Leader Writer: Paojel Chaoba
It is not much surprising that drugs are missing from the strong room of the Narcotic Control Bureau. This incident reflects the deep rooted corruption in law enforcing agencies and their proximity with the drug cartels. What remains to be seen is what the police will do in the regard or rather the matter may be equated to sending a joker to catch a thief.
Whatever the circumstances, it is a well known fact that politicians take bribes from people seeking employment. Word has it that the state Home department is not less and astronomical amounts have been put in the coffer of those who pulls the strings of the state administration.
The quota seems to be given according to the hierarchy and the topmost gets the largest piece of the ‘bribery cake’. Some even say that there are unholy nexuses with splinter organizations and the state machinery to perpetrate nefarious activities. Incidents have happened in the past and news have been highlighted, but as usual, the story dies out with the perpetrator of the crime never being caught and justice is not delayed but seems to be lost in the police paper files. Well, it would be unfair to blame the whole of the law enforcing departments, but there seems to be lots of rotten apples and not only a single one in the barrel. Problematic yet, but sometimes rotten at the very top.
News from the grapevine carries strange ones, the saying is there that truth may sound stranger than fiction. A police officer from the rank of sub-inspector, who doubles up as an investigating officer gets 2/3 litres per day to drive a four wheeled gypsy. But, when the crime activity demands a thorough search, the amount of fuel sanctioned is not enough to trail the person who has absconded on foot. It is whispered that the fuel is disbursed and recorded in the ledger with a pencil, for erase-ability and that the ledger is rewritten in ink for the amount of fuel sanctioned. Countless stories are there but the case of the missing drugs from the NCB strong room might be just the tip of the iceberg. The drugs or other items confiscated by the law enforcers and supposedly still lying un-disposed at the maal khana should be counted and disposed otherwise ephedrine may turn to salt, sandalwood may turn to pine, heroin powder to glucose powder and SP tablets to crocin. Who knows, they may already have!
A person who doles out 15/20 lacs to become a police sub-inspector will obviously think of getting back the amount when the twin stars appear on the shoulder. The method depends on his dexterity to bypass ethics of a public servant and ultimately putting a stranglehold on the person whom he is supposed to help or catch. It is seen by all dipsomaniacs having a evening binge at the khuls and polo ground area when the khaki clad, booted and armed personnel prides himself in extorting 10 Rs from each vendor (10 Rs is the going rate). The best part is when the traffic police are thrown a similar denomination note from the heavy vehicles entering the municipal area in the daytime. Risking life and limb, it is candidly witnessed when the policeman tries to grab the swirling note amidst the thick traffic. As for the VDF personnel, the joke that their sole training consists of making them watch the John Rambo series for a month and letting them loose to do guard duty says it all. Another one is that they will not check Chevrolet make cars, as the car emblem resembles a medical ‘plus’ sign.
What one can hope is that the police will reinvent their ways with time and the present DGP will crack the proverbial whip. To earn money is fine, but being greedy is also a cardinal sin. Working diligently to get promotion is okay, but to dole out bribes for a plum posting and promotion is assumed to be the current mindset of the state police officers. As it is for the NCB not to nab but to sell off their seized drugs, the same should not be for police to let go of the perpetrator of a crime from political pressure or offered cash.
One witness young traffic police helping senior citizen cross the street. Then within oneself arises the hope that all is not lost.