Criticism is a must, but it must be sane and sensible

The body of Hemant Karkera, ATS Chief passing through Dadar for the last rites. Karkare was gunned down while fighting the terrorist attack in Mumbai

The recent arrests of several senior police officials and the gruesome grueling of one of the highest police officer in false case registered against a Mumbai builder, besides the recent multiple crime cases and the death of honest police officers while fighting terrorists have demoralized the spirits of the police department. Never, in Indian history have the police department been as badly demoralized as it is today. Otherwise too, the police force is a demoralized lot. The police are best summed up by the ‘lathi’, or ‘danda’ as we know it. The police force is nothing but a lathi in uniform and is transparently inept when it comes to solving crimes. Of and on there are demoralized acts reported in the media on police- a policeman killing his superior because he was denied leave? Another policeman shot dead his wife and kids because he was plagued by depression. A third committed suicide by shooting himself with his revolver. So, why do our policemen behave abnormally?
We are often reminded of the negatives of the policemen and are looked upon as corrupt and inefficient. The misconceptions are- they arrive on the scene late, after the incident is over or the culprit has fled. They are also believed to be the protectors of the mafia or makers of terrorists. It is believed that the third-degree torture and punishment given to criminals or innocents leads them to frustration whereby they take to terrorism. How far it is true, the future will tell. In Gulzar's film 'Maachis', the society is made to believe that policemen are the fountains of all evil. Our criticism of police often degenerates into outright abuse and even vilification. As a nation we have yet to learn the art of proportionate criticism and balanced appreciation.
Let's consider the goods and the evils, criticism and appreciation. Let's start with criticism. Yes, as a democratic society, we have a right to question and criticize police. It's an old institution that is starved of resources and its personnel have very little modern training. It is often the most de-motivated band of state employees and has little incentive for good work. And above all the police are extremely poorly paid. They policemen take bribe, therefore they are not entitled to good wages is an irrational argument. A more sensitive argument will be that they take bribe because they do not have decent wages.
Think of those who are decently paid and still take huge bribes and there is no dearth of such parasites in our society. Look at our top politicians. They enjoy free luxuries from bungalows to air tickets-everything free-and still take huge bribes and yet we throng to their rallies in millions, shout slogans in their praise and shower flowers on their path. Some are worshipped as gods. Corrupt politicians are honoured and corrupt police are cursed.
Consider the positives – the risks they are taking while performing their duties and that too on meager wages. Whilst, the corrupt politician who enjoys all the luxuries in life is offered the highest security while on duty and off duty, the dutiful policeman with his ancient 303s has to counteract the bullets of terrorists or underworld goondas armed with sophisticated AK-47s and have in the bargain sacrificed their lives. Are the lives of policemen not dear to their families? The names here are insignificant as many of them have lost their lives as martyrs fighting to save lives of civilians on their line of duty.
Today the terrorist are the protected lot in the country and the police are the most abused. I recollect a statement of a senior police officer that once said,” The policemen who risked their lives to protect innocent civilians and faced terrorist bullets were to be punished for unsubstantial charges of human rights abuses while the killers of innocent children and women were rehabilitated and rewarded. You must be stupid to fight for such a country.” Corruption, crass careerism and political meddling have hollowed out the Mumbai Police, once a premier force in India. “Even the legendary bonding amongst IPS officers is gone,” said a policeman ruefully. “When officers meet today, the talk is more often about who made how much money in what deal.” This is an all-India problem. But it’s acute in Mumbai as the city sits on piles of cash. The underworld, real estate developers, crooked politicians and big business all combine to warp the system.
In the 26/11 attack by terrorists on Mumbai, two of Mumbai’s honest police officers, both Kamte and Karkare were “outsiders” in this system. When circumstance brought them together that fateful night, both knew they had to pursue the terrorists as their fellow IPS officer was injured and under fire inside Cama Hospital. As traditions of the service demanded they go to his aid, they had to face the ultimate challenge in life, while working in a professional milieu marked by so much cynicism, greed and crookery?
It is important to vent our anger, to reject those who preened while our men died. Why are we so defenceless against these repeated outrages, who is responsible for them and who is responsible for stopping them? These are all unanswered life and death questions. Thus when terror strikes and police casualties are huge - the oft spoken words are ‘brave deaths in the line of duty’ and the life chakra starts again. The so-called policymakers at the helm of affairs hide behind the veil of anonymity. Why is the seamless bureaucracy so insensitive to human apathy? Lack of political will has led to complete impotency of the system. Public anger against the frequent terrorist attacks has exposed the inept, inefficient and callous administrators who have failed in their duty. The security agencies in the country need repairing and overhaul. That is long overdue.
Bomb blasts and killings are the order of life now. Terror prospers because the security agencies are constantly distracted by political diversion. The police are the most harassed lot in this as most of them are utilized for VIP duties, for our MPs and MLAs. With each terror strike, some of our outstanding officers fall prey to bullets, but the system still perpetrates. This time it is these brave martyrs who gave their lives for Mumbai to live on. This can happen to any one of us, BUT WHY?
It is in every police personnel mind…the power to serve people; ‘Service before Self’ stands so self defeating by itself. Are they waiting for more deaths? But, as duty demands they have taken a pledge to protect law and order in this country. I beseech the system to wake up and protect these men who dedicate their lives to this nation. Otherwise what can destroy India is a change in the spirit of its people away from secularism and peaceful coexistence that have been our greatest strength. I as a father pray for those children and wife's who will have to grow up without their fathers and life partner. They will know that their dad's were out th...ere serving the public. God Bless those families.
Also policemen live in pathetic conditions. As a result police in India is underfunded, understaffed, underpaid, undertrained and under armed. And, there is only one thing it Criticism is a must for any accountable public servant, including the police, but it must be sane and sensible receives in abundance-that is the universal abuse. Criticism is a must for any accountable public servant, including the police, but it must be sane and sensible. Abuse undermines legitimate criticism.
"It is not how these officers died that made them heroes, it is how they lived." - Vivian Eney