Women pickets

We are aghast at the atrocious handling of women pickets and processionists during Saturday's hartal in the city. It has set another example of politics being vitiated by excesses and disallowance of space to the opposition.

A 'human shield' ought to act as a safeguard against unsavoury incidents during street demonstrations, but that was obviously not the case on Saturday. There is reason to suspect that there was a pre-determined approach to handling the demonstrations in a particular way. The other conclusion that could be drawn from the treatment that the women pickets received is that the on-duty policewomen acted in an arbitrary manner. Whichever might be the truth behind the police action, it deserves condemnation in unequivocal terms. Wasn't the idea behind having Mohila police deal with women protestors to bring sobriety in the former's handling of the situation? Such treatment of women is certainly not expected in any civilised society, let alone a democratic polity.

Those responsible for the excesses cannot be condoned. The police should not have been oblivious of the fact that the standard practice under such circumstances is to allow space to the protestors and try to avoid losing control over the situation. They were not expected to cross the limits of civility and decency.

Newspaper photographs bore ample testimony to the fact that there was very obnoxious tugging at the clothes of the women pickets, some of whom were seen struggling to protect themselves from the policewomen.

It was all so crude and brazen that we had difficulty in choosing which photograph to publish, so as not to hurt the sensibilities of readers.

We want a thorough investigation into the incident leading to appropriate punitive action against those responsible. Adherence to rules of tolerance, decency and decorum is the stuff of which a true democratic polity is made.

The citizens will be well-served if what we saw last Saturday is not repeated in future.