DailyPost 1640
WHAT IS THERE TO ENQUIRE?
The facts which the Indian population and perception was forced to accept as realities of life is shown again and again as scoop, breaking news, matter for detailed enquiry, CBI investigation and a case of judicial intervention. The whole system always gives a very well-modulated, calibrated and naïve look and so are the actors of this great Indian governance theatre. How naïve it is for the whole of the Indian media not to know what was happening in Bombay Police, when they were only following the Police for months together, last year. Is it not naïve for all stakeholders not to know how transfers and postings happen? It remains the talk of the town in smaller places on a regular basis. In bigger towns and cities, the professional class is least bothered about any of these things. They are also so naïve that they don’t know who posts a Police Commissioner.
The rot is known. It has been with clarity since the 1981 report on Police Reforms. Documented with utmost clarity. Around a quarter of a century later the Supreme Court judgement on the same topic, delivered clear cut judicial directives. It was the same story even with Supreme Court directives. There was also a slew of contempt of court proceedings and today we are where we are. What will the present enquiry deliver, same as what the earlier ones have. The CBI itself was at the center of the storm a few years back. Two police officers battling it out, both meeting different fates. Posting is the ultimate prize, way beyond policing and the service you belong to. If you are not able to adorn a couple of posts, you cease to exist in your own eyes.
How much have the subordinate police officers been disciplined is so candid in the present saga. Nothing is wrong till the time the arrangement runs fine and nearly always it does. One odd disruption and every super beneficiary gets on to the victim mode. These by now have become very standard formats. Enquiries and court cases are fillers. The show must go on. It would be interesting to locate the honest police stations in the country and also officers who do get posted to postings of their choice over and over without the invisible hand. The halo has to be created and one who knows it all, also knows how to make the halo stick.
CAN ANY ENQUIRY GIVE US THE TRUE MEASURE OF THE ROT THAT HAS SET IN?