And for a Friday as the Nation rises in unison condemning the Kolkata doctor rape and murder, some thoughts….. some musings…..
The Kolkata case has again hurt the nation’s conscience, raising alarm bells and protests across India and the Supreme Court took suo moto action. More than a decade has elapsed of another hugely shameful incident referred as the Nirbhaya case followed by Justice Varma’s report. Beyond all the sound and fury, a root cause analysis will show a deeper much more complex problem which needs to be addressed i.e. inculcating fear of the law. Speedy investigation, trials by the court and the strongest punishment meted out which will deter all potential criminals. Alas we are far from it.
Police and “Public Order” are State subjects under the 7th schedule of the Constitution of India. In state after state, every political party, when in Opposition, cries hoarse that the Police establishment is manipulated and needs to be reformed. But as soon as the same political dispensation is in power, they do not want to correct, but would like to exploit the same “System” to their advantage. Large scale corruption, nexus with the underworld, absolute power of appointment and transfers of “committed” Police officers, leads to an overworked under authorised Police establishment. Many attempts to reform the Police, culminated in the Supreme Court’s 7 directives including, formation of State Securities Commission, DGP of state to be appointed on transparent basis and for a fixed tenure of minimum 2 years, to reorganise Police, separating the investigation and law and order enforcement etc. etc. Unfortunately most states have found novel ways to dodge the Supreme Court directives on Police Reforms and the rot continues.
With the huge adoption of Social Media and availability of many technological tools, let all of us support Police Reforms, the involved way, the Supreme Court directed way, the SEEGOS way.