A compromise over Mirchpur, Poor reflection on police and the Haryana govt

There is relief no doubt at the end of the 11-day long spell of lawlessness in and around Jind in Haryana, where a section of people held the state to ransom, torched public property and disrupted rail and road movement. But the relief is unlikely to last because the squatters apparently enjoyed sufficient political patronage to reduce the police to a state of impotence.

It is comic to find the police filing complaints against ‘unknown people’ after those who were squatting on railway tracks all these days chose to leave. There is every indication that the police will again turn a blind eye if the group decides to take the law into their hands yet again.

 

The protesters were demanding a fresh probe into the Mirchpur incident, in which a Dalit and his teenaged daughter were burnt alive in April last year; and the Chief Minister would have us believe that the agitation was called off following his appeal to maintain communal harmony. While the Chief Minister needs to be complimented for taking the initiative, it is not at all clear why he had to wait for 11 days to make that appeal. 

Fortunately, the squatters have been more open and served another ultimatum, declaring that the state government has exactly two more months to ensure that most of the accused are set free. They also claim to have received an assurance from the Chief Minister that the Dalits would be ‘persuaded’ to withdraw their complaint. The assurance, if true, would amount to interference in the administration of justice. But the Chief Minister is himself a trained lawyer and would be aware of the limitations of his powers. The executive has no business to interfere in an on-going trial, specially after its own police investigated the case and filed the charge sheet against the accused. It can, however, delay or derail the prosecution and ensure that culprits get away for lack of evidence. 

The state government and the police have a duty to ensure that justice is delivered. But judging by their reluctance to take action against lawless protesters and the manner in which they have soft-pedaled the mob violence at Mirchpur, it would appear to be wishful thinking.

Source: The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

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