It is precisely
because of the unique title that this post is getting written. True, you can
hope to find anything possible under the sun in India, but such titles only in a
while. We have told you earlier about the increasing conflict between the
politicians and policemen of this country. There we had mentioned the
unprecedented nature of the incident—a cop getting beaten up inside the august institution
of the Maharashtra Assembly by a group of elected representatives belonging to
various political parties. Following the national outrage over the issue the constitutional
body suspended five Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) and over the next
few days the Budget Session has been continuously disrupted. Infuriated by the
suspension the MLAs have been demanding that the beaten up cop be suspended from
service too for his alleged misbehavior with one of the accused MLAs on a case
of over speeding. 
Maybe greatly
concerned over the loss of working days the state Home Minister RR Patil today
announced the decision to suspend the beaten up police sub-inspector. The Minister
justified his decision by stating that he had reportedly examined a CD of the
verbal duel between the MLA and the cop during that incident of over speeding,
and reportedly found that the cop had indeed crossed his limits of decency. But
of course, the Minister assured that there will be committees to probe into the
incident and the policeman will continue to be under suspension till the
inquiry is over. And by the way, the unprecedented cop-bashing is not to be
forgotten as the Minister announced more committees to probe that too.
Meanwhile, the
two suspended MLAs were arrested after they surrendered to the Crime Branch of
Mumbai Police and were remanded to judicial custody. Their bail plea was to be
heard on Monday. Today, a local Mumbai court released them on bail with some
conditions. Now, it seems that the next priority for the elected representatives
would be to get the suspension order of five MLAs revoked. Till then, the pandemonium
is likely to continue. To make matters worse, the Maharashtra Assembly this
time is not only miffed with the policemen but also with the media. A kind of a
mutually agreed boycott of the media has been going on for the last few days mainly
due to a ‘sensational’ presentation of the cop-bashing incident by a news
channel. Reporters of various other ‘responsible’ channels are honestly
covering the proceedings everyday, but they are also deprived of bytes or interviews
by the representatives of all political parties including the ruling combine. Call
the shots as you always do, O’…politicians!
