While there is no doubt that with every right there is a corresponding duty and it’s a shame that not one individual came forward as a witness to this heinous crime; the reasons for this is very clear. The police in India are a spoilt lot! They harass the witness to an extent that the witness starts feeling like an accused. In a country where the legal system works at a snail pace and couple with police action of finding a scapegoat atleast to start with, it is not hard to believe why people fail to come forward and help the police. What has stopped the Government in bringing out legislations wherein the witness is treated with respect and their security, safety and privacy is ensured?
If you look at the American system, if anyone is found to abdicate their responsibility to report the crime then action is taken against the individual(s), however, the police is extremely careful to make sure that the witness is made to feel a part of the support system in the investigation rather than making them feel victimized. The privacy of the witness is maintained in case a citizen likes to invoke his right to remain private. The system allows you to remain either active or passive witness depending upon your choice without compromising the quality of the investigation. It is no doubt that in countries like United States community-police relationship helps solve most of the crimes.
Why India continue to fail to provide a simple system like the one we find in developed countries where ordinary citizens feels secure to come forward to provide assistance to the police? It’s a shame that the chief minister of the capital city of India instead of helping tighten the law to facilitate co-operation from the citizens instead, chose to blame the society in turning their eyes away from a crime. Police in the national capital has failed to be deterrent for the criminal but instead invokes fear in the mind of law abiding citizens. What kind of policing is this and what kind of politicians have we chosen to run our country? We boast of India being the youngest Nation of the world in terms of the average age, we boast about being one of the major economic and super power, we boast of being the world largest democracy – and here is a crime that gets committed against our children and the Chief Minister Mrs. Dikshit instead of re-assuring the citizens to bring the culprit behind bars turns around and is trying to implicate the society at large. Funny!!! Not funny to me.
Mrs. Dikshit, the Chief Minister of Delhi must introspect instead of passing the buck. She has been mandated by the people of Delhi to provide a safe and secure place for the citizens of Delhi. She better stand up for that task or come out of power and teach sociology in an educational institute. Her office is supposed to maintain the law and order, to bring the criminals to justice. Pls. do what you have been assigned and not find fault with society at large. The collective wisdom of people is always better than an individual. If the citizens fear coming forward to be a witness to the crime then the legislative and the executive arm of the Govt. must rise above their petty politics and entrenched corruption to find a way to rectify that anomaly. Please provide a safe and secure infrastructure to citizen’s first and then talk about fixing the responsibility of the society. Don’t put the cart before the horse. No nation can progress if the ordinary citizen cannot feel safe and secure. India is not an exception. Here is my opinion to improve police-community interaction
1. Pass and enforce legislations that provides safety, security and privacy to witness of crime and accidents – fix accountability if police fails to provide such service to its citizens
2. Remove the security of all politicians except those of Prime Minister, President and very senior functionaries with a real threat to their life and deploy the freed cops from politician’s security duty to the streets to prevent crimes
3. Strengthen the role of police ombudsman and spread the organization of ombudsman to each and every police station in the country
4. Raise the quality and effectiveness of investigating and prosecuting officers for proper and timely closure of cases
5. Find a way to decouple the police set-up reporting to political set-up
6. Take our policemen and policewomen to the elementary schools to inspire our next generation to be honest, upright and stand-up for their right. A strong young India will eventually turn into a strong India
Let the citizens of India in 21st century invoke its constitutional right to live peacefully, safely and securely. The ability to report crime and be the witness will come automatically. No politician need to teach us.
Posts
