The Crime Branch team sprung into action soon after getting their orders and first nabbed Omkar Patil. Within hours another accused, Edson Gonsalves, was also arrested. While the two were handed over in the wee hours on Thursday morning to the Margao police, Crime Branch continued the manhunt for Mustafa Sheikh, which built the pressure on the mastermind of the murder and he too surrendered by the afternoon.
Now that three of the five accused are under arrest within 24 hours of the crime, it proves that Goa Police is not lagging behind or are no less capable than other investigating agencies if they decide to act. Despite being sick after having tested positive for COVID-19, Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant was quick to direct the DGP and the SP South to take stern action against the accused. And as directed the accused were in the police net within few hours.
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While the Goa Chief Minister, DGP, SP, Crime Branch team deserve appreciation for swift action and arrests, one wonders what stops them from nabbing the kingpins in the various drug and prostitution cases, which have been nagging and tarnishing the image of the State across the globe. We need to understand that the bigger issue plaguing the police force is political interference and not the lack of will or facilities. The rampant transfers and postings and political affiliations play a large role in departmental inquiries and punishment proceedings of officials. Nowadays, politicians influence the way in which performance appraisals and awards are given to officers and staffs. This hurts both ways. You have to approach the MLA or a politician, especially from the ruling party, to get transfers or postings. Otherwise, you will be transferred to an inconvenient place or position. But if you get transferred on the recommendation of a politician, you will end up obeying him till the end of your term.
Several times, what politicians say and what senior officers order can be two different things. This takes away the independence of the police officer and makes them susceptible to punishment. There was a Supreme Court directive to separate duties of crime investigation and law and order maintenance, it has been followed only on paper. There is no clear delineation of duties. Officers are given both duties and swapped from one wing to another without considering their core competence.
The political masters have always known the power of the police and want the police to protect their own interests and torment their opponents but did not really tinker with the police functioning on a large scale. Such undue influence is corrosive, because people feel that it is fine to break the law if they are politically connected. The police do not focus on their job but are always calculating the consequences of doing an honest job. This is how the aggrieved citizens lose their faith in the police.
If the police are only serving the politicians and not the people, they lose society’s respect and eventually also become demotivated. If Sawant can give a freehand to the police to investigate a murder, why not give a freehand to the police to investigate drugs, prostitution and the corruption cases involving politicians? The CM also spoke about bringing down the crime rate to zero, however, unless and until political interference is removed there could not be no end of crime in Goa.
