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Acid throwers and vigilante heroes
WSN Bureau 

An acid throwing incident and death of three youth in a shoot out with the police has come as developments that show people’s utter lack of faith in the Indian policing system’s ability to act in a civil society and the primacy achieved by lumpen justice. The throwing of sulphuric acid on two girls in Warangal district on December 10 had caused uproar across Andhra Pradesh. After massive pressure on the government  and police to takeaction, three youth were caught and, though no one knows why, were paraded before the media.

And then came the lumpen component. Cops claim that they had to kill the three in self-defence because the youth had attacked them. Youth in custody had attacked the cops? And had to be killed in retaliatory action?

The families of those killed have alleged murder in cold blood. An inquiry has been ordered but what is surprising is the people’s acceptance of what happened. There is a reigning argument in AP which says they deserved to die anyway and justice has been served. Worse, the police officers involved in the “encounter” are now hailed as vigilante heroes. Their autographs are being publicly sought. Firecrackers, sweets, victory procession at the house of the police superintendent; what does all this adulation show?

Official Indian establishment has brought things to such a pass that vast multitudes of people are now giving tacit approval to encounter killings. We have police officers known as “encounter specialists”. India’s tryst with justice has ended at a turn where cops, lawyers, laypersons all share an impatience with the criminal justice system. Since it takes too long to get justice, hail those who deliver it with “encounter” strategy. No wonder Beant Singh, KPS Gill are the heroes of the Indian nation state, not Jaswant Singh Khalra. But if Khalra could not show the way to Indian system, will Andhra’s acid attacks? New Delhi must understand that its justice dispensing system,

notwithstanding some sterling examples, is creaky, and in bad need of reforms. It needs to be recreated.

Mere tempering will not work. Perhaps what we need is reconstruction of society where such creaky systems that respond to the moneyed and the powerful cannot exist. Time for reforms is gone. These are the times of re-creating and reclaiming our world from those whose hands are bloodied.

24 December 2008
 

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