Cops as robber?

The recent arrest of four policemen including an assistant sub-inspector with charges of extortion and snatching ornaments from employees of a jewellery house has sent shock waves across the society. At least four other cases of police criminality and subsequent arrests had been reported earlier this year.

What is to be noted is that only after the victims had reported them were they proceeded against. There is no internal mechanism either to detect any police offence or to prevent any such offence taking place. The authorities like to play down the incidents by claiming them as isolated, but the fact remains that the wrongdoing of the wayward tainted the entire police force's image. We think that the majority in the police force are professional, but it is also true that the criminal trend is increasing within.

Therefore we urge the authorities to clean up the house first. An internal corrective process must be initiated as soon as possible; because unless the criminal elements are weeded out from within, similar offences by some members of the force are very much likely to be committed.

There is a general impression that the cases against policemen die a natural death for various reasons: one is that since there are only departmental proceedings, the chances of severe punishment to the offenders are minimal; and secondly, it's very rare that one gets to hear about the final outcome of the cases. The public have a right to know what happened to the previous cases.