Author: CR Irani
Publication: The Statesman
Date: January 21, 2003
It was always thought that the statewide
Police Karmachari Union, formed under CPI-M's umbrella, when the first
United Front assumed power in 1967, would not permit action against the
five constables who killed the chivalrous Sergeant Bapi Sen. Union pressure
caused even the Commissioner of Police, to be irritated enough to answer
our questions with the now famous words - do you want us to hang them?
What price gestures like the chief minister laying a wreath on Bapi's body
on its way to the crematorium? When the chips are down, government and
Alimuddin Street promptly surrender. Suspicion turned to certainty when
two things happened. Save a couple of officers with remnants of a conscience,
no one had the guts to defy the Union and attend Bapi's shradh; the Union
protects members in all circumstances, including charges of pre-meditated
murder. What really gave the game away, was Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee,
allowing himself to say at a Police Sports function the same day that government
would take action if such instances were repeated. It is logical to deduce
that, in this case, government would take no action.
The Police Karmachari Union has
won. Against the evidence, the police will not prosecute the five criminals
for a murder most foul. On the Chief Minister's say-so, they will wait
for a repeat performance with another Bapi Sen, before tackling the next
lot of criminals. In the meantime we are asked to console ourselves with
the thought that the Chief Minister has told police constables not to repeat
the offence. If crimes could be prevented by admonitions from the Chief
Minister, West Bengal would indeed be an oasis of peace, as claimed, instead
of being a den of criminals protected with impunity by the very administration
charged with enforcing the law. It is true that the FIR filed in the case
alleges murder and that is the ground on which the five are remanded to
judicial custody till 30th January. But watch carefully how police give
the case away at the trial - on instructions!
At some stage, depending on Alimuddin
Street's assessment of fading public memory, the charge will be reduced
to a bailable offence and later the goons will be let off because it will
be said that they have already suffered jail terms awaiting trial and that
was punishment enough. If I were a betting man, I would offer odds of 10,000
to one against a conviction in this open and shut case, but I offer no
odds at all against their being let off finally to wild applause of the
Police Karmachari Union. And the established malpractices in police lines,
like taxis ferrying prostitutes and liquor to and fro, eve teasing intensified
on festive occasions, and murder of those who dare interfere and uphold
the honour of their uniform, not forgetting the all-pervasive corruption,
will continue to mock the Chief Minister's words. Pramod Dasgupta is dead
but his spirit lives among the faceless fossils at party headquarters,
accustomed to interfere and negate the leadership's wishes. We must watch
them as they strike blows for militancy and fertilize the mirage of a worker's
paradise. If investors shun this state like the plague, comrades will throw
up their hands and moan - what else can be expected of hardened capitalists
whom Jyoti Basu wooed with conspicuous failure for twenty years? He journeyed
to foreign climes regularly, attended by the ubiquitous Jaykrishna Ghosh
and select business associates of son, Chandan, at public expense, but
no one was interested. Until Buddha and Alimuddin Street shed the blinkers
that are part of their make-up and take a U-turn, no improvement is possible
as the shocking surrender to Union pressure in the Bapi Sen case demonstrates.
Contra, membership of the Police Karmachari Union will be at a premium
and who knows membership fees may be hiked for the increased protection
on offer. Workers and criminals of the world, unite! You have nothing to
lose but your self-respect, your decency and your professional pride!
Learning from the Bapi Sen case,
the police adopt different tactics to achieve the same end in the case
of attempted murder of two Statesman senior officials. Eight of the sixteen
were arrested and remanded to police and judicial custody, the rest remain
at large. Police are careful not to cause difficulties for themselves by
including a charge of attempted murder under Section 307 IPC, although
reminded on three occasions by the learned Chief Metropolitan Magistrate
as plainly indicated by the FIR. The Police prosecutor has repeatedly urged
that remand was necessary to interrogate all sixteen together. However,
the eight are now on bail because police deliberately charged them with
offences not supported by the FIR, like holding victims for more than ten
days, when those who run may see that the attempt to murder lasted less
than an hour! You see the connection?
For reasons aforesaid, Chief Minister,
your statement that the Bapi murder had shamed the police counts for nothing.