Police cover for Pipli

PIPLI in Sonepat district of Haryana, part of the ever-growing NCR, is a mere an hour run from the National Capital. It should then be alarming that right at the door of the Capital, as it were, an elected sarpanch and his henchmen first shoot at a villager on June 12, injuring him grievously; and then, with overt disregard of law, on June 24, open fire at a youth in a gym, killing him on the spot. What should be even more disconcerting is that prior to his election in 2016, eight cases — two of murder — were registered against him. It is another story that his acquittal came through rather expeditiously. 

In a belated move, the SP has ordered police deployment in the village and sanctioned gunmen to those under direct threat; besides recommending a Rs 50,000 bounty on the accused, who is on the run. Had his arrest immediately followed the June 12 incident, the recent murder would have been averted. Timing is critical in justice delivery and controlling crime. That is where our police force seems to be woefully straggling. The Jat agitation, which saw the collapse of the law and order machinery as the state burned, is a reminder. The sticky tentacles of crime have stretched far and beyond. Express action is a deterrent, raising fear of reprisal among criminals. If not respect, fear of law must be cultivated among hardened criminals. Laxness and delayed action does not serve the cause of justice. 

Haryana is a curious mix of avant-garde thinking, what with its women breaking through the glass ceiling in male-perceived sports, as also beauty pageants; and a regressive feudal structure typified by the once notorious khap, with its misplaced sense of honour and controversial “community justice”. The crime graph is going only one way: up. The police should hold regular meetings with khap panchayat members and tapas: smaller cluster of villages. Haryanvi society needs to mature; a feudal setup must relent to the times. There is no place for “honour” killings, attacks on Dalits, rapes, intolerance to out-of-caste love alliances  (hundreds of runaway couples are living in High Court-designated temporary shelters). These are not the lines a community must guard ferociously. A society cannot have people roaming the streets, shooting at will, Wild West style. There is no pride in that.