Lawlessness

Law, according to Thomas Hobbes, “is the public conscience”. But according to Honore de Balzac, laws are “spider webs through which the big flies pass and the little ones get caught”. Both are right. But the law abiding citizen is sandwiched between the two perspectives. The law of the land or the law of the jungle?

Respect for the law is inbuilt in us. But when we see those blatantly violating the law going arrogantly free, we begin to question: right or might?

Actual respect for law is always in proportion to it being upheld by the authorities mandated to enforce law and order: The government, the home ministry in particular, the police as the face of law and order, and the judiciary as the final arbitrator. When people doubt or begin to question these institutions, law and order deteriorates.  It looks like that is what is happening in Goa.

A few facts and points to ponder: The man responsible for the heinous crime at Assagao is still at large. People are living in fear induced psychosis not only in the vicinity of Assagao but in villages as far as Aldona. The other day I heard one elderly lady telling a younger one with a girl child not to send her daughter alone anywhere. That is good advice. But she went on further to tell her in the presence of the child that the killer was now moving in the villages around Aldona, and would in no time appear on our roads with his knife. The girl looked frightened. I intervened to find out more. The elderly lady said that he is now seen in the forests of the surrounding villages. I told her that we have hardly any forests left, that we should be very cautious all the same, but not live in fear spread by rumours. The child smiled with relief. The elderly lady asked me what the hell our police were doing. I had no answer. She had made her point.

Few days back it was reported that a mob of about a thousand people in the villages near the Assagao crime site went chasing a man, nabbed him and beat him up badly, thinking he was the criminal in the said murder. It turned out to be somebody else. An innocent man had to bear the brunt of the mob because the people were peeved with the police that the murderer had not been arrested even after a month. They feel that they are entitled to take the law in their own hands. This attitude can result in a tragedy.

A couple of days back, a 15-year old SSC girl was attacked in daylight at Betalbatim by a migrant worker from Hubli, residing in the same village. The girl was rescued by the villagers from the clutches of the villain and had to be hospitalised. The villain too landed in a hospital after having been thrashed by an irate crowd and rescued by the police. Note the turn of events: the victim is rescued by the village crowd, and the villain is rescued by the police. In this event, however, it was not a case of false identity. The citizens of Betalbatim are now demanding stringent measures to curtail the spread of criminal activity in their village. They are angry, and rightly so.

And in the midst of these incidents of crime followed by mob action due to the inaction of the police, we had the sad news of the tragedy of a zealous and intrepid police officer killed by a cold blooded law breaker in the very action of enforcing the law. How atrocious! How despicable!

We salute the memory of the hero, PSI Abhishek S P Gomes, and share the grief of his family. He definitely deserves a posthumous state award for performing his duty risking himself in the throes of death, under the wheels of a truck from Punjab on the roads of Goa. The driver was promptly arrested in this case. But the wheels of justice are slow and procedure bound unlike the fast and rash wheels of the killer trucks.

What an irony that a law enforcing police officer had to become the victim at the hands of a law breaking driver. There are many other law enforcing officers who are sometimes hindered by the law-makers through political interference and threats of transfer. Governments change but lawlessness remains the same. The people must vigorously demand not just development but law and order enforcement. Of what use is development without safety and security? First things first.

Published in The Navhind Times, Panorama 24.03.2013