Keeping the House Clean
- Hueiyen Lanpao Editorial :: October 08, 2012 -

Amid the disturbing news of escalating UG attacks on security personnel in the state, two recent developments have come to pose a serious question on the degrading morality among the State police forces.

The first was the suspension of three police personnel including a Sub-Inspector for their alleged involvement in fake encounter while the second was the arrest of three persons including a constable of the State Police Department from Indira Gandhi International (IGI), Airport, New Delhi on alleged charge of smuggling drugs worth Rs 20 lakhs.

Interestingly, the two incidents have come one after another within a span of two days.

On October 5, four personnel of Imphal West District Police Commandos were placed under suspension for their involvement in killing of a 42-year old man identified as Thiyam Rame s/o late Th Mani of Irom Meijrao Mamang Makha Leikai after being dragged away from his house in the intervening night of October 1 and 2.

Rame was wearing only a Khudei around his waist at the time of being taken away but his lifeless body was found clad in a half pant and a T-shirt with the police claiming that he was killed during an encounter at Lamdeng in the morning of October 2.

Police also claimed that one 9 mm pistol, 5 live rounds of ammunition, 3 hand grenades and one pouch were recovered from the possession of the slain person.

Even as the appreciation of an otherwise critical public over the swift manner in which the State Police Department had acted upon this time in initiating a departmental inquiry against the four accused police commandos was yet to be absorbed in fully, the arrest of three persons including a Constable of the State Police Department has come about.

According to report, the Constable was coming along with his wife and another person when a CISF check squad intercepted them at the Terminal 3 of IGI Airport in the wee hours of October 6.

They were about to board an Indigo flight to Guwahati when the suspicion of the CISF check squad was aroused.

During screening of their baggages, 24 kgs of Pseudoephedrine drug was found in one of the baggages.

Consequently, CISF called up the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) sleuths who arrested the trio under Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act.

Apart from throwing the entire State Police Department under poor light, the two incidents have only confirmed the worst fear of the public over increasing involvement of security personnel in anti-social activities.

Mind you, these two incidents are not isolated cases of law enforcers becoming law breakers in this strife-torn state.

To regain the prestige of the State Police Force, the State Government and more particularly, the Home Minister, who is out on a mission to streamline the functioning of the State Police Department, should remember the wise saying that to clean the house; one should start from the top to the bottom, and not the other way around.