Gunda Raj in police station
The rape of a minor girl at a police station at Lalitpur in Uttar Pradesh by the station in-charge is horrendous, to say the least. She had gone there to complain against four persons who had raped her. She was lured by one of them and taken to Bhopal where he and his accomplices raped her multiple times. Thereafter, she was dumped at Lalitpur. Instead of registering a case against the four under the POCSO law, the police officer took her inside the police station and raped her. The constables who were at the police station looked the other way as the rape occurred on their own premises. The incident is a reminder of Justice Mulla’s famous observation that “policemen are a bunch of criminals in uniform”. It also explains how dangerous it is for a woman to approach the police when she is in distress.
Public opinion has forced the UP police to arrest the officer concerned and file a case under POCSO law that deals with sexual harassment of children. Since he is a police officer who is paid for by the state to protect human rights, he does not deserve any leniency. He is worthy of the severest punishment possible under the law to act as a warning to all those who wear the uniform. It is possible that fellow police officers may help him by weakening the case. It is all the more reason that there should be a quick trial of the case so that there is no scope for manipulation of the records. Time is of the essence in the criminal justice system.
The rape in the police station exposes the UP government’s boastful claims about ending Gunda Raj. The chief minister is the one who has been using the bulldozers to terrorise those who cross his path. Recently, he used the bulldozer against a man who allegedly raped a woman. However, the bulldozers did not move against this police officer’s house. It shows how names matter when it comes to law and order in the state. Policemen are custodians of law and order and if they themselves take the law into their own hands, where will the ordinary people go when they become victims of crime? If their faith in the criminal justice system is eroded, it will force them to seek justice in their own way as is shown in popular films. And it will mark the end of what is called the Rule of Law.