Khaki vs black coat clash tarnishes both

Sankar Sen 
Ex-Director, National Police Academy

On November 5, Delhi witnessed the unedifying spectacle of angry policemen and their families demonstrating before the Police Headquarters, demanding action against the lawyers who had attacked their colleagues, and redress their other grievances. 

The demonstrators included police personnel from the rank of a constable to inspector and members of their families. They were bitter and disillusioned. They jeered the Police Commissioner when he came to mollify them, and could be pacified only when senior police officers promised to thoroughly look into their grievances and make efforts to resolve them. 

The demonstration by disciplined members of the police is unacceptable and cannot be justified. But it was about to occur. Anger was smouldering. Incidents of clash with the lawyers applied the spark to the dry timber. This public demonstration by the police was a sequel to the ugly spat between the police and lawyers that started on November 2 over a minor issue of parking of a lawyer’s car and snow-balled into a free-for-all between them and the police. Initial police action was, perhaps, high-handed. But what followed were brazen acts of lawlessness by the lawyers, who are supposed to uphold the majesty of law and adhere to some basic ethical norms. They viciously attacked policemen, including a lady IPS officer who had come to the spot to defuse the situation. Some journalists were also victims of their anger. It is reported that a number of policemen and some lawyers sustained injuries in these sporadic clashes. Video clips show that some errant lawyers tried to open the gates of the court lock-up, and it was the presence of mind of some policemen that prevented the escape of the undertrials. 

The policemen feel deeply mortified because attacks on policemen are now being reported from different parts of the country. Recently, in Bulandshahr, the accused responsible for murdering a police inspector were accorded a hero’s welcome when released on bail. The police officers and their families felt deeply upset and wounded. Of late, it has been seen that many politicians, as well as lawyers and their cronies, freely and frequently misbehave with policemen and belittle their dignity. They thrash policemen. Not only lawyers, even junior magistrates deal that way with the police, sometimes, very harshly. 

When I was with the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) as Director-General, a complaint was registered by a court police sub-inspector regarding his vilification, in the most abusive language, by a lady magistrate. The NHRC took up the matter, and the Chairman wrote a letter to the Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court. I do not know what action followed. Very often, policemen are asked to swallow their pride instead of ruffling the feathers of influential people. They also do not get the required support from their senior officers, who believe in expediency and feel discretion is the better part of valour. 

I recollect an incident when I was an Assistant Superintendent of Police posted in Cuttack. An arrogant bureaucrat with powerful political connections slapped a traffic constable for stopping his car. The Superintendent of Police was equivocating, but the Range DIG took up the matter seriously and ordered the prosecution of the errant bureaucrat. He did not buckle under pressure and influence. The matter was settled and the defaulter had to apologise to the constable for his misconduct. This strong stand of the DIG electrified the force as they felt that senior officers would standy by them, rock-like, when they are right, and uphold their dignity and honour.

I know of another incident where during the car festival in Puri, Odisha, the Chief Minister wanted to suspend the district Superintendent of Police because of some mishap due to which the chariot carrying the deity could not proceed further. The Inspector-General was present on the spot (there was no post of DG those days), and he clearly told the Chief Minister that he would have to suspend the seniormost officer present on the spot, meaning himself, and not his subordinate. It was a bold step to defend the honour of the junior officer, and the Chief Minister relented. 

Incidents of police bashing and lack of support and concern create the feeling of being a ‘pariah’ among the policemen who feel that in critical situations, nobody will stand by them and they have to fend for themselves. They have to stand or fall together. This creates a wrong sense of organisational solidarity and the policemen view the world as ‘we’ and ‘they’. 

Delhi policemen strongly feel that the order of the Delhi High Court, suspending and transferring police personnel only, has not been even-handed. The court should have also come down heavily on the identified lawyers indulging in violence and lawlessness. The Bar Council of India has severely indicted the police for staging demonstrations and demanded the arrest of police leaders. It has also condemned violence by the lawyers. Hope, it also musters the courage to cancel the licences of some of the violence-prone errant lawyers. 

The Delhi police leadership has also not covered itself with glory. The Commissioner and his senior colleagues should have stoutly stood by their men, and made clear that they would not compromise with police honour, and take every action provided by the law and rules to bring the malefactors to book, telling the political authorities about the far-reaching consequences of the erosion of police morale. 

Napoleon said, “Men forget injuries and not insults...Wounded vanity made the French Revolution.” The truth of the matter is that if the police become the constant target of denigration and violence, they will feel demoralised, and their capacity to function as effective guardians of law and order will diminish. Police inaction and faint-heartedness will have calamitous consequences for law enforcement and order maintenance.