The New Indian Express
First Published : 29 Mar 2010 12:11:00 AM IST
Last Updated : 29 Mar 2010 12:46:18 AM IST
Late last month, our Bhubaneswar edition had a news item on people from a city slum, mostly women, having lynched two miscreants, killing one and hospitalising the other. The two men had, it appears, presided over a reign of terror — extortion, grabbing land and huts, abusing women, etc. Repeated complaints to the police had no effect. That morning, when women had collected to draw water from a community tap, the two began their usual terrorising: only, this time the community found courage in each other and attacked. Fast forward to the other day’s incident in a Chennai slum, where a three-member gang of rowdies hacked a woman in her house in front of her pre-teen son, for refusing to vacate a rented house without the thug in question returning the advance deposit she’d earlier given him. She’d demanded her rights and been warned to get lost or face the consequences. Our staffer reported on the subsequent protests by residents against the police for having allowed the men to roam freely, ignoring what was going on.
Those with longer memories may recall an episode in Nagpur, eastern Maharashtra’s first city, where women who could take no more stormed into a court room and lynched a gangster, notwithstanding the presence of police and officials; they literally took him apart. For, he’d done unspeakable things for years, the police turning a blind eye. In sum, there is a general disregard for law and justice through India by the very arms of the state tasked with it, with the poor driven to retaliatory violence as the only means of getting even.
Nothing changed in Nagpur (or Maharashtra) and nor in Bhubaneswar (or Orissa); it is a safe bet that nothing will change for the better as a result of the latest tragedy in Chennai or Tamil Nadu or the region, either. We could, and do, recommend that IPS and IAS officers ponder the way they exercise their power and prestige, and if they give enough attention to reforming their offices and systems. As for asking the politicians, it seems a waste of time; they seem to become aware of the imperative of reform only as long as they are in the opposition. But, we see no reason why we should not ask you, the reader, to ponder on the same issues, particularly if there isn’t more you can do to help change this state of affairs, instead of waiting for the Kalki avatar.
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