PANCHKULA MAYHEM 25AUGUST 2017: A case of State Collapse?

I too remained glued to TV for hours yesterday, August 25. AS a former career cop I was assaulted by fleeting emotions ranging from disbelief to shame anger to anguish to anger. DGP showing his back and the force fleeing the scene was too much for me. The mayhem that was being live telecast before my eyes was predictable and therefore preventable. So what went wrong?

It was not that police and government were unaware of the extent of Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh’s massive following. (prefixing Baba will be an insult to this word). in and across Haryana providing him with money and muscle power.. What was public knowledge too was that Ram Rahim had close links with the high-ups, notably BJP which is in power in Haryana and at the centre. Ram Rahim was apparently invincible. That the judgment will be delivered on 25 August was known from before. What should have been anticipated was what happened yesterday.

It was very obvious to experienced cops like me that the political establishment kept vacillating. thus keeping the police administration confused and uncertain. Not a word was heard from Chief Minister Khattar until precious lives were lost and crores worth of property damaged. Such large scale arson and vandalism bear ample testimony to the paralysis of decision making.

SHO, SP and DGP are the main figures on whom the maintenance of law and order hinges. SP and DM acting in tandem have all the legal powers and public support to deal with normal law and order situations. But D-day was going to call for massive reinforcements and not only inter-district but also inter-state coordination an d exchange of intelligence on day to day and even hour to hour basis. With their superior wisdom the higher ups in police and government should have forewarned the neighbouring states and ensured that reinforcements reached the SP well in advance. Chandigarh being he common capital all the big wigs of both Punjab and Haryana were available on hand. Whether the accused was convicted or acquitted thousands shuld hve been expected to converge on the day of judgment and prevented from approaching Panchkula and Sirsa.The crowd should have been filtered by erecting barriers in concentric circles at a distance of 100 KMs, then 50 KMs, 25 KMs and finally 5 KMs. After that vehicles should have been searched and entry restricted. Once a crowd congregates it becomes difficult to disperse it without use of force. That is where the mistake happened. Crowd was allowed to become a mob before police swing into action and that too halfheartedly to start with. Even my wife asked me why I was not resorting to water cannons, as if I was still the man in charge. Burt she was right. Where tear gas had failed water cannon did have some effect in dispersing the mob. Later I could hear some sounds of police firing also. But that was too little too late.

What was the MHA doing? Granted that law and order is a state subject they should have done the monitoring and coordinating with different states. If the state intelligence machinery had failed what was their own IB doing/? Modi’s image has been dented as Khattar was handpicked by him and this has been Khattar’s third bigfailure. BJP MP Shakshi Maharaj coming on TV amidst all that mayhem to support Ram Rahim will cost the party some votes, or so I hope.

Dr. Sudhir Kumar Jha IPS (Retd)

Former DGP Bihar

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Sudhir Kumar Jha IPS

Written by

Indian Police Service ( Bihar, 1960), Director General of Police ( Retd); Active Golfer; Researcher & Author #RajToSwaraj #PatnaReincarnated