Thursday’s Supreme Court ruling, ordering the government to prosecute the police personnel involved in the midnight crackdown on Baba Ramdev and his supporters during an anti-corruption protest last June, is more than justified. The apex court is right in coming down hard on the Delhi police, who, without any warning, used indiscriminate force to disperse a peaceful crowd in the middle of the night.
The court’s observation that the incident was an ‘assault on democratic values’ only shows that the bench was convinced that this was something that went beyond mere ‘police action.’ Obviously, the Delhi police couldn’t have acted of their own accord.
The strategy to surprise the thousands of protesters with force could not have been implemented without the guidance, or worse, command of the Union Home Ministry.
Another aspect that the government would do well to remember is the court’s observation on the ‘trust deficit between the people being governed and the people governing.’ The reference to trust deficit can be seen as a severe pronouncement that stops short of accusing the Union government of bad governance, of an inability to comprehend the psyche of its citizens, and of letting down innocent people who had assembled to merely exercise their collective democratic right without breaking any law.
On the other hand, while the Ramdev camp may be claiming victory in this round, they would do well to remember that the court has indicted the yoga guru also for being negligent, suggesting that he could have taken the initiative in helping the crowd leave the ground peacefully instead of taking to his heels.
Most important of all, the ruling underscores the larger issue of how our law enforcement and security agencies unfortunately continue to be used by their political masters and governments for narrow political gains.
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