The apology tendered by the Punjab Chief Minister to his counterpart in West Bengal over the manner in which policemen from his State recently killed an alleged Sikh extremist in Howrah district keeping local authorities out of the plan Had naturally nor had any healing effect on an administration which is sore over the issue
Earlier also the Punjab police had done the same thing and there is little indication that Beant Singh Will be able to restrain Mr. Gill and his men in future. For the simple reason that the police boss of Punjab has clearly become stronger than his political masters and is unlikely to pay any heed at this stage to laws and norms of conduct even in the unlikely event of the Director General of Police taking note of the criticisms and deciding to act accordingly he will have a tough time controlling his boys.
This is because of the lure of money Bach militant carries a huge sum on it is head and the Punjab police are not willing to share this with the force of any Other State which they will have to do in the case of a joint operation. Thus the decision to act on their own While Mr. Gill may wallow in the pleasure of his latest trump in needs to be seriously considered whether he should be allowed to go about his trigger-happy ways In West Bengal particularly the raids by the Punjab police are totally at variance with the philosophy of the local authorities even detention without trial left alone such public killings at will
Also it is not as if the State administration is unaware of the dangers posed by the Sikh militants. West Bengal has a large Sikh population and it would be idle to assume that people on the fun from Punjab will not try to seek shelter in the State The intelligence department of the force is always on the lookout for such elements and in the past have successfully intercepted some of them.
While the Punjab police are well aware of such vigilance they continue to prefer to act on their own almost as if they enjoyed their own illegal acts. And in the absence of any other explanation for such conduct this can be attributed only to a lust for the booty involved something which does not bring any credit to what is believed to be a disciplined force.
Such raids also pose a grave threat to the ordinary citizens. When a policeman opens fire in broad day light and at crowded places what guarantee can there be that only the targets will be The Punjab police of course will have nothing to lose if innocent lives are lost as like all marauders they will soon be gone and at best sitting in Chandigarh Beant Singh will say sorry. But the impact of popular anger will be felt by the local administration and for no fault of its own.
Then there is the question of the rule of law. The police are expected to bring to book the culprits who may get killed only in the case of an encounter. In the Howrah incident they chased their target and shot him down without even trying to arrest him which could easily have been done in collaboration with the local police. But instead the Punjab police went in for what can only be described as a cold-blooded murder
This brings one to the issue of truth and no purpose will be served by questioning in the manner of answer. After every such killing the entire nations has no other option but to accept the contention of Gill the militant was a terrorist. Even the Government in that State can have no other alternative
This turns the entire judicial process in to mockery. In the Howral case the Punjab police kept 01 insisting that the man had to culprit as he was running away from them But these days whicl Sikh who is well aware of the reputation of the man in uniform in his own State would not do so particularly whom he sees AK 47 aimed at him? And as for encounters though there was none in this case people in West Bengal with their experience of the early 70 know only 100 well how these car be organized
With the Punjab police determined to take their battle agains! militants in other states the time certainly has come for the Union Home Ministry to step in and in consultation with the States it must formulate a strict procedure to be followed by the police everywhere if they are (o enter some other’s territory If this is not done quickly when a situation may well develop in which policemen will be seen travelling all over the country and bumping off people alleged to be criminals thereby turning the entire nation into their happy hunting ground. In the case of West Bengal the State may well find policemen not only from Punjab but also from Assam and Tamil Nadu operating at their will in their research for ULFA Bodo and LTTE extremists
The Press has helped Mr. Gill acquire a larger than life image it is perhaps wary of even applying its mind on the subject which may be interpreted as an attempt to curb the Punjab DIG even if by a wee bill. This is what happens when an official is put on a pedestal. Mr. Gill today is obviously under the impression must be told in no uncertain terms that this is an impression which neither he nor anybody else is entitled to but then who is going to bell the cat?
Article extracted from this publication >> July 15, 1994
