The Bengaluru Central police chargesheeted the security guard who was booked following an argument with ADGP Railways, RP Sharma, and his driver last November. If found guilty, he could be get a jail term of one month for illegal restraint.
For the full text of the report in the ToI, click here.
I am a member of the club, and I have driven into the premises enough times in cars, without the club sticker, just by showing my ID card. This was therefore obviously a case of "how dare you ask for an ID card from a "Lal-Batti" wala?".
It didn't stop with that. Mr Sharma's driver had apparently assaulted the security guard too. Though the club MC had contemplated filing a case against the driver, it was subsequently made to back down, with the government's "inspector-raaj" being let lose on it, in the form of liquor licence being suspended, etc, etc. The general talk is that, being not exactly the darling of the neta-babu lot, Mr Sharma couldn't have managed it all by himself. Apparently, the government used the opportunity to come down on the club, since it has been refusing to consider honorary memberships for city MLA's. Unable to live without their evening peg, the members eventually stomached the insults, and gave in.
Life returned to normal, and the matter was all but forgotten.
Now, when the tables have been turned and the security guard is to be booked (for doing his duty diligently), are the members going to continue to stomach the added insult, and just keep quiet? Well, those who can't live without their evening peg, may choose to. But, having spoken up in support of the same Mr Sharma earlier (check here), and on other related issues too (check the list below), I now feel duty bound to speak up in support of the low-lie security guard, for whatever it's worth. This is particularly so, coming as it is in the wake of reports of what happened to the Mumbai cop, Ravindra Patil (who died a lonely death, for sticking to his word), as also the other victims in the Salman Khan episode.
Isn't there a parallel here?
List of related issues debated on praja.in:
1) B N Bacche Gowda case - http://praja.in/hi/blog/murali772/2010/08/17/arrogance-personified
2) Support for Commissioner, Shankar Bidri's action - http://praja.in/hi/blog/murali772/2010/08/24/well-done-mr-commissioner
3) In support of Commissioner, Raghavendra H Auradkar, in the ADGP P Ravindranath case - http://praja.in/en/blog/murali772/2014/05/31/clear-case-misuse-scst-act-1989
And, there are plenty more on praja.in too.
Muralidhar Rao
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The deemed lal-batti
Mukesh Ambani’s son allegedly kills 2 in a car accident. Media blacks out the news.
For the full text of the story in wtf news, click here.
The connection between the two stories is through the Saman Khan hit & run case, where the victims where left to fend for themselves; the connection is not direct.
Ravindra Patil repeat avoided, hopefully
A DNA (Mumbai) report detailing the sad story of Ravindra Patil is accessible here. There's a whatsapp message going around, on the subject, the concluding para reading "For my part, sorry, Mr Patil ... I didn't know about your story earlier. But, now that I do, I salute you. May India be blessed with other heroes like you. Hope someday bravehearts like you will be honoured in this country".
There's almost a parallel in what is happening to the Bangalore club security guard. This is inspite of there being a most credible witness (who had gone public at the time of the occurance of the incident itself - click here), to the senior official's retinue roughing up the security guard, to begin with. Can there be greater injustice than this?
Further, it appears the case was booked under the draconian POA, the SC/ST Act, 1989 (though, I am not sure how it can apply in this case, since the guard himself is a Muslim from one of the North-Eastern states, and therefore presumably not from a higher caste), highlighting the perversity as well as viciousness of intent on the part of the official in trying to nail a low-lie guard, just for the "crime" of asking to show his ID card. Can it be termed anything less than "terrorising"? - which is what Ravindra Patil eventually succumbed to. Police coming down on hardened criminals is passe; but, this is something rare, one would like to believe.
The difference here, however, compared to the Ravindra Patil case, is that the security agency (D1 Fortification Pvt Ltd), is backing the guard with legal support (he is currently out on bail), and continuing him in their employ (posting him elsewhere). As such, he need not land up like Ravindra Patil, who was totally let down by his employers, the Mumbai police. Hat's off to the security agency.
Bangalore club meanwhile has a new Secretary (generally, retired army officials). Readers may draw their own conclusions.