Crime and punishment

THE Khattar government has been called upon to act against 90 civil and police officials indicted by the Parkash Singh Committee. Before handing over punishment to the district-level officials the Chief Minister will have to take responsibility for the administrative paralysis when the state burned for four days in February this year. It was his wobbly and indecisive administration and political appeasement of the agitating Jats that had led to the buildup of a volatile situation. If the civil and police heads of a district did not control violence, were there any instructions from the top to act, or not to act? It will be difficult to explain why responsibility is being fixed somewhere in the middle only. The Haryana State Human Rights Commission is looking into the events in totality, including the role of the top leadership. It is more likely to deliver justice than the two government-appointed inquiries. 

The Khattar administration, it seems, has committed itself to selective action. The Punjab and Haryana High Court has forced it to act on the Murthal rapes. Will the officials who had tried a cover-up be named and shamed? The Chief Minister seems to have forgotten the Supreme Court order issued on February 24, 2016, which said: make protesters pay for the damaged property. Haryana needs to be reassured that what happened in February will not recur. The communal divide requires attention, just as the victims of violence need a healing touch.

Parkash Singh has accused former Chief Minister Hooda of making caste-based police recruitment. Hooda’s Jat patronage had left the district-level civil and police officials confused on how to handle the agitation. A senior officer was booked for murder when an agitator died in police firing. The Jats stopped trains at will. The administration remained a mute spectator. Inheriting a communal and politicised force, Khattar has done little to erase the communal taint or impose discipline. A thorough bureaucratic and police clean-up is required to drop the criminals and reward the performers to avoid a future breakdown of official machinery.