Salute to the cops

Bishnu Bora, a Constable of the Assam Police attached to the high-profile Chanmari police station, must be congratulated by the people of the entire state for what he did in the heart of Guwahati city last Tuesday. True to his responsibilities as a literally faceless policeman, Constable Bora had not only fixed a clamp on the wheel of a vehicle belonging to an hon’ble MLA of the ruling BJP for having parked it at a ‘No Parking Zone’ but had also issued a challan to the owner of the vehicle for breaking the law. While there was news that the hon’ble MLA – he is Teras Goala, who represents the people of Duliajan Assembly constituency – had allegedly physically assaulted and heckled “a lesser being” like Constable Bora for daring to touch an MLA’s vehicle, the dutiful cop stood firm. Constable Bora in fact simply refused to budge even an inch despite the alleged highhandness of the MLA from Duliajan, an act that not only drew him instant public support against a law-breaking law-maker, but finally also drew attention and accolades from his bosses. As the MLA representing the people of Duliajan tried in vain to hide his face from television cameras, GP Singh, the new Assam Police Additional Director General (Law & Order) two days later applauded Constable Bishnu Bora and his colleagues in the Traffic Branch of the Chanmari police station. The ADGP in fact uploaded a photograph with Constable Bishnu Bora standing beside him, with the top cop on his Twitter handle writing – “Complimented the traffic staff of chandmari PS for exemplary display of duty under trying circumstances. God bless.” The story of a courageous Constable Bishnu Bora comes at a time when an officer in-charge of Barbarua police station in Dibrugarh, the home district of Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, extorting Rs 35,000 in cash from a family of Arunachal Pradesh instead of helping them when they had met with mishap in another state. And then there is also the story of Sub-Inspector Gomanti Brahma, now retired, whose good investigation of a POCSO case registered in the Bijni police station has led to the conviction and rigorous imprisonment for ten years of an accused person. Gomanti Brahma was felicitated at the Bijni police station on Wednesday, away from the media attention that Constable Bishnu Bora got. Let us for a moment not discuss the alleged involvement of many senior police officers in land-grabbing cases.