Dealing with street protests : No trained police personnel
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: July 21 2015 -

The State Government should have thought about this a long time back.

That is teaching the cops how to deal with street protests.

That the Government has refused to learn a lesson or two down the years is something which should be obvious to all. Lack of imagination and the unwillingness to learn from the past.

Policing is much more than just neutralising some militants and this is a point which needs to be drilled into the heads of the policy makers of the State.

Lack of training and expertise coupled with arrogance can be a deadly cocktail and this is what the people have been witnessing in the State police for decades.

Sapam Robinhood is dead but his death was something which could have been easily avoided if only the State police force had been trained properly on how to deal with street protests.

The shot that killed the young student was in all probability not meant to kill, but what is clear is that the police personnel have not been taught something as basic as opening fire at a degree which will not hit the protesters directly at vulnerable parts of the body.

That Robinhood was hit square on his jaw is more than an indication that the police just did not know how to deal with a situation.

Some loud firing in the air or with the barrel of the gun tilted at a certain degree in the air would have been more than enough to control the young students on the march.

That this basic point has never been ingrained in the minds of the cops out there to control a street protest should be clear to anyone.

And this is a shame.

The Government has to get out of the mindset that imposing curfew, arming the cops with rubber bullets, tear gas shells and loud speakers are all that is needed to control a big crowd of people.

It should go deeper than this.

The State police commandos date back decades, after armed insurgency started making its presence felt. It was then decided to set up a special crack team to deal with armed insurgency.

This is where the need arises to ensure that police commandos are deployed specifically for counter-insurgency operations.

But given the manner in which police deployment has been followed in Manipur for decades it is doubtful whether any thought has been given on police deployment, especially during the type of situation that Manipur currently finds itself in.

If only some sincere thought had been given to this, the State Government could have taken up the task of establishing a police unit trained specifically to deal with street protests.

This all that more important given that street protests can easily morph into a mob. Manipur has seen enough street protests and any Government worth its salt should have thought about setting up a unit to deal with street protests which have all the possibility of turning into a mob.

Training such as at what angle the rubber bullets are to be fired should have been imparted to the policemen a long time back.

Police modernisation has always begun and stopped at dealing with CI Ops and this is something which the current Government should be ashamed of.

Another day of protest just got over but more than likely the protest will continue. How is the Government planning to deal with the issue ?

Deploy more cops who just do not have any idea on how to deal with street protests ?