Pran Pandit
A few days back, after my entry at the venue of a social gathering in the city, it took me no time to grasp that the group of 7-8 people, who I joined in one of the corners of a well decorated lawns, were debating and conducting the post-mortem of the recent police-action in the premises of NIT Srinagar. The debate was hot and the remarks against Police were harsh, implacable and the situation had come to a sweating point. I posed a question to my self: should I be the part of this group or quit to avoid entering into arguments? I decided with myself that I better hear the perspective of the group members to judge the knowledge and insight of the each debating member about the sensitive issue of policing and not to counter any of them even if I don’t digest or concur with the averments and comments, and finally, I got seated in a chair. Three of the members of the group were vocal in raising an accusing finger towards police for using brutal force against the students of NIT and I kept hearing with patience, without countering any of them even when prompted, posing like a dumb.
It was by and large a constructive discussion because everybody spoke with mildness of temper and sobriety except the one who often resorted to interrupting and shouting at other members. The person was well advanced in years, a retired gazetted officer of the state, behaving like a tragic actor in one breath and a buffoon in another. Irritated by the free-rein style of this member, a calm and composed members of the group, who possessed the art of being humorous in an agreeable way, sarcastically posed him a question: “Dear sir, you have impressed everybody by your knowledge and unchangeable resolution which you have determined after due deliberations and careful enquiries; and, we all have heard you at ease, now please, will you be gracious enough to hear me patiently?”. The reply came: “please carry on”. And, he said, “I am a student , doing research in ‘Police Science’; for the last over two years, I have been examining various situations of this kind vigorously and consistently; on the basis of my study and knowledge, I have come to one logical conclusion that police is an essential organ of governance in any of the forms of the government for maintaining law and order in society, and, without police the society will doom; police is a body comprising of members drawn from the society and they have not fallen from a different planet; and before raising an accusing finger towards police, the members of society must not lose sight of the most challenging, abrupt, complex and daunting law and order problems they are grappling with for decades.” The falling standards and values in the society have a direct impact on the working and efficacy of police, he added. His words had a mesmerizing effect on all the group members and there was a pin drop silence for nearly 30 seconds and then another member said, “Yes; you are right ; I second you; why I say so is because no amount of professional mastery in handling the law and order situations and resolving of conflicts, courage, conviction and integrity of police is going to put a full-stop to leveling of accusations against them, whether genuine or ingenuine, from one quarter or the other, unless the society at large shuns away prejudices against police and the political leadership gives police a free hand and the autonomy of decision-making in the field in accordance with the laws and rules of the land”. His averment appealed every body except one who was shaking his head in dissent, and the research scholar gave him applause by thundering cheers and said, “Vah, Kya baat hai!” Irritated by this, the dissenting member, a practicing junior advocate, reacted and reacted sharp. Posing a volley of questions to participating members, he said, “Has the society to grant the police a license to act as per their fantasy and whims and tolerate every wrong they do; should the society suffer because they become yes-masters; should they not act by chaining the wrong-doer, howsoever influential or powerful he or she is?” Police wield enormous powers to handcuff any wrong-doer or the violator of law but, I am sorry to say, they have embraced old and obsolete attitudes, and, that is why they resort to excessive use of force to disperse even the peaceful demonstrators, he added. The research scholar posed few questions to him: “Why do you put the entire blame squarely on police for this state of affairs; why don’t you raise an accusing finger towards politicians, parliamentarians and legislators, who, even after 70 years of independence of our country, have miserably failed in discharging their legitimate duties by not enacting new laws and framing rules viz-a-viz police functioning by repealing the old and obsolete, which suited the colonial ruler; don’t you feel that the root cause of all the problems are obsolete Police Act, inflexible rules and inbuilt resistance; and, don’t you think that the mighty politicians of our country keep on parroting them to exercise maximum restrain even in the gravest situations , which by implication means to forfeit their legal right of private defense ?” Another person, a free-lance television producer, joined the discussion and said, “During their training, they are taught obsolete methods of dispersing unlawful assemblies and the mob that suited the ruler when the country was under the colonial dispensation”. Yet another participant member, a college teacher in his mid 40’s, said, “Their character requires improvement in discipline which will help them not to be led astray to sophistic emulation and they have to be made to grasp that although they have to be disciplined yet they need not to show themselves off as men who practice discipline by indulging in barbaric and inhuman acts, only to please their political masters by following their directions blindly; and they must abstain from such individual benevolent acts as do bring discredit to entire police force”. At this point of time, a retired university teacher, interrupted and said,” Police does not act conformably to the institutions of the country and are arrogant, infirm , corrupt and careless” He got a strong rebuff by the college teacher. What he said is still reverberating in my mind: “ sir, I beg of you to kindly penetrate within your own self and discover where lies the trouble; you have used all invectives in your vocabulary for police because, I think, you are not well disposed towards them for the reasons better known to you ; I know that more than one thousand policemen of J&K Police sacrificed their lives to protect lives and properties of their fellow citizens and to preserve the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the country; while traveling comfortably in my luxury air-conditioned car, I have been seeing policeman patrolling on highways, regulating traffic at cross- roads in scorching heat of summer months and severe cold of winter, during the day time and in the dead of night; I see their presence everywhere , in situations of delight and grief, performing peace-keeping duties; while watching satellite channels on TV, I have seen them falling to bullets of terrorists and anti-social elements in encounters; I have seen scores of profusely bleeding policemen, who were the causalities of brick-bating and violence of unruly mobs, receiving first aid and medical treatment; I have seen them performing duty, away from their homes and beloved ones, even on festivals and national holidays; I have seen them lining-up near blood banks for donating blood; I have seen them providing succor and relief to the victims of natural calamities; and I have found them much more devoted and dedicated to their duty than the other human beings in general are”.
The debate continued for more than an hour and the caravan of the bride-groom reached there which prompted ever member to line-up for the reception of the Bharat, making a wonderful debate inconclusive.
I did not offer even a single argument or a comment during the discussion. I, of my courtesy am bound to offer one if not more, through this write-up: police in J&K is fine tuned and doing its job with complete dedication and devotion in most challenging circumstances; to err is human and police can not be an exception to this universal fact; police must receive the training that will make its officers and men gentle to their own people and dangerous only to enemies; and through regular trainings, they need to be instilled with courage to defend the state against internal and external enemies, and at the same time imbued with an understanding of the ideal of public service as second to none. Society expects, and rightly so, that a Police man, who wields tremendous authority, is no less than a perfect and invincible soul, the mark of a real man; he has to be an exemplary police character, prepared to stand the public scrutiny every time, and, for coming out clean in any scrutiny, he has to keep his outer life and action in harmony with his inner being and thought; and the hall mark of his success lies in his recognition of the supremacy of the law, which he has never to question. The need of the hour is to bring Police to a higher degree of consciousness and actualization for remolding it into a more professional, humanistic and service-oriented one; and for this, police needs to be empowered and given more teeth to work in the direction of lifting the people out of their petty preoccupations, to unite and carry the society above the conflicts. The recommendations on Police reforms need to be implemented, sooner the better. Police-men are human beings and not angels; and they have limitations and shortcomings too as other human-beings have.
(The author is a former Superintendent of Police of J&K)
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