Branding human beings at Khudengthabi : Humiliation not inconvenience
- Sangai Express Editorial :: April 4, 2013 -

Complements each other or runs contrary to each other.

Tight security and Look East Policy. The dividing line is thin.

The dividing line, however, between inconvenience and humiliation is not thin but rather very prominent.

This is the truism that security personnel manning the Imphal-Moreh route should keep in mind, especially in the backdrop of the Government of India adopting the Look East Policy with a purpose of mind.

Post February 24, 2013, security has been tightened along this route and rightly so.

Security personnel empowered to check vehicles of VVIPs and VIPs along this route somehow reflects the intention of the Government to crack down on all those who have been abusing their official statuses to dip their hands in the shady world of drug trafficking and other illegal activities.

How effectively this has been implemented at the ground reality is however a different matter. The check points at near Pallel, Tengnoupal, Lokchao and Khudengthabi, where passengers and vehicles are thoroughly checked demonstrates the seriousness with which security personnel and the State Government have taken it upon themselves to check all illegal activities along this crucial stretch of National Highway 2. Not bad.

However this is all the more reason to ensure that in checking the passengers and the vehicles, the security exercises do not cross the line between inconveniencing the passengers and humiliating them.

The check post at Khudengthabi merits due consideration. Co-passengers made to alight and walk to the other end of the check post. This is acceptable. Checking the vehicles thoroughly.

This again is perfectly acceptable. Entering the name of the driver and vehicle registration number in the register is again acceptable.

What however is not acceptable is the branding of the drivers where the security personnel whip out a pen and scribble something on the hand to convey that the vehicle has passed the checking exercise.

Cattle may be branded but not human beings. This is the fundamental point that should not escape the Assam Rifles unit overlooking the security post at Khudengthabi.

A little sensibility, a little consideration is all that is required. What is stopping the Assam Rifles at Khudengthabi from preparing tokens which may be given to the drivers whose vehicles have been checked ?

This is certainly not a Herculean task. Branding human beings goes against the grain of the Look East Policy of the Government of India.

The "Sorry for the inconvenience" post put up at either end of the Khudengthabi check post sounds like a poor joke. Security drills invariably inconvenience the public. This is a universal fact.

However there is a gulf of difference between inconvenience and humiliation. Significantly the branding exercise has been there in force before the February 24 Pallel incident.

Time for the top brass of the Assam Rifles to seriously look into this point or else all understanding of ensuring security along the Imphal-Moreh route will go for a big toss.

Stop the branding exercise and get down to the business of ensuring security for the people.

Or is this going to wash off the back of the Assam Rifles top brass like water running off the back of a duck ? A rather poor reflection on the mindset of the people who run the oldest para-military force in the country. 4