On the heels of suicide by a PWD contractor and a student, following alleged rape by her teacher, the subsequent revelation that a police constable committed suicide after his superiors subjected him to various forms of harassment, one is left wondering whether Goa is moving towards emerging country’s suicide capital. Even tourists in the past found Goa a convenient venue, some disillusioned lovers even entering into some sort of pact in ending their lives. The recent trend however pertains to those living in Goa. In all the three instances mentioned, the person in authority has been accused of being responsible for the abetment of suicide. This simply reveals that those in position of power have been abusing their clout to either humiliate, abuse, even treat those under them as slaves, whose sentiments ought to be ignored.
Police constable Chandru Gawas’ dying declaration, which was kept under wraps for almost a year, reveals that six police inspectors and senior crime branch officers were responsible for the suicide. The victim, being the only driver, was harassed and abused in derogatory terms by his superiors for not being in time -- a natural situation when he had to attend to various masters. The genesis of the problem stemmed from the fact that he was serving more than one master at the same time, which proved too much to endure. Consequently, he consumed Ratol while on duty.
What however is unforgivable is the fact that he was denied leave even to get married on his wedding day! Such is the insensitivity of our police officers, which demonstrates their rank apathy to their subordinates. It is as if they can treat their subordinates as prisoners from some Nazi concentration camp. Even the Nazi attitude is unacceptable and unforgivable.
It is a little kept secret that police constables are often dealt with as maids, baby sitters, errand boys, shoe shine boys, kitchen help, toilet washers all rolled into one. There are umpteen instances where constables are made to work from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m in the house of their superiors. The work can include right from dropping kids to school and fetching them back, to washing the house, even bathing the superior’s kids. It is ironic that this has been going on for years without any murmur of protest.
No wonder policemen are often a frustrated lot, because they are made to stand on roads without meals, at times abused and slapped, even kicked in front of public. Any misdemeanor by a traffic cop to leave his station for a minute to sip a cold drink can attract penal action from the superior by way of being marked “absent” for the day. It all depends on the mood of his superior, who surfaces seconds before closedown. It appears there’s a deliberate effort to traumatize his junior.
If the government is serious about bringing sanity in the force, a complete overhaul of its functioning is a must. On what basis has the government announced the need to recruit over a thousand policemen when some of these constables are used as servants in residences of superiors and ministers? The people have a right to know for what purpose their money should be spent for the upkeep of these personnel.
There have been calls for police reforms, which have been heard ad nausem for years, with even super cop Julio Ribeiro endorsing the view years ago. But since then, there have been only utterances on the need, virtues and advantages of police reforms, with nothing concrete taking shape. It is time the government brings about these reforms before the planned large-scale recruitment of the force. Else, the exercise would be looked upon with vested objective. They have hounded one to death. More may follow. Time for the government to humanise the department.
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people’s edit
Media needs restrain on anti-women publicity
Jerry Fernandes, Saligao
Our national media shamelessly promotes our Indian women as sex objects to increase their own sales and to make those extra bucks in our country. They market them like cheap ‘bazaari’ toys which are meant to be abused and thrown away as per the whims and fancies of our ‘macho’ Indian men. The worse culprits are the Bollywood Hindi movies which also go to portray them as hot sex symbols. Even the Hindi filmy directors are seen aping most of their songs on film actresses with a dirty and highly corrupt mind. The recent shocking molestation incident in Assam too, clearly shows that due to the above mentioned reasons, some of our Indian men are slowly loosing control over themselves and are becoming like stray dogs in our country. If given a chance, they are capable of going to any extent to commit any number of crimes against women as they think that it is their birthright to sexually abuse women at the drop of a hat. They do not think they are human beings first, but wild animals who are sent exclusively in this world to live like wild jungle barbarians as per the marketed lies of the media.
For example, today, even if a woman goes and files a complaint against her offender, then the said accused is never punished, but is given a safe passage by suddenly attacking the background and character of the same victim woman, why? That is because people in our country practically still do not know to respect women as they think that all females are born sex objects cum kitchen slaves and I am really sad to say that. I think that the Indian media should not misguide, but should learn to guide our Indian crowd with some good modern values and positive thoughts on Indian women.
The government too on its part should bring out some tough laws against all such offenders and really give justice to all the women in our country. It is only then that we can dream of stopping such crimes against women and then go on saying ‘Jai Ho’ to Indian culture in a so-called ‘developing’ great India
