JOIN USThe death of a Delhi Police constable, who succumbed to injuries he sustained in Sunday’s violent protests against the gang-rape of a girl in the national capital, is tragedy compounded. It reinforces the perception that serious vulnerabilities exist in the maintenance of law and order in the national capital. Those who took part in Sunday’s violent protests cannot absolve themselves of the responsibility for the constable’s death, though it is easy to attribute the violent attack against the constable to the so-called mob mentality. It is not the first time in recent months that men from law-enforcement agencies have found themselves at the receiving end of the protesters’ ire. Nor will it be the last, if we fail to draw the right crowd management lessons.
Crowd management in public rallies is not primarily a problem of policing. In this case, the Delhi government, and the Centre, which is in control of the Delhi Police force, betrayed a lack of political foresight to deal with the mounting public outcry on the streets of the national capital over the gang-rape incident. They failed to respond to the public anger in adequate measure and in time. Instead of engaging the protesters who were mostly students, top leaders chose to play to the gallery. There was no timely political intervention. They allowed the situation to spin out of control, which eventually required the strong-arm intervention by the police.
Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde spoke more like a policeman than the politician that he is. The calming intervention of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh came a bit too late. Belated political response to situations like this has become a defining trait of the UPA-II regime. As a result, the government found itself trapped in demands made by emotionally charged people who in the present case came up with such absurd suggestions as stoning to death the perpetrators of the gang-rape. We have an Opposition which is anything but responsible when it chooses to intervene. The main reason why people take recourse to prolonged protests is the lack of sensitivity on the part of the political leadership. When the leadership of the government fails to instill confidence, things tend to get out of control. Delhi has seen many acts of violence against women. But how many exemplary convictions have taken place in quick time? The government must end its state of drift and initiate timely and purposeful actions to restore public confidence about its will to deal with such serious crimes.