Paper No. 6123 Dated 08-Jun-2016
Guest Column by Dr. Sudhanshu Tripathi
The unfortunate event at Jawahar Bagh in Mathura killing a very nice, gentle and promising S.P. city Mr. Mukul Dwivedi sounds a very dark chapter in independent India’s decaying politics where criminals rule the roost.
Though a very young and perhaps deeply religious sub-inspector was also killed in the mayhem besides more than two dozens of so-called satyagrahis united under the banner of Swadhin Bharat Andolan of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose led by one mastermind Ram Vriksha Yadav, also killed in his self-prepared strategy to defeat the police force which was ordered by the High Court to get the public park vacated from the clutches of these anti-social elements illegally occupying it since 2014 under the pretext of fulfilling their irrational demands, but the way the S.P. was brutally and mercilessly killed- almost unarmed and betrayed by their fellow police men who ran away from the spot when he was overpowered by these criminals- raises many serious questions about the prevailing quality of governance and administration in the state of U.P., being ruled by an equally young C.M. Further, even when the S.P. and a sub-inspector were being criminally assaulted by the goons of Ram Vriksha Yadav, the police party were denied permission to open fire at them which might have saved the precious lives these two sincere officers. Evidently, this draws a clear line of indictment running from officials in Mathura to state administration in Lucknow.
If the life of a Superintendent of Police is not safe in the state, who had gone with few personnel in the park very peacefully on that fateful day of 2nd June just to oversee or recce the area for final operation to be carried out later, what about the security of common men and their lives? Why did these criminal-protestors acted disproportionately to commit unparalleled barbarity upon the hapless S.P. who was simply arguing and trying to convince them about their unlawful occupation of public land and their baseless demands for creating an ideal society. Was this only a coincidence or an act of preconceived and deliberate murder of the S.P.? In fact, the S.P. was said to be particularly concerned about this land grabbing of the park by these criminal protesters and he had also made efforts earlier to get the park vacated but was always discouraged by his higher ups and political masters on one pretext or the other in his endeavour. Indeed, the Ram Vrishka gang was highly organised, well prepared and was having a big cache of arms and ammunitions and that is being seen with each passing day. And their morale was quite high because they were not afraid of the consequences of killing even a senior police officer of the Superintendent rank. The question is how could they do all these nefarious acts at the very nose of the district administration of Mathura?
All indications gathered by information so far suggest that the deceased Ram Vrishka Yadav was enjoying a very strong and high level of political patronage in the ruling party of the government. He had developed a parallel government inside the Jawahar Bagh of around 264 acres and had got constructed several of permanent cottages for his followers speaks aloud about his mala-fide intentions of capturing the public park for ever, wherein he had entered into along with followers two years ago just for two days of permission by the city authorities for retiring as they were on their entourage to Jantar Mantar in New Delhi, coming from Madhya Pradesh. Several Aadhar cards and ID cards were also found during search operations carried after the mayhem. And that points toward a possibility of their misuse in next election of the state assembly with a view to provide advantage to the ruling Samajwadi Party for ensuring another full term of government.
In this scenario, how can sincere, dedicated and honest officers perform their duties well in the interest of society? Who will take care of common man and their woes? What will happen to the bereaved families of the killed S.P. and the sub-inspector? There is clear sign of political protection given to the leader of the criminal group and serious lapses in the police action. All these be thoroughly investigated by CBI and the culprits ought to be punished for their heinous crime of murdering the police officers.
(Dr. Sudhanshu Tripathi, Associate Professor, Political Science, M. D. P. G. College, Pratapgarh (UP)