Shame on Punjab!

Friday, 07/12/2012

http://punjabnewsline.com/news/Shame-on-Punjab_-.html

CHANDIGARH: Nothing can be more shameful for the state than the macabre and horrific killing of its police officer Ravinderpal Singh at the hands of an Akali leader for objecting his daughter’s eve-teasing on Wednesday in Amritsar.

In the tragic incident of December 5, the 47-year-old cop was brutally shot dead in broad daylight by his daughter's tormentor Ranjit Singh Rana. While he was being mercilessly killed, people in Amritsar stood there watching the crime taking place like mute spectators. It is extremely shameful to even think that we co-exist in a society along with sociopaths like Ranjit Singh Rana who can manifest any form of brutality without even an iota of hesitation!

What malodorous disease could have led a criminal-turned-politician, cloaked in the armour of his political post of district general secretary of the ruling Akali Dal, to stalk an innocent girl day after day, stopping her and passing lewd comments on her in the middle of a busy downtown street, as if he was engaged in some casual sport? And when asked to refrain from the heinous act by the girl’s father, the psychopath goes on to kill him in cold blood.

What is this appalling sickness that lies behind such incidents wherein a father, no less than a cop in a state which boasts of excellent law and order situation, is killed for trying to salvage his daughter’s dignity?  If someone can come and shoot a policeman like this, how can a commoner feel safe?

Surely, this morbid crime — which took place barely a kilometer from the Chhehrata police station and in full view of many— is more than just a reflection on a criminal mind of a power fanatic and the deteriorating law and order situation in Punjab.

The incident has yet again proved how low the morality among the present generation of political goons has gone to. Being in a position of power, already they do not have any fear of law which is why for their amusement they are willing to molest any one and also kill anyone who objects.

The sheer savagery of the policeman-father’s cold-blooded murder has fuelled outrage across the state even as it has triggered a sense of widespread shame. Clearly, it should hold up a mirror to us as a society and force us to ask what has gone so horribly wrong with our social fabric.

The Punjab police, that took no less than a full hour to arrive at the crime scene, was far from saving its face when it managed to nab the guilty within 10 hours of the incident.

Also, it is debatable whether or not the onlookers who passively watched the mortification of the helpless girl as her father was being shot dead are legally culpable. But their moral complicity in the crime is beyond any question.

The barbarous incident is real shame to the society and a distressing signal to the government and administration on how young men in power are taking law and order in their hands without any fear.