The manner in which the escorts of the Manipur Assembly Speaker, Th. Lokeshwor Singh, savagely assaulted a person, who too turned out to be a police officer himself though in civil dress at time, is to say the least, scary. It tells of the same climate of impunity and that people have so far associated with the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, AFSPA, only this time, the atrocity committed was not by forces empowered and protected by the AFSPA, but by the state police. It would also not be wrong to say the brazenness of the assault is unparalleled. Not even the AFSPA empowered Army personnel would have gone to the extent. The assaulted man, Arambam Amitabh, was beaten up in broad daylight, in spite of his identifying himself as a police officer, in front of his wife and children, that too on the busy thoroughfare outside the Kangla western gate. It was indeed an arrogant pronouncement of impunity, and wilful disregard for the law. It was equally a declaration that the only effective law in this land is defined by the power that flows out of the barrel of the gun, and that the bigger the gun, the more forceful the law. There is nothing reassuring about this outlook, for history is lesson that this can only lead to a competition to own the biggest guns.
What makes the matter even worse is, the violence witnessed was not on account of anything grand like waging war against the nation. The poor man was being publicly savaged and humiliated because he was not prompt enough in allowing a motorcade of the Speaker to overtake and pass his vehicle. Since the Assembly is currently not in session, we cannot help wondering what the urgency was all about. Or were the Speaker`™s escorts given the impression that the Speaker owns the roads in Imphal, and that all traffic on the roads must side and come to a grinding halt to make his vehicle pass every time he decides to be on the road? And if somebody, for whatever the reason fails to do this as if by instinct, they have the right to simply beat and humiliate him like an animal? Since nowadays even animals have rights, such cruelty would have amounted to an affront on the law. Hence while cow slaughter has been made illegal, in Manipur it seems humans can be brutalised and slaughtered at will by those who are supposed to be holding up the law.
The complete absence of remorse could not have been more chilling. The VIP convoy simply drove away after the assault. At no time did the VIP make a move to intervene and put a halt to the nonsensical savagery. It was as if he was endorsing the whole macabre drama. We can be only grateful that as his convoy left the scene, the VIP did not roll down his window halfway and throw a coin at the injured man before rolling up the window again, in the manner the noble in Charles Dickens`™ `A Tale of Two Cities` did to the peasant his horse carriage injured on a street of Versailles. There has not been any apology from his side either, and instead, there are already talks of filing counter charges of first assault against the injured man, and that the security escorts were merely acting in self defence. Imagine an unarmed man, travelling with his family, which included young children, making a bare hand assault on a score and more men with lethal weapons. The conclusion is simple. Either the injured man thought he was Superman, or one of those Marvel Comic heroes, or else those reportedly making these counter charges are liars.
Let us come back to earth. Nobody will deny VIPs do deserve some priorities. But this cannot be to all extent. Moreover, even if there have been perceived breaches of the law, there are civilised ways of dealing with these. The brutish manner in which the VIP escort party resorted to assaulting a man for delaying the passage of the Speaker`™s convoy on the road, is nothing but hooliganism. Let the law take note of this, and if it is interested in saving itself some grace, have the thugs punished.
Leader Writer: Pradip Phanjoubam
Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2015/05/impunity-redefined/