Police must act, but public must behave

The video clip of a Delhi policeman hurling a brick at a woman scooterist was shocking. The woman has alleged that she was meted the treatment because she refused to pay bribe. The charge resonated with people as the clip was watched over and over again, on internet and television. Despite the outrage it generated, the video was only a mild example of police excesses across the country. Think illegal detentions, custodial torture, extrajudicial killings. But what probably created instant revulsion here was the ordinariness of the setting in which the scene seemed to play out for us – a young woman bringing her kids home from school, a traffic infraction, a policeman out to make an extra buck. Except that the everyday script ends with the traffic cop attacking the woman with a brick.

The Delhi Police acted swiftly to the public anger – expressing regret, arresting and then sacking the head constable. The episode raised issues of the police insensitivity towards the public it is supposed to serve and of the need to make the force more accountable. But as further details emerged, the case threw up other concerns as well. Transcript of an audio recording made by the policeman shows the woman calling him names while refusing to produce her driving licence. Her family, however, says the policeman began recording only after he had provoked her by demanding a bribe. The video clip itself shows the woman hurling a brick first at the policeman’s motorcycle, who then retaliates. While not holding any brief for the policeman, the Delhi High Court has called her behaviour “disgraceful”, and noted inconsistencies in her comments on television. Citizens should not be improving upon their statements to become “a star on TV”, the court said. The caustic observation happened to come the day after Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal hailed the woman as a hero.

Clearly, motorists need to do their bit to maintain sanity on the roads. A day before this clash, a Delhi Transport Corporation driver was battered to death by a two-wheeler rider after a minor accident, with his pillion-riding mother allegedly egging him on. DTC drivers reacted by going on a two-day strike. And after the latest outrage, traffic policemen appear to be going slow to avoid confrontations. The daily average of challans issued has fallen sharply, implying that some reckless drivers are getting away. This won’t do. The police need to keep doing their job. But they must realise that not getting provoked is part of their job. Throwing bricks at scooterists, even at the hot-headed ones, is just not on.