Bagga case: Don’t delay police reforms

The breathless saga over the past 48 hours involving Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga — which began with his early morning detention by Punjab Police, followed by the Haryana Police blocking the convoy carrying the leader and Delhi Police taking his custody back, then moved to the judicial domain with a local Punjab court issuing a warrant for his arrest and ending with the relief granted by the Punjab and Haryana high court — saw all parties involved cut sorry figures. Worse still, the episode represented a hijacking of due process and cemented the solidifying trend of law-enforcement agencies acting as proxies of their political bosses in targeting opponents.

The incident offers a sobering view of how entrenched political loyalties have weakened State institutions and how urgently reforms are required to unlink law enforcement from political compulsions. Without going into the merits of the case against Bagga — he is accused of issuing threats to Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal — it is clear that in a hurry to score political points, the administration pushed the law-enforcement machinery to cut procedural corners. It is also clear that this flagrant disregard for established norms and rule of law is now popular across the ideological spectrum. This doesn’t bode well for a democracy. Despite differences, parties and governments must find common ground to push through long-pending reforms that can lay down clear guidelines for inter-state police action and penalties for violating these norms. The cycle of political one upmanship must end.