Bull's Eye

After the Delhi blasts, the fierce debate about how to combat terrorism revived. Many critics want POTA to return. Others want a new law to replace it. The debate seems to focus on law. That makes it futile. How are laws relevant when the machinery to implement them is grotesquely flawed? POTA supporters say every law can be misused. So might not POTA too be misused? In fact, police performance against terrorism subsequent to POTA's removal has visibly improved! But that apart, police functioning invites ridicule.

The police performance is scandalous on two counts. First, police are deep into crime themselves. Secondly, they are so ineffective that compared to them the Keystone Cops look like Sherlock Holmes.Police criminality needs no elaboration. The record is public and persistent. Currently, Kerala is rocked by a case. The citizens of Kerala are reputed to be very rights-conscious. One Uday Kumar was whisked away to the police station and allegedly tortured to death. Subsequent efforts by authorities to hide facts were graphically displayed on TV.

Elsewhere, policemen are frequently caught stealing, extorting and committing rape. A few months ago, 50 miles from the national capital, recognisable policemen in uniform were shown on TV extorting money from train passengers. On spotting the cameraman, they were filmed running away. No action was taken against them. Such incidents are common and barely deserve mention. Really big police crime relates to cases such as the custodial death and cremation of 2,098 innocents in a single district of Punjab during the much-vaunted fight against terrorism.

But it is the efficiency level that mocks all pompous resolutions about fighting terrorism. Last week, the media went gaga over Abu Salem's extradition. Big deal! It was delayed by three years after Interpol offered Salem to India because the police couldn't even trace the relevant papers from their records to effect his extradition! And nobody was punished.

This column drew attention last fortnight to a central minister evading a non-bailable warrant of arrest against him. The day that column appeared the PM demanded, and obtained, the minister's resignation. But up to the moment of this writing, the minister had not been apprehended. However, the PM could contact him at will. He sought his resignation and obtained it the same day. How? Perhaps the PM should replace the investigating police officer. The nation's political loss would be more than compensated by the police department's gain! Mera Bharat mahaan!

(Puri can be reached at rajinderpuri2000@yahoo.com)