Belated, but right initiative

The Union Home Ministry has woken up after intense media pressure on it that how the Haryana Police took nine years in lodging FIR against their own boss the then Inspector General of Police SPS Rathore for molesting the 14 years old girl the budding Tennis player Ruchika Girhotra and their alleged complicity in his crime. Ruchika was molested in 1990 and FIR was lodged in 1999 after the court order.This negligence of police officials in lodging the FIR in Ruchika molestation case made the Union Home ministry to issue circular for police stations to treat all complaints as FIRs. The police always show reluctance in lodging FIR, especially against high-ups, because they don’t want show the actual number of crimes committed in their areas. They record most of the complaints in their diary and dispose them off arbitrarily. But now with the issuance of the circular,the Station House Officers will have to ascribe reason for registration and non-registration of FIRs. Though police is a state matter and Centre can not interfere in it without amending of CrPC, the state governments must also take the circular seriously and act on it positively by issuing order to treat every complaint at police stations as FIR. The circular has been sent to all states and Union Territories. It is because of inexplicable delay in lodging FIR in Ruchika molestation case that the justice had been miscarried due to callous negligence of the police in lodging FIR promptly and investigating it properly. The complicity of police in the crime with the alleged molester Rathore provided safe passage to get away all these nineteen years. It is allright to instruct the police station to treat every complaint as FIR but at the same time there must be a provision for the SHO to get the case investigated before acting on the FIR. Otherwise, several frivolous and false complain would pour in police stations resulting in another farce. To make the police sensitive and prompt in entertaining the complains of the people, there must be provision of good training which could ingrain in the minds of policemen that their first and foremost duty is to protect life and property of the citizens. They are meant for serving the people and to bring the breakers of law to book. If the police had realised their responsibility, there would have been no Ruchika molestation case. It only shows that politician-police nexus has given birth to a new system of society wherein only strong and powerful have their own way and rule of law is wantonly thrown to winds. Ruchika molestation case must open the eyes of not only the state government but also of the Centre to amend the 150 year old IPC so that the case of urgent nature should be tried fast and justice could be delivered in time. It is only because of the inordinate delay in justice to Ruchika that she committed suicide.