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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | How the police selectively draw the line-Sagnik Chowdhury

How the police selectively draw the line-Sagnik Chowdhury

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published Published on Sep 13, 2012   modified Modified on Sep 13, 2012
-The Indian Express

The latest controversy surrounding the sedition case against cartoonist Aseem Trivedi has left the Mumbai Police with egg on its face. It has also exposed the force’s double standards and its misplaced priorities while dealing with complaints.

Surely the police cannot believe that Trivedi’s cartoons pose a greater threat than MNS chief Raj Thackeray’s constant tirades against north Indians? Does it take a sterner view of anti-corruption cartoons than the Amar Jawan memorial being vandalised in south Mumbai last month?

An over-zealous cop was quick to book the young cartoonist for sedition. However, the police appear to have taken a softer stance against two youths who were arrested for attacking the memorial with kicks and iron rods during the mob violence that erupted at Azad Maidan on August 11. Forget sedition, the police are treading cautiously on applying sections of the Prevention of Insult to National Honour Act in the case. Senior officers have said they will “seek legal opinion” before invoking the Act.

Similarly, the Mumbai Police has traditionally used kid gloves to deal with politicians like Thackeray, who defy them brazenly while fanning sentiments over regional issues. The Maharashtra home department has said it will “examine” Thackeray’s recent anti-Bihari speech and decide on further course of action. A much-repeated charade is now likely to play out — one that involves a long delay while the police seek legal opinion on the speech and that usually ends with a lack of evidence to prosecute. One wonders why the police could not consult their lawyers before slapping the charges against Trivedi.

But the gaffe is one of several in which officers have filed cases with blinkers on. Some months ago, a case of forgery and cheating was registered against filmmaker Sanjay Gupta for “forging” a letter on the Mumbai’s police commissioner’s letterhead inviting the media for the promotion of his movie Shootout at Wadala. Granting anticipatory bail to Gupta, the Bombay High Court remarked that the police had shown “over- enthusiasm” and “had lost their sense of humour”.

On one hand, police stations are known to cook their books to keep the crime rate at an acceptable level, with officers reluctant to register petty crimes such as chain-snatchings and thefts. On the other, officers often rush to register frivolous FIRs without thought to criminal sections actually warranted in the case.

The Indian Express, 13 September, 2012, http://www.indianexpress.com/news/how-the-police-selectively-draw-the-line/1001885/0


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