Tuesday, September 25, 2012

India is free, but not for all!


India is free, but not for all!



To call them servant sounds an honour — slave is more appropriate. They serve their masters under the barge of brutality and barbarism, that too without a grumble. These are sewadars in police lingo, meant to serve the police contingent. But they serve their bosses instead, as menials.
Bhukhla Bhagat, a poor CRPF policeman, is not there to narrate the story of August 4 night. CRPF DIG Bhanu Pratap Singh, drunk on malt and high on power, allegedly used his boot to deliver a deadly blow to Bhagat’s stomach that ended up killing him. Reason: Bhagat was bit late in bringing wine for Singh during a ‘party’.
Bhagat having the history of kidney disorder from 2004 and had undergone surgery in the past; was admitted at Apollo Hospital under critical condition where he died four days back.
The CRPF bosses put blame onto his poor health than to admitting wrong. “Partner, he was not kicked. He died out of kidney failure. CRPF was footing his medical expense which was around `6 lakh. Some people are wasting tears over a matter which has no base. Have any of them visited his home to help the family? We are doing it,” CRPF IG DK Pandey was eloquently best to defend. CRPF officials indeed visited his village, Lapung, to pay posthumous praises and promises on the deceased and family.
Pandey, though, apparently did great mercy on the truth; otherwise he would have claimed Singh was barefoot that night. Pandey is not a medical expert, he says, but offers examples from medical history of his family to convince that such critical patients hardly survive despite best medical care. In plain: no commission even for token examination of Singh and his savagery.
But the unbearable weightiness of unpunished guilt is hard to cover, though. The family which was under some unseen pressure finally lodged police complaint against Singh, on Saturday.
Often a boot, often a slap and frequent derogative adjectives make them feel their position. A decade back an IPS officer in Jharkhand had brutally behaved with one such underling. The matter was brought to the notice of the National Human Right Commission, but nothing happened. The said officer known for abusing poor sewadar at disposal illegally retains more than three dozen sewadars and cops as gardeners, cooks etc. Flippantly one of the jawans is said to be on 24 hrs duty to keep mosquito away saheb’s resident.
Against a contingent of 150 policemen, five cooks, three water carriers, one sweeper and one barber are appointed to serve the force. But most of them are illegally retained by police bosses at their residence.
A mere visit of police barracks unveils the story of subjugation. When asked about the condition of sewadars Shrawan Dubey chief cook of mess number four of Ranchi police barrack, sardonically smiled as though a fool is trying to be intelligent. Dubey won’t speak. Bosses have sweeping power to suspend and dismiss them. Sudhir Thapa of JAP 1 having served as cook of an IPS has unspent payload of furry to release. “Ham hai sarkari pagar pane wale sahib ke gulam. Ham unke kutte ko bhi aadar se pukarte hain kyun kee sahib naraz ho jayenge,” he said. Bosses’ pet dogs are in more respectable position then them.
In Jharkhand there are 2500 such fourth grade sewadars. But most of them are retained by senior IAS and IPS officials. “We had requested police headquarter to supply us the details of such sewadars who are working as personal staffs of senior officials but nothing happened. Our boys are taken to serve retired officials, their relatives and those who on deputation in Delhi also,” said president of Jharkhand Police Fourth Grade Employees Union, Shashi Thakuri.
Sandeep Gurung of JAP 1 has still been retained by a former IAS, as cook. Two former IPS running—one believed to be running a dairy—has retained sewadars from JAP. Singh’s leather boot, half kg no more, has achieved a metaphoric leap of synonyms — a sorry exemplars of the ineffable crime.

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