Credibility of police takes a hit

NEW DELHI: Two facts are clear from Saturday’s Delhi blast: Our police forces are not as efficient as they pretend to be, and there are enough people out there ready to throw bombs for reasons that are in all likelihood more than just religious.

The blast blows further holes into the already shaky claims of the police forces of Delhi and other states about arresting the masterminds behind the recent serial blasts across the country. And it blows away the reassurances from some police officials that India can sleep peacefully.

The bomb blast is yet another wake up call to the establishment, especially the moribund internal security setup and larger political leadership. It is just not enough to carry out encounters and create ‘very logical stories’ around the killed before even preliminary investigations are complete. And it is just not enough for the police forces to feed the media frenzy and corner short-term glory.

The bomb that went off in Mehrauli doesn’t look to be in the same class as those of Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, and even Mumbai. It was not packed with huge amounts of shrapnel, there wasn’t a timer by early accounts, and for sure it was not part of synchronized serial blasts. The bomb could be a warning statement from the shadowy Indian Mujahideen that they are not defeated despite the Delhi encounter and several arrests. Or it could have been set off by some other body, trying to create further chaos and mayhem.
Whoever may be the culprit, the fact is that the criminal elements are convinced that the Indian polices are not up to their job. It is not particularly difficult to engage two youth on a motorbike to throw a bomb in a crowded and sensitive market. The market where the blast happened is near the Qutab Minar, a communally sensitive place where both Muslims and Hindus live. Even that area wasn’t policed properly, otherwise the bombers wouldn’t have the courage to ride in on a bike and throw the bomb.
Meanwhile, from the recent claims of various polices a few things clearly emerge: There is no convincing legible pattern emerging in the blasts of the past few years; there are huge gaps in various police claims; for sure some of them are lying; and many have blood on their hands.
The police claims about the mastermind has been shifting after each blast: In 2005, when Delhi was attacked on the eve of Diwali, it was the Lashkar-e-Toiba, and even the 2006 Mumbai train blasts were blamed on Lashkar, but by 2007 the blasts were blamed on HUJI and Shahid Bilal, and in 2008 now it is the SIMI and its partner Indian Mujahideen. The shaky conclusions are altering with each blast.
The Delhi police last week claimed a Laskhar commander, who died at least six months ago in Pakistan, is controlling the Indian Mujahideen. On the field they paint a 22-year-old Jamia Islamia student as the operations chief who handled several crores in banks, but the only evidence is of him having a few hundred rupees in his account and not being able to pay his mobile bill in time. The Mumbai cops are cleverly trying to align their story with that of Delhi, though it may not match with their own claims after the 2006 Mumbai train blasts.
The BJP-ruled states of Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka have returned to tactical silence, after initially agreeing with the Delhi police claims and trying to extend them into their areas.
Overall, the police’s recent effort at creating a logical story of those behind the serial blasts across India suffers from a huge credibility problem. The lack of credibility is also what is empowering the criminal elements to carry out such random bombings.