape, the issue comes to the forefronts.
Some years ago, a female journalist driving back to her home
from work post-midnight was shot dead by some rogues for apparently no reason. That was a South Delhi area. There
was much hue and cry. Some measures were taken only to go slack once the cry
was over. Last year, a girl was shot dead in broad daylight by a jilted lover
in Southwest Delhi. The blind case was solved
after much public and media outrage and some tough remedy was 'proposed'.
The police have lost its character of being the people’s
saviour first. Cracking these blind cases tells us police can solve most of the
cases and prevent crime much more efficiently. But the increasing crime graph
tells us they are not willing (of course, for variety of reasons!).
So when there is outcry and outrage, it does as much so as
to save its skin.
The way the Delhi
police commissioner has handled the issue since the very beginning only
confirms the insensitive and inhuman character of the police.
It also represents (once again) the colonial mindset with
which the high-ranked administrative officers work. There have been debates and
commissions to overhaul the selection and training process of the Indian Administrative
Services but nothing on the ground has been done.
These officers, in collaboration with their bosses, run the
country. So much depends on them. Mr. Neeraj Kumar is just one among many of
them we saw it in this case, and we are still observing the ugly blame game,
be the law and order maintenance or the death of the injured Delhi Police
constable.
To continue..