Please protect the policemen! | Latest News India - Hindustan Times
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Please protect the policemen!

None | BySunita Aron
Jul 30, 2006 12:02 AM IST

NOW IT?S getting alarming. It is time the politician and the police should be worrying about the height of indiscipline in their ranks. And the top brass of the police force should now be worrying about their own security, forget protecting the dignity of the uniform they so proudly wear. In fact they had partly compromised the dignity of the uniform the day they had agreed to take off their shoes at Kalidas Marg, residence of the chief minister, only because Mayawati was allergic to dust. One fails to understand their silence -- from the days when Mayawati publicly abused them to the days of their physical bashing today.

NOW IT’S getting alarming. It is time the politician and the police should be worrying about the height of indiscipline in their ranks.

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HT Image

And the top brass of the police force should now be worrying about their own security, forget protecting the dignity of the uniform they so proudly wear. In fact they had partly compromised the dignity of the uniform the day they had agreed to take off their shoes at Kalidas Marg, residence of the chief minister, only because Mayawati was allergic to dust. One fails to understand their silence -- from the days when Mayawati publicly abused them to the days of their physical bashing today.

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After all, the day is not far when the DGP of the state may have to suffer the humiliation suffered by the Ferozabad SP a few days back. Till now the lower rung officers were manhandled or mistreated, today the public representatives have not spared the police chief of a district. What guarantee is there that it won’t be the DGP in future?

Some immediate steps were needed to rein in the unbridled politicians. But before taking it up with the Chief Minister, they need to put their own house in order.

Mere suspension of the seven cops, who joined the Samajwadi Party MLA Jasvir Singh Rana in bashing up their own boss, is not sufficient. Stringent action is called for if the police chief sincerely wants to check the growing indiscipline in the force.

One step could be frequent reshuffling of the cops deployed in the security of politicians. Long spells make them personal servants of politicians they serve. In fact it’s a give and take -- the cops take care of all personal needs of the politician, who in return covers them with a protective hand. In other words the cops loyalty is more to the individual they serve than the force they come from.

Even this simple formula of checking growing indiscipline in the force won’t be easy. Any such move may lead to a flutter, but then some day, someone has to bell the cat. Instead of discussing the rights and wrongs of Ferozabad SP, the question that should be discussed is, “What if it happened with them?” Perhaps the IPS Association should have taken up the issue with the chief minister and demanded action against the MLA. Not a single officer, retired or serving, has mustered guts to decry the behaviour of the MLA, lest demand action against him. Even the DGP has also not reacted on his SP getting beaten up.

Some real action may also suit the politicians, who despite living in impregnable fortresses suffer from an intense feeling of insecurity. Their demand for security cover is also increasing for two reasons -- their own undesirable background and status symbol of today.

Thus before raising his hand on the district police chief of Ferozabad, Jasvir Singh Rana should have pondered over the vital question as to who provides them (the public representatives) the security cover? May be the chief minister ordered security cover for him; but it is the district police chief who ordered their deployment?.

Those who might have missed the news, Ferozabad SP, Amitabh Thakur was beaten up by Ramvir Singh, SP MLA from Jasrana over a petty issue of transfer.

The MLA was angry with the SP as he had sent the in-charge of Jasrana police station to the lines on the charges of dereliction of duty. However, most alarming is the fact that the Ferozabad SP, who is responsible for law and order situation in his district, had to run for life. Later he lodged an FIR at a police station where too he had to face indifferent cops. The station in-charge refused to write the FIR against the MLA. After this bitter experience, the SP must have realised the problems faced by the common man in lodging FIRs at police stations especially if the culprit is a VVIP.  After all, this is not the first time that the politicians have exceeded their brief. Earlier also such reports have come from other districts where the ruling party leaders have misbehaved with government officials or about the insubordination by lower-run cops having political connections.

It is high time the chief minister looks into the matter. It is in their own interest as it pertains to their own security as well as that of the force that serves them. And it is also the question of public security. How can an insecure police chief in a district or the DGP at the state level protect any politician of any rank till he himself is protected?

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