Golakganj lathicharge: A stark reminder of police lapses and the urgent need for reform

The unwarranted use of force by police at Golakganj while halting a peaceful rally taken out by the All Koch-Rajbongshi Students' Union on Thursday is shocking and needs to be condemned by all. Thankfully, no fatality occurred, although some protesters were injured. It is good to see the State government taking the matter seriously, with a probe ordered and a police officer suspended.

The Koch-Rajbongshi community, together with five others-Tai Ahom, Chutia, Matak, Moran, and Adivasi (Tea Tribes) - has long been demanding ST status, with both the Centre and the State government dilly-dallying over the matter for years. While demonstrations are nothing new in the State, those sometimes tend to take ugly turns due to over-enthusiasm on the part of either the protesters or the police, or sometimes both.

First, irrespective of the grievances of the agitators, none have the right to take the law into their own hands and indulge in violence. At the same time, the police have absolutely no right to be brutal on peaceful demonstrators -as had happened at Golakganj. Another critical issue concerns the lack of expertise on the part of the police to deal with sensitive and violent situations.

This incompetence invariably comes to the fore when the police deal with mob violence. Timely crowd-control measures, besides reinforcing the police stations' strength and security, are highly imperative to deal with crowd violence. In the past, we have witnessed incidents of mob violence, but unfortunately, matching police action in terms of crowd control was sorely missing in all the cases.

With the State witnessing a rise in public protests, the police have to do some serious soul-searching and rectify their lapses in dealing with such situations as they should.

It is apparent that the police should be provided with some training in effective crowd control. Prompt police action at the troubled spot can effectively restrain the unruly sections from taking the law into their hands. Those found to be inciting public passion need to be booked and punished.

While a few mischief mongers will always be there to forment trouble by inciting the public in stressed situations, the developments could also indicate diminishing public trust in the police. The poor performance of police in discharging basic responsibilities has made people increasingly question their efficacy as an instrument of grievance redressal.

This is a serious situation and before any further erosion of public faith in police, they should address their shortcomings.

Efforts should also be made towards developing better police-public relations. Police lapses aside, the leaders of organisations behind such protests should also be made answerable for crowd violence.

Violence during protests is often orchestrated for gaining more media limelight and scoring political points. This unhealthy trend has to stop.