Law and Order

Every citizen wants their country to be safe. Be it an Indian citizen, an American citizen, or a German citizen for that matter, every citizen wants to live in an environment of safety and security. And for this safety, citizens pay a price to the government...called tax.

Now once a citizen pays for his/her safety, it becomes the government's prerogative to provide it to them. Safety from external threats is usually provided by a country's military force. And internal security is provided by the police.

You might be wondering where I am getting at with all this talk. I am getting to the law and order situation that prevails in India.

Some of my fellow countrymen(and women) might say, law...what law? Does such a thing as safety exist in India? Can a family leave their home for a vacation without worrying about it being burgled?Or can women walk on the streets alone without being eve-teased?

There are two very clear reasons for the law and order problem that exists in this country. I will talk about both.

The first problem lies in the enforcers of the law, i.e, the Police. According to the Indian constitution, police is a matter of the states to take care of. Each state is responsible for its police force. And Police is responsible for maintaining law and order in the state. However, that does not happen in India. Police is virtually non-existant in most states in India. On my recent visit to the US, I was impressed by the response time of the police to a 911 call. Try calling 100, the police response number in India. I am quite sure that if there is a response to your call, it will be hours before anyone actually arrives.

Now I happen to know quite a few policemen, both at the lower ranks and senior ranks. So I went forward and asked some officers, and a few constables, why is the Police force in such a miserable state.

Officers have a fixed reply, we have shortage of cash, there is shortage of manpower, there are too many bureaucratic hurdles in police reforms etc etc etc... Talk to the lower ranks, the constables, and a different picture emerges.

One constable, to whom I put this question to, said.."Sir, when do we investigate a FIR? Most of the time we are used as a personal servant by our officers, to bring their kids from school, to drive the mem-saab to the markets...and when we have a little time, how much do we investigate? We don't have a means to go around(this particular person had a bicycle!), we are not educated enough, we do not have weapons...and we do not get enough money."

This is the reality of the Indian Police force. When we citizens stand up and blame to cops for mis-handling of evidence, we do not see the fact that they were never taught how to handle evidence in the first place! When we talk about improper handling of witnesses by cops, we ignore the basic premise that they were never taught how to handle witnesses. The situation might be better in police forces of uptown cities like mumbai, delhi etc, but by and large, the situation is pathetic. Police force is in much need of reforms, and lower ranks who are the ones who really work need to be made more efficient, paid better, their living conditions need to be improved. Unless this happens, I do not think we can expect a lot from the rag-tag group that we call the police.

Now the second culprits. You might think I am going to talk about the judiciary, but no. Judiciary comes in third on my list of culprits. The second reason for law and order problems is the so-called "law abiding citizens" of this country. Citizens who love to take the law into their own hands, and jump on the streets whenever there is an incident. And then there are riots. Some vehicles are burnt, shops are broken, and after all this is over, no one is arrested.

The most recent incident of Sikhs going on rampage in Punjab is a wonderful example. If something illegal was done, have a peaceful march. Go and follow democratic ways of registering an FIR against the person you think has done wrong, and then follow it up. But no, we as Indians now believe in taking matters in our own hands. We'd rather go ahead and burn, break and riot all over the place. If a bus runs over a person on the street, all by-standers will take out their anger on the bus. No one thinks that this mindless destruction of property(in most cases, public property) does no good.

Yes, the police lacks in their duty when they fail to stop all this rioting. Yes, the judiciary fails in its purpose when it sits all day processing cases of film stars being kissed in public, or some artist making a painting rather than speed up murder and rape case verdicts. But the biggest culprits are we the people, who choose to get on the streets, throw stones on police, break shops...and cause disturbance.

And no, rioting is not the only way of having your voice heard. There are better ways, that involve less damage to public property. We as people do not have the right to pronounce guilty verdicts, or take the law into our hands.

But who listens? The only evolutionary progress we seem to have made is from being monkeys jumping around in a forest, to humans roaming around in concrete forests. Other than that, nothing!

I have more thoughts, but this is enough for one post....maybe a part 2 will follow. Till then....