Shiban Khaibri
Benjamin Franklin believed that “Vicious actions are not hurtful because they are forbidden but forbidden, because they are hurtful.” The other day, while surfing TV Channels to know, among other issues, about the latest bout of “sampradayakta” indulged in, around which part of the states like the U.P etc; allegedly by Narindra Modi and the “Sangh Parivar” as very frequently and usually charged by some “secular parties”, it was shocking to watch a traffic constable being carried on a moving luxury car bonnet and his struggle to stop the delinquent car driver. Many TV channels were showing the entire clip of this horrendous act of the law breaker while at the same time; one would exasperate to pray for the valiant cop to emerge unhurt out of the whole macabre. Thank God, excepting a few bruises, the Chandigarh cop Davinder Singh emerged safe.
It is shocking to believe that two youths should drag menacingly a traffic constable on duty in Chandigarh over the bonnet of their luxury car and not stop driving the vehicle, with the constable struggling and repeatedly trying to smash the wind screen of the car with his helmet. Can human lives especially of those public servants who perform duty on roads to ensure safety of the people, be treated so casually and decidedly so cheaply, that the whole diabolic exercise is perhaps treated as a sort of a sport or an item of entertainment or a demonstration of an empty bravado? What was the fault of the constable to be treated so harshly by the accused driver? Was not the Police personal within legal jurisdiction of his duty to signal the car driver to stop as while driving, he was talking on his mobile phone, an offence under the relevant traffic laws? Should the people, like the car driver in the hangover of wealth and perhaps “influence”, treat law , rules and regulations just like things quite superfluous or to be enforced selectively not against the rich and the ones “known to the higher ups” in political hierarchy? Who is a Policeman on duty and what are his functions and duties must be known not only to such people suffering from the viraemic disregard of the law but to the most of the Police force as well. A policeman is organized to maintain civil order and public safety, enforce the law and investigate crime. It also can be and usually is in the form of a uniformed patrol and traffic control force. To enforce the law encompasses activities like discovering, deterring and punishing persons who violate rules and norms set out by various statutes and legal systems as made by the elected representatives of the people within a particular state. The uniform of a Police person with a baton in hand or wielding a weapon denotes the symbol of and respect for law and those who break the law to face the punishment through a legal system. Carrying a baton or a weapon by a police personal is a caution and a reminder both, towards the fact that the use of force could legally be adopted against criminals breaking the law and the same should prove as a deterrent.
The constable was, however, rescued by a mobile Police van but not until he was dragged as far as up to a kilometer by the car driver, his heroic deed of trying to grapple with the delinquent driver though in a state of disadvantageous position being on a moving car bonnet, smashing his wind screen with the help of his helmet is praiseworthy and needs to be appreciated and duly encouraged. He needs a pat on the back as we need such courageous people in police force. Crime is increasing day by day as moral and ethical values are seen taking a plummeting dive resulting in treating human lives subservient to materialistic gains and satiating hollow pride. A need has arisen to find ways and methods to instill fear of law in the minds of the offenders.
Davinder Singh’s courage and presence of mind against imminent threat to his life reminded us, though an analogy cannot precisely be drawn, about the unprecedented lion hearted heroic deed of the unarmed Mumbai cop Tukkaram Ombale who while getting bullets pumped into his body grappled with the Pakistani terrorist Ajmal Qasab in respect of the 26/11 incident and captured him alive holding his breath till that moment. This land has always been full of heroes and warriors of unparalleled dimensions while again many demons, social parasites and threats to the civilized societies have existed side by side. Thus a fight between the evil and the noble has always been a historical and civilization(al) fact but at the end of the dark tunnel, the process of the evil licking the dust and getting neutralized has been one of the reasons for societies to live, exist and prosper. It is , therefore, imperative for all of us to support the process and the system of containing and setting right the hazardous stuff for the societies like the car driver under reference.
Only a day after this incident, a biker again in Chandigarh hit a traffic constable Om Prakash in sector 34 who suffered head injuries as a result, because the traffic constable signaled him to stop for a traffic violation. The biker not taking it lightly hit the constable, lost control of the vehicle and himself fell down along with the pillion rider, his sister. In Delhi, similar instances of attacks on Policemen on duty have been happening wherein many had to lose their life. In the capital itself, perverse bikers have been creating havoc with intimidating stunts during late evening hours on some auspicious religious occasions and weekends. As per reports, as many as 13300 vehicles have been noted to have violated grossly traffic rules on Friday July 13, late night this year on such religious occasion. Many vehicles were impounded and many owners fined. These bikers have been wreaking havoc especially on the roads of the capital city, endangering the passers by including their own lives. Last year, a biker got killed when a bullet to deflate his tyre, instead killed the owner of that bike. The menace maker rowdy bikers doing dangerous stunts on roads make hell around their foolhardiness and daredevilry.
A few days back, a heart rending scene of a group of six to seven young persons, mostly teenagers in a part of UP were seen stopping a duo on a bike, the pillion rider fleeing from the spot while the rider owner was repeatedly stabbed, he fell in the process and managed to gain strength to stand and attempt to run though bleeding profusely. The assailants immediately regrouped and pounced upon him and repeatedly stabbed him to collapse and bleed to death on the road. The assailants very comfortably retreated firing in the air some shots to scare the people watching the gruesome murder. In our country, there can exist such persons who can shame humanity to this extent so as to sexually assault and maul even three year, six year old children, read babies, cannot be otherwise believed but what we see and hear day in and day out makes us tremble with surprise , shock and extreme indignation. Do such people deserve to be allowed to live? Most of the offenders are surprisingly turning out to be minors and in the words of the Prime Minister Narindra Modi from the ramparts of the Red Fort on 15TH August, “whether mothers of such delinquent boys asked them why they adopted the wrong ways and methods like committing rapes and murders or joining extremist groups like Maoists, or other outlawed outfits”, broadens the scope of reforming and refining of such mind set, not only by the Police or judiciary but by parents and teachers, the NGOs, the religious and social activists, the media, the politicians et-al – those, who are themselves morally clean, stainless and stigma less.
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