M A I N   N E W S

Bihar cops give ultimatum
Santosh Jha

Patna, March 20
Law of the land and constitutional norms are the first casualty as the demoralised police force attempts to come to terms with the reality in the aftermath of the transfer of Siwan SP, DM and DSP. The Mafiosi of the state had all the reason to cheer as once again all ethics of constitutional governance was made to surrender before political expediency. The bureaucracy at large has suddenly developed existential fears. Specially, the Siwan district policemen are dumbstruck.

The Bihar Police Association (BPA) and Bihar Police Men’s Association (BPMA) have raised the banner of ‘jehad’ against the transfer orders and have shot an ultimatum to the Rabri government that if the transfer order is not reversed by March 26, they would resort to a state-wide agitation. They have also demanded a judicial probe into the Siwan episode rejecting the probe by a Revenue Board member as a cruel joke.

Meanwhile, the Siwan case handling landed Laloo Yadav in trouble. None else but the ever-so-‘pampered’ brother of Rabri Devi, Mr Sadhu Yadav had a tiff with Laloo Yadav on Monday in the lobby of the Assembly. Sadhu was heard shouting at Laloo for ‘discrimination’ against him. “Siwan officers were transferred and in my case no official was punished. Is this the way government runs?”, he was heard saying to the RJD boss. An embarrassed Laloo called him up in his room and the door was shut immediately. In the face-to-face meet too, Sadhu seems to have stuck to his complaint and that is why an angry Laloo came out of the room and rushed into the CM chamber to ‘complain about her brother’s antics.

In the whole Siwan episode, damaging facts came out. For years the Siwan MP demoralised the police and the leaders as well as top officials never bothered. The police revolted and took the law into their hands, resorting to unlawful acts of burning vehicles and manhandling their seniors, also forcing them to order action against the MP. The SP and DM clearly erred as they failed to inform the Home Secretary of the police rebellion. The Intelligence network failed miserably as it could not timely report the rebellion brewing up in the police force even after a lapse of more than 12 hours. The police while raiding the village wreaked havoc and reportedly killed innocent villagers as they refused to help locating the MP.

Senior Cabinet Ministers broke all norms of governance. After their visit to the spot, they passed on the judgment right at the spot which was very tense. They declared the police as rebels and pronounced the SP and DSP guilty saying they planned to kill the MP. Later they announced a probe into the matter. Also, the SP and DM were transferred with the ministers making it clear to the media that they were guilty and hence removed. They could have waited for the probe team to submit their findings first and could have made to look the transfers as if it was done to save both the officials and the peace of the town. Interestingly, the ministers are saying that why the police did not lodge an FIR and why did they take the law into their hand? Foolishly enough, they do not highlight the point that if the state police could not arrest the MP in the last 15 years despite their being two arrest warrants pending against him and even 30 cases lodged against him, many under non-bailable sections, could not be enough to nab him how could one more FIR and the same weak law could do the justice to their anger and demoralisation?

On the one hand the police force is being victimised for taking law into their hands for once and the SP is being made to look like an ordinary criminal just because he failed to inform the high commands and joined the ranks of the rebel force and on the other, the MP is being made a messiah and a martyr even when he vowed to kill the SP. A single dereliction and a criminal negligence committed under extraordinary circumstances is too big to weigh above the 30 criminal cases, assault on policemen, keeping arms and AK-47 and open threat to a senior police officer? Still, justice is not only delayed but is always denied when law is pitched against political heavy weights and politically patronised Mafiosi.