The house cleaning campaign has to be further intensified in view of the fact that Rab is performing the very challenging job of containing a crime wave of an intractable nature. Rab has been given such powers as would warrant a constant vigil against any abuse of the same.

In the months since its inception Rab actions, though claimed by its proponents to be an all-out attempt to rein in hardened criminals, have given rise to some pertinent questions. As is common knowledge, we have expressed serious reservations about the ever swelling number of deaths in "crossfire", and we do it again today. Where human lives are involved, the exercise of the rule of law, whose other name is due process of law, assumes critical significance. Rab should be extremely careful in maintaining its image as an instrument of combating crime so that its actions do not, even unwittingly, breed any public misgiving. The charges of corruption that some Rab members are now facing are a proof of the seriousness with which the aberration is being looked at by the authorities. The internal monitoring and accountability exercise must be taken forward.

The punishments that the accused Rab members have been meted out range from being sent back to their mother organisation to being imprisoned. Rab will have to remain above any controversy and work within the framework of law to attain the desired level of effectiveness as an anti-crime crack force.