TOPSY TURVY

Recently I viewed the movie ‘Shoot Out At  Lokhandwala’. People told me it was a very good movie and had been eminently successful. So I made it a point to give my full attention to it. The star cast  was great, the acting wonderful. And I am told it was a great hit with urban elite and made huge money at the box-office.

In brief the story is simple. A gang of criminals earlier working for a Don operating from overseas tries to shake off the dominance of the Don and establish its independence in the underworld of Mumbai. But under the instructions and on the basis of information made available by the Don to the best of the police officers of Mumbai the latter kill them in cold blood. Some questions are raised and there is a trial of these policemen. During the trial the advocate(played by Amitabh Bachchan) representing these police officers closes his arguments by putting  a question to the court,’ If you see an armed person outside your house who would you like him to be-the policemen who killed the gangsters  or the gangsters?’ Obviously the case ends in acquittal and everybody is happy—the police, the so-called activists, the press, the media, the intellectuals, the judiciary—for having done something.

But is the issue so simple? While larger questions about the criminal justice system, its efficacy, delivery may be left aside the moot question to me is ,'Do policemen in league with a top-level criminal have a right to kill anybody who is hurting the interests of their mentor? Do gun-wielding  policemen have the authority and duty to kill anybody they so desire in the name of providing safety and security? Is the society any safer because of their acts?’

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