SECULAR STUPIDITY Vs. SNOOP SCANDAL
Ram Kumar Ohri, IPS (Retd)
We are living in interesting times. A verbal fracas has broken out on
24/7 television channels about the due protection given by the Gujarat
police to a young girl whose father had sought help to protect her from
the alleged harassment by a suspected stalker.
The so-called snoop-scandal debate has degenerated to the lowest
depth of a secularly stupid discourse which ought to have been avoided. The
only essential requirement is a simple one. Those questioning the legality of
the police response to the call of the distraught father of the young girl must
read the directions contained in Sections 44 and 145 of the Criminal
Procedure Code to understand the statutory responsibility assigned to the
police.
Section 44 of Cr.P.C. requires that every Indian citizen aware of the
likely commission of a serious offence should forthwith give that
information to the police without fail. The action of the girl’s father in
seeking police help was thus fully covered by law. He was seeking no favour.
Now let us try to comprehend the duty which the criminal law imposes
on the police. Section 149 of the Cr. P.C. lays down that “Every police
officer may interpose for the purpose of preventing, and shall, to the best of
his ability, prevent the commission of any cognizable offence”. And that was
all that the Gujarat Police did.
Most police officers, including me, have intervened to the best of their
ability whenever such an incident was brought to their notice.
So, dear news anchors and political activists, where is the need for a
judicial enquiry? More importantly what do you expect the presiding judge of
the Inquiry Commission to do beyond the directions given by law ? Period.
