t has been more than a week since the clash between lawyers and the Delhi Police at the Tis Hazari court over a trivial matter of parking, yet not a single lawyer has been brought to book despite video evidence showing the men in black coats going on the rampage.
The reason why the police have failed to make any progress in the investigation is because the Delhi High Court has restrained the police from taking any action pending a judicial probe that the court has ordered. But after the Tis Hazari court clash, at least two more incidents of hooliganism by the lawyers have surfaced.
In the first incident, a man in a black coat, presumably a lawyer, can be seen hitting and slapping a policeman on a motorcycle. In the other incident, lawyers are seen assaulting a common man on the road.
Although only a thorough investigation into both the incidents will establish the entire truth, videos in the public domain of the incidents clearly indicate that they were completely unprovoked. Yet the police brass failed to take any action against the erring lawyers, leading to an unprecedented protest by policemen from the lower ranks at the gate of the police headquarters in the heart of the city.
Almost all the protesters were of the opinion that their pusillanimous seniors had failed to protect their interests. Repeated attempts by senior officers to end the protest failed, on the contrary, many of the officers were booed and jeered.
For the general public, the police are hate figures because of their highhanded behaviour and corruption. But for a change there seemed to be widespread public sympathy for the men and women in khaki, especially after more videos surfaced of the lawyers assaulting and heckling even a young woman IPS officer.But the never-before protest has many lessons for the police leadership. Quite clearly, senior officers of the Delhi Police had failed to gauge the feelings of the men they lead, reflecting poorly on their leadership qualities.
A policewoman who was assaulted in the Tis Hazari court has told the media that she was discouraged from filing a complaint by her seniors. She apparently told her colleagues that making a formal complaint “will not get her any results and she will end up making a fool of herself.”In the protest, it was two former Delhi Police officers who turned out to be the real heroes, Deepak Mishra and Kiran Bedi, currently the Puducherry Lt. Governor.
In January 1988, the police had clashed with lawyers, ironically at the same Tis Hazari court, after the lawyers objected to the police handcuffing their colleague.The lawyer, Rajesh Agnihotri, was being produced in the court after he was caught by St Stephen’s College students for allegedly stealing from a ladies common room. Bedi backed the actions of her men.
There is a sneaking suspicion that many of the lawyers involved in the violence and assault of the policemen are affiliated with the ruling party in the Centre and that is why the police brass is under pressure to not take any action against the lawyers.
If this is indeed true then it’s time for the police leadership to acquire some spine and stand up to the political class. Leadership is ll about looking after the needs of colleagues and juniors and not to protect self interest.
H KHOGEN SINGH
Resident Editor, New Delhi
Email: khogensingh@newindianexpress.com