K'pada episode, SP's comments don't speak well of Govt's health

When the Monsoon Session of the Parliament is continuing to be a washout, the forthcoming session of the Odisha legislative Assembly will also have stormy moments. One of the issues likely to keep the House busy would relate to the events at Kendrapada. A self-proclaimed godman received continuous public power and patronage to build and spread out his influence on persons and properties in different parts of the State.

The video recordings and other materials relating to the overindulgent police force, which mercilessly clamped down upon the public agitation relating to Sarathi Baba alias Santosh Raul are no doubt disturbing. A prominent BJD MlA and a former Minister has gone to the extent of saying, “The police atrocities these days can be compared to that of British police during pre-Independent India.” He went on to demand that a committee be formed to trace out the ruling party members who had links with Sarathi Baba.

The matter has been handed over to the Crime Branch. Sarathi Baba has been taken into custody. Interrogations of several persons are in progress. The Government had no option but to shift the then Kendrapada SP Satish Gajbhiye for the alleged excesses and inhuman treatment meted out to the agitating public and, in particular, a lawyer and politician belonging to the Kendrapada Bar. The electronic media has displayed a video tape revealing the kind of physical torture and indignity that were inflicted on the Kendrapada lawyer and it was all in the presence and under the nose of the then SP.

But later events, specially the reported comments of former SP Gajbhiye are interesting, extraordinary and indicate that the line of command operating in the police hierarchy is at variance from what it ought to be. As the SP was operating within his jurisdiction, he was to be guided by the instructions of the local Magistrate. There is a hierarchy in the police chain of command. But strangely, Gajbhiye in an exclusive interview to a TV channel claimed that he was “constantly in touch with the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) all through the standoff with the agitating people and regularly briefed it on the situation on the ground.” The statement generates warning signals of collapse of the Rule of law and breakdown of the system of hierarchy in administration. If the former SP is speaking the truth, he is liable to be asked and he is obliged to answer why he was constantly in touch with the CMO, obviously to the exclusion of all other authorities in a matter of law and order. Maybe, under stress of circumstances, he might have not recollected his statutory powers and duties. Whether he acts under any direction or without it, there has to be proportionality in the action by the police force in dealing within an agitational situation. The brutality and disproportionate police action are matters of record. It is disproportionate to the naked eyes in a civilised administration. One’s image is strengthened by admitting occasional errors.

As the old saying goes, to err is human. Instead, when there is a State-wide clamour for immediate action against Gajbhiye, he has dared to say, “I have nothing to repent for what happened in Kendrapada. My conscience says I have done nothing wrong. I have taken appropriate action as demanded by the situation at that moment as part of my duty. I will move the court if Government takes action against me.” These incidents and the statements do not speak well of the health of the Government. I tried to read between the lines and find some form of a plausible defence for the former SP of Kendrapada, but reasons failed meh when it came to the event of asking an agitationist to hold his ears and do sit ups like a punished kid in full public glare along a main road. It would be interesting to see how this can fit in with “appropriate action as demanded by the situation at that moment”. As the assertion of the former SP is that he has acted as per the dictates of his conscience, one has to most humbly request him to revisit his “conscience” to justify the unauthorised punitive measures inflicted on a lawyer, who happens to be the head of a district committee of a national political party.

There are allegations in several sections of the media that there is a nexus between the ruling elite and Sarathi Baba. In that background, it is unusual and strange for the former Kendrapada SP to place the ball at the door of the CMO without indicating as to why he has to be in touch with the CMO for this purpose. If the chain of command in the police and magisterial hierarchy wants to save itself from total erosion, it should also disclose the contents and necessity of the dialogue between the CMO and the SP avoiding the normal democratic collective decision-making procedure prescribed for the police authorities. The headline in this newspaper of 11th August stares at one when it says, “Gajbhiye dares Government to take action against him. … I regularly briefed CM office on Kendrapada situation.” There is an inherent alarm bell in such headlines. It is better that both the CMO and the former SP discharge their given duties by utilising their conscience and not by mortgaging the same. The officer concerned, as the newspaper report says, has “dared the Government to take action against him. Threatening to move the court if the latter does so.” What is happening is a breakdown of the Rule of law and the machinery for its enforcement.

While this ugly aberration was already playing itself out in the State, Justice TS Thakur of the Supreme Court made the touching statement, while being in Odisha: “Bar is the mother of the Bench and the Bench learns from the Bar.” The real meaning of this statement may be pondered over by those who are entrusted with the power to enforce the law but have crossed the limits of law and demonstrably violated human and fundamental rights.

What does a young voter at the age of 18 learn from all these events is a question that would always baffle us. The aberrations can misdirect the youth in several ways. Events like the one that has been briefly described above should be of grave concern for each and every member of the youth power. The elders have a duty to explain, with reference to the context, the lessons that are to be derived from these recent events, displaying crude use of State power. The civil society cannot be a mute witness to the arrogant and illegal use of the “power” that is reposed as a “trust” to maintain the social edifice to be utilised for improper and oblique purposes. The protectors cannot be permitted to be the tormentors. The CMO, the concerned SP, the hierarchy headed by the DG, the District Magistrate and, maybe, some others should speak up so that the truth is revealed and the malady is remedied. 

The issues are not limited but pervasive in nature, calling for immediate purposive actions. When law takes its own course, whether it is the Government, the officer concerned or the affected persons, all have to knock at the doors of the temples of justice. The priests in these temples, as a judgment of the Orissa High Court says, are the “lawyers”, who assist the administration of justice as the officers of the courts. It would be ironical for the concerned parties to look for the help of the much-maligned community of lawyers to defend the conflicting causes and contentions. The matter is no more of any sectarian interest but has engulfed and involves the entire society. Surely, this concerns all of us!   

(The writer, a Senior Advocate, is a former All India Service officer, a former diplomat, a former editor, a former President of Orissa High Court Bar Association and a former Advocate General of Odisha. jayantdas@hotmail.com)