My brush with the law is restricted to taking out my wallet and filling out challans ,once for over speeding and the other for jumping red light.Both times, the traffic constables were polite and courteous, though very firm in punishing me for my violations. One even gave me INR 30 discount when he saw that I had no money left in the wallet after paying the challan.
But the image that any law enforcing agency in our country has, in the minds of the common citizens, is nothing to write home about. Insensitive and corrupt are the two words that come into the mind the moment the word police is uttered. In fact the slogan for Delhi police is the butt of many a joke in the middle class crowd. Roughly translated, it means "for you, with you always"-the biggest paradox.
Yet yesterday, something happened that made me revise my opinion that the Police are also humane with loads of sensitivity and a body who can handle sensitive cases, sensitively, and with huge dollops of compassion and humanity.
The mentally disturbed daughter of a friend of mine,in a moment of disturbance called in the police with all possible allegations against the parents,including fear for life and mental well being.
The calm and patient handling of the 6 odd Police from New Ashok Nagar Police station who had turned up not only calmed the violent girl,but also made her realize that these were people who were there to help her. And these were not the highly educated elite IPS,but the humble officials from a different strata of society, where ugliness and unpleasantness are commonly heard of.
They were equally polite to the parents, sympathetic(every one of them being parents themselves could empathize with the anguished parents)
The disturbed girl wanted to stay the night at the police station, but the laws of the land do not permit a lady to be detained in the police station post sundown, so the Police couldn't help there, causing her to get violent again - so they devised a way where the traumatized girl could be calmed- they opened their own sleeping quarters in the station,making her feel like a guest of the Delhi police,with the clause that a lady from her house(in this case the girls mother) stayed with her. Through the night while the disturbed girl slept in peace, the friendly staff there counselled the mother, giving her tips on how to take take care of the daughter,offering solace and consolation to the parents on the cold winter night. I stood in the sidelines and watched in silence and this team took over a potentially violent situation with many shades of unpleasantness and ugliness and brought it to control.
I have no means of knowing whether what I witnessed yesterday is a one- off case or not but today I am forced to raise a salute to this team of yesterday as a common citizen of our democracy.
One more lesson in my journey through life- a single body cannot be painted with the same brush- each stroke is different. The situation demands the behavior of the Police force.
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