Chennai: Even as the CM announced judicial probe into the jallikattu violence and the opposition parties slammed his government for mishandling the Marina agitation and the police for the violence, questions are being raised over the delay in action against the cops in uniform caught on videos indulging in arson during the Monday mayhem in the city.
The videos of a woman in khaki torching a hut in the disturbed area and another lady cop setting fire to an autorickshaw have gone viral, so is another video showing a policeman lighting up a parked auto.
“The woman cop appears to be young and slim, and cold in the execution of her diabolic intent to fan strife and make her heinous crime look to be the work of some anti-social elements that had infiltrated into the peaceful jallikattu protest at Marina”, said a jallikattu protester still recovering from the Monday beating. He requested anonymity.
Though reports in the media and elsewhere over the last two days said that the arsonist cops have been identified and were being questioned by the senior officers, no action has been announced as yet. “We are investigating”, said additional commissioner (south) K. Shankar.
“When the state is the accused, any probe remains a mockery. It will always be under investigation till public memory fails”, says noted human rights lawyer Sudha Ramalingam. “Here we have the videos showing the cops in uniform and in fairly close proximity, yet our super sleuths are still groping in darkness. Ultimately, there will be no proper FIR and the real accused could go scot free. We have seen in all encounter cases, the FIRs were registered only against the deceased and not against those responsible for the encounters".
Many rights activists would like to stretch the search to include not just the few cops caught on the media videos indulging in violence and arson, but also the superiors who had authored the 'strategy of hate' from their desks.
“It is difficult to swallow the claim that a few constables had indulged in violence. It is not a matter of one of two cops going out of control. The pattern and extent of violence clearly indicates that it has been masterminded at a high level”, says Nityanand Jayaraman, social activist living by the Besant Nagar beach. “We ask this question. Who at the high level had authorised this mayhem, else let them come out and say they had lost control”, he says.
