India, like every other country in the world, is trying to cope with the Corona pandemic. In addition, we have been burdened by a war-like situation on our northern borders. The coincidence of these crises that pose a grave existential threat has distracted us from other equally dangerous issues that are nibbling at our entrails. What happened in Kanpur recently reminds us that it is not enough to rally round the leader to patriotically push back the aggressor who has intruded into our territory or to willingly suffer the hardships that followed inevitably in the wake of a lockdown. Nothing has changed for anti-social elements and organized criminals that challenge the might of the sovereign state. When eight policemen, including a senior officer leading them, were ambushed and slaughtered in cold blood, it is no longer possible to sustain the myth that Jungle Raj has ended in Uttar Pradesh.
The ultra-strict chief minister has been found wanting in protecting the Rule of Law in the state under his charge. We are reminded this dreaded gangster has over 60 cases of heinous crimes, including murder, registered against him. He hasn’t been convicted ever obviously because under his reign of terror no one dare testify against him. He has allegedly killed a powerful politician within the precincts of a police station and walked away like an invisible man. How long has this gangster flouted the rule of law virtually running a state within a state? This has only been possible because he has enjoyed political patronage.
It doesn’t matter what his present affiliations are, anti-defection laws do not apply to persons not elected to serve the people! What is scary is that Vikas Dubey, the accused in this bloodshed, is not the only anti-social commanding a private army or is safe from the long arm of law ensconced in his fortified citadel. Criminals like him have moles everywhere. This time too, he was most likely tipped off about the raid by insiders in the police department. It isn’t enough to declare that the guilty will be brought to book and given harsh exemplary punishment or that the bereaved families will be given generous compensations and orphans rehabilitated. Such statements have been made so often that they have lost all meaning. One doesn’t remember a single case where a gangster involved in a case like this has actually been punished.
Of course, there have been encounters that have eliminated dangerous individuals who have fallen out with their patrons but these extrajudicial executions have only contributed to the erosion of the Rule of the Law. Police instructed to get rid of a mafia don getting too big for his boots or guilty of causing unbearable embarrassment, can easily get out of hand. The old saying is who can police the policemen? The gruesome case of custodial death in Tamil Nadu is a stark reminder of what can go wrong and how fast. Lest the writer of these lines be accused of a bias against the NDA, the dark deeds perpetrated in Tamil Nadu were not in a BIMARU state ruled by NDA-BJP but in a province that takes justifiable pride in its progressive social indicators. So abominable was the conduct of the rogue policemen’s colleagues that the Madras High Court was constrained to order the District Magistrate to take charge of the tainted police station. The policemen posted there were not only not cooperating with the investigation but were suspected of destroying evidence.
Unfortunately, the rot that has set in has not left any part of the country untouched. There has been much time wasted on futile debates on the need to sensitize the cops on the beat, have far-reaching police reforms and improvement in the service and living conditions of policemen. Nothing appears to make an iota of difference—from Gujarat and Maharashtra to Bengal and beyond or from Kashmir to Kerala. Recall the swift extra-judicial punishment meted out to persons accused of raping and murdering a techie in Hyderabad some time back? Cops involved in incidents like this are routinely suspended and reinstated with the passage of time.
The draconian laws to defang dreaded monsters—gangsters and mobs of organized criminals—are increasingly misused to silence political opponents or peaceful protestors. Sadly, the judiciary has not unambiguously protected the fundamental rights of the citizen. Judgments, interim stays, and orders on bail have been extremely confusing to say the least. One doesn’t know when the Apex Court will reinterpret the Law of the Land as laid down by itself. Aged civil rights activists or teenagers are denied bail while a policeman caught ‘red-handed’ transporting terrorists in J&K is released from custody.
We are reconciled to live with the coronavirus for a long time to come. Indians are also girding up for a long haul in the unexpected confrontation with China. Economic recovery will also be slow and not without pain. We can no longer use either the external or the invisible virus as an excuse to postpone dealing with other serious threats to our nation, democratic way of life and the rule of law.
pushpeshpant@gmail.com
Former professor, Jawaharlal Nehru University