Criminals in Uniform

Policemen in India are often called criminals in uniform, a charge that has taken deeper roots following their alleged complicity in the rape and murder of a 14-year-old girl in Uttar Pradesh and the slaying of Mumbai based investigative journalist, J. Dey. That the accused are seldom brought to book given the inordinate delays associated with our justice delivery system seems to have further emboldened them.  Public confidence will be restored only if errant policemen are subjected to summary trial and exemplary punishment, similar to the Court Marshal in the Army. People who are charged with task of upholding the rule of law cannot be allowed to become a law unto themselves.