Punjabi antenna

Cops, crime and social conscience

By

Randeep Wadehra

The morning news analysis show, Khaas Khabar Ek Nazar, on DD Punjabi is the best of its kind in the region. One gets to hear views of well informed intellectuals from the academia and the media. Incidentally, the channel celebrated its eleventh anniversary on 05th August, our best wishes to DD Punjabi and hope that more programmes of substance will be aired in the future. Sadly, on the channel’s birthday, the Khaas Khabar episode displayed a news item, with a telling photograph, wherein a woman was found lying in an unconscious state atop a garbage heap in Amritsar. Although most of the passersby ignored her a few did take the trouble of reporting to the nearby police station. And the cops’ response? “Ajey mari taan nahin na? Pher kee kar sakdey haan?” (She is not dead yet, so what can we do?), or words to that effect. Nobody thought of taking her to a nearby hospital or one of those charitable NGOs that perpetually bask in media attention. As the irrepressible Jatinder Pannu – the invited guest analyst for the day – pointed out, our police force has become incorrigibly insensitive. But, then, so has the society at large from which cops are recruited. In his unique, in your face, style Pannu turned his sardonic eye on the media too. He pointed out that for newspapers, as well as TV channels, a news item is a single occasion retail proposition. There is seldom a follow-up report to ensure that the victim(s) of an injustice/atrocity get proper redress. Of course, his comments on cops were most scathing.

Talking of policemen there was an interesting discussion on Zee Punjabi’s Khabarsaar. How does one go about reforming the Punjab Police and make it accountable? To discuss the issue the panel had Dr. GS Aujla the ex-DGP of Punjab, Jagdish Singh Sran the ex-DIG (intelligence wing) of Punjab Police and Satinder Bains a journalist. Predictably, the history of various reforms proposed by assorted commissions was traced out. Then began the usual litany, viz., unwillingness of the political establishment to let the police become an autonomous professional entity and the politician-police nexus; they emphasized the need for a police set-up that would be accountable to the executive without turning into an organization that executes hatchet jobs. Presently, in order to prosecute a police officer government sanction is required. What if the bureaucracy sits on a request for such sanction? Predictably, the solution offered was – the concerned officer/department should be asked for explanation. Now, this would only entail further delay. Better alternative would be – if the sanction is not specifically refused, with cogent reasons, within a given period of time, it should be presumed to have been granted. This would certainly speed up the redress proceedings. One of the points Dr. Aujla made was that today’s recruits are far better educated than the earlier ones. But has education made any difference to their value-systems?

In a subsequent episode Khabarsaar discussed the various educational avenues that are now available to students. The PTU VC Rajneesh Arora, the director of Chandigarh Group of Colleges Dr. Karminder Ghuman and the Additional Director of Punjab’s Technical Education Mohanbir discussed the extant educational scenario. The anxieties relating to choice of streams that students and their parents undergo today have been exacerbated due to several factors – on the one hand there are more options available in terms of courses and colleges and on the other hand there is a fierce competition in the job market. The panelists laid great stress upon acquiring of skills and commercial viability, which is welcome, but why ignore the old fashioned value-systems and professional ethics?  Competencies can be developed through a few years of academic/practical courses but it takes a lifetime to develop healthy values.

Published in The Tribune dated August 20, 2011

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