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Moral Policing just in the front of Actual police, Mr. Mirji, Is your effect over?
Written By dvsquare - 5 June, 2011
Bangalore governance law and order Police Citizen Reports Moral Policing nsui
Saturday evening, I was in Apollo hospital to collect my health check-up reports, the apollo hospital in front of Jyoti Nivas College, Koramangala. When I was coming out, what I saw was very sad. Moral policing by NSUI just in the front of City police, It was like police was supporting NSUI members (law breaker or members of taking-law-in-own-hands).
Let me first declare that I have not done any other research prior to the act or post the act I have seen. But I have a few questions regarding the same as a normal citizen.
Scene: (what I saw) - There is one cafe near apollo hospital, I saw some NSUI members were shouting with slogs - "NSUI Zindabad", and some more in kannada. They had taken "Hukkah" out from that cafe (It seems that that cafe had provisioning of hukkah in its premises) and shouted for a few minutes. Till that time all police jeep also came there and they were just become the spectators of NSUI doings. Local channel cameraman were also there. NSUI members shouted some slogans with those hukkahs in hand, and then one by one they broke all the hukkahs on the road just in the front of all the police cops. After that they were giving interviews to local channel reporters. The police standing there were just making sure that NSUI members can do what they intend to without any problems. Police cops also kept those broken hukkahs in their jeep while NSUI members were talking to reporters.
(I am not sure whether serving hukkah is legal or not as per the Karnataka law)
Now, after seeing all these, a few questions came to my mind -
(1) Police's job is to provide support to people who were taking law into their hands or to protect the common citizens?
(2) Why cops allowed NSUI members take law in their own hands? If hukkah serving is illegal, why did cops didn't recover those from the NSUI members and destroy it themselves or taken along with them?
(3) After NSUI members do all the taking-law-into-their-hands work, who will clean the broken glasses on road? BBMP? Someone from the moral-police just come and block the road for sometime, make the road dirty and full of broken glass (injurious to common citizens) and citi police just watching them (I should say supporting them), so that NSUI members can do un-interrupted?
(4) Mr. Mirji, I was quite impressed by the quick and correct actions as soon you join Bangalore top position, those actions were very much towards the citizens' safety and their common people's interest, but then what is this? Why were your men just spectators of all drama? Why didn't they recovered the hukkah themselves (if that is illegal) and took it away with them? Why did they allow NSUI members take law into their hands?
I may be wrong in concluding anything but as a common citizen, I just can think of above questions.
Deepak
COMMENTS
Ravi_D - 7 June, 2011 - 02:53
Good cause (and supposed moral high ground) does not make illegal actions legal. There is Police and Justice System for a reson. Shop may or may not have been legal, but actions you witnessed were certainly illegal.
First time I saw the ransacked toll-booth next to BIAL exit, I had similar thoughts. Wonder what happened to all those guys who tore the booths apart.
sanjayv - 7 June, 2011 - 04:51
Ravi and Deepak have it right. The law has to be enforced by the police and the justice system. Two wrongs do not make a right. Nobody has the right to ransack and destroy private property when legal remedies are available. If police does not act on complaints, these guys should have pressurized them into acting.
murali772 - 6 June, 2011 - 11:48
Valid questions - Deepak. Is this the new face of NSUI? I had a totally different picture of the organisation.
Also, I had a totallty different picture of city police
dvsquare - 6 June, 2011 - 12:52
It was sad to see the city police cops, just mute spectators, or they were facilitating the NSUI people to break those glass-made hukkahs. Why didn't they recover those hukkah from NSUI people or cafe and took with themselves?
Deepak
srinidhi - 6 June, 2011 - 13:55
you mention that this was in front of Jyoti Nivas college..the law states that cigerettes/tobacco and by-products cannot be sold within 100mts of any educational institution..
So having a Hokkah joint was illegal in the first place..and sometimes the cops hands are tied because these joints are run by the powerful..so get a 'enabling' team to get things in place might really be debatable..
Also these hookah joints are known to peddle narcotics..thats one more reason that these are shut for good!
Also confiscated ivory is burnt..hence breaking of the hukkahs aint really that wrong if you see in the right light!
btw I would have lit up the place if I was there! ;)
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