Making the long arm of the law longer Refreshing course of action
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: December 17, 2012 -

The long arm of the law catching up with the wrong arm of the law enforcers.

Three people pulled up by a combined team of the police and the Army on December 11 from Paona Keithel and then subjecting them to brutal thrashing, robbing them and then threatening them.

Not a new story for there have been similar incidents in the past. The Army trying to shield its men and giving them a blanket security is again not something new.

What however is refreshingly new is the manner in which the State Police got its act together and managed to arrest an Assistant Sub-Inspector of Bishnupur police in connection with the case.

Congratulations ? Not yet, for the long arm of the law is yet to catch up with the other personnel involved in the case.

Leimakhong will need to do something more than Military Civic Action Programmes to convey its goodwill message as well as the point that they have taken the trouble to educate their men not to train guns and brute force against civilians.

There is nothing official about it. Well, at least not yet, but if the report that the army personnel involved in the case met with a road accident the same night while returning to base is true then the hand of the divine playing its part is unmistakable.

Not taking a sadistic pleasure in the mishap but stating things as they ought to be.

Anyway, the past should be enough indication that the official version is not always the Biblical truth and as things stand today official versions have always tended to hide rather than reveal the truth.

To put it bluntly, official versions have always sought to distort the truth and it is difficult to disprove official versions.

This is the reason why the culture of immunity and impunity has become the defining aspect of the men in uniform. This should also explain why corruption has become institutionalised.

In Home Minister Gaikhangam we have a man who has on more than one occasion made it clear that his first mission would be to rein in the rogue cops, particularly police commandos.

The arrest of the ASI is perfectly in line with his stated objectives, but there still needs a lot more to be done.

It is time to take the understanding of well trained policemen beyond the ambit of neutralising militants and crooks and criminals.

Certainly no one expects the State police to be the friendly British cop on his beat, but it certainly would help a lot if the policemen, particularly the police commandos and the VDF boys, are told in no uncertain terms that the uniform they wear is not a license to loot and harass the public.

The Army too need to break itself from the mentality that MCA programmes and hosting seminars on peace are enough measures to win over the confidence of the people.

To raise a simple but significant question, why is the Army authority trying to shield its men who were allegedly involved in the December 11 case ?

It would be myopia if the Army authority is under the impression that in shielding them, they are protecting the morale of the rank and file.

On the other hand coming out clean on the incident will do much, much more than a hundred MCA programme to win over the trust and confidence of the people.

The speed with the State Police acted on the report of the December 11 case should be acknowledged but to assume that the arrest and identification of one personnel is the end of the case would be missing the trees for the woods.

There is also no need for the Army to make it necessary for the long arm of the law longer in this case.