Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Dons, organized violence and civil society

By By Manas Paul

On a cloudy August 12 morning as I was flipping through my local newspapers I could not but feel extremely sorry for an actor of yesteryears in far away Hollywood who was a legend in himself, Marlon Brando.

For some years the local newspapers at regular intervals report about the deeds or misdeeds - often more political than criminal- of the local criminal gangs for whom the news reports nonchalantly use the ubiquitous euphemism-'Mafia'.

And the local brands of such God Fathers for some reasons are always presented with essentially a neighborhood name. Any 'Mona', 'Shyamal', 'Tinku', 'Amit' or 'Nirdhan', we are told- and of course with exaggerated stories of their criminal prowess and ability to clinch forcibly negotiated deals over any 'issue' involving financial transactions and settle every conflict and clash in their respective areas- are the 'mafia leaders' or the 'Dons'.

Such acknowledgement may sound good for the newspaper headlines, but it certainly does not give due credit to the 'dignity' of Vito Corleone.

Nor does it give any credence to a definition of 'Mafia' that I read somewhere: 'Mafia means something like pride, honour, or even social responsibility; It is an 'attitude', not an 'organization'.

Well, these are very complicated identifications with Italian connotation and many of my reporter friends would find it indeed surprising that even the former Italian Prime Minister Vittorio Emanuele Orlando had publicly stated that he was proud of being 'mafioso', because that word meant 'honourable, noble, generous'.

(In this context I remember Fredrick Forsyth's short story 'The Mechanic'. The story tells about a Mafia Don's dramatic murder by a professional killer-The Mechanic. The Don sought the Mechanic' help to execute the lover of his daughter and save his 'honor', little knowing that the killer was actually himself the 'lover'. The story bears typical Forsyth element of surprise and stunning end).
What, however, was particularly upsetting for me on August 12 morning is not the misplaced nomenclature or a Sicilian 'title' for our own 'Mona Das' or 'Shyamal Das' but the news report of a group of people taking to road with placards demanding immediate action against a local 'mafia'.

We are very much familiar with similar and or more furious public reactions in recent past. Such demands are neither bad nor unwarranted.
Yet, as the past experience would drive my point home- this so called 'gana pratirodh' or mass resistance against those local 'Dons' would invariably snowball into violent demonstrations ultimately resulting in their ouster from their nests along with their 'family' and fierce Dobermans.

The scene is funny in its own element- neighbors chasing the God Father, or walking down the road with placards displaying screaming slogans against the Cosa Nostra might have given Coppola an instant heart attack.
This public exercise also sends a dark reminder-people's loss of faith on our policing.

For the last few years- or more precisely with the death of protracted club conflicts that had once rocked the city 'and often left behind some bloody bodies stabbed or bombed- the rise of hardened criminals in some areas was unwelcome phenomenon. While the club violence had always been a result of fierce conflicts over club interests, these criminals are primarily motivated by financial interest with political backing. Their prime occupation is extorting cut-money from the contractors at various government and semi government agencies, commission from land sale and purchase at private level and indulging in illegal business that run to the tune of crores of rupees. Come elections, they would certainly be a part of the process flexing their muscles and wielding their guns for political parties. Holding out fear as the key in the process, they also accumulate huge wealth and gain some element of power at political as well as business circles. The rise always appears meteoric as obscure non-entities like one 'Mona' or 'Shyamal' or 'Tinku' emerges from nowhere to stand upright over bloodied bodies of some innocent and not-so-innocents to take the centre stage. They invariably play out their roles with considerable sound and fury till the nemesis strikes.
All the time the police seem reluctant or simply incapable of doing something really effective against them. It is at this point of time the neighbors come out in open- chasing out Amit Ghosh, Tinku Lodh or Shaymal Das of their respective areas and ransacking their homes.
With their perennial sanctimonious posturing political functionaries dub the 'proactive role' of the society as a welcome development. They go out of their way to ascribe mass awareness of people and contempt of society as a whole for criminal activities to this newfound assertiveness.

I am not sure whether it really could be called 'assertion of one's right' or indeed an expression of 'mass awareness'. There is a very thin, almost blurred, line between such public contempt triggering collective reaction and murderous mob violence targeted at an individual. None really knows when the line is crossed or when situation goes up in flames.
I am, nevertheless, sure such malevolent and physical public reaction does not speak very highly of the current standard of policing in our state.

After all, the responsibility to protect human life and property as well as ensuring smooth and fair execution of development works by government or semi government agencies and corporations lie on the law enforcing agencies- not the uninformed, unauthorized lay members of the public.

It, however, does not mean a civilian member cannot act like a police- he can, whenever a situation demands but such acts should have their limitations, ethical base and legal sanctity.
Generally a civil society demands public reactions in the form of opinion making and ensuring through moral pressure that the political executives, and law enforcing agencies put things right and in correct perspective.
But the violent rampage in the name of 'public reaction' that was committed time and again and still continues in varying degrees even to date is not a healthy sign for the society. Public reactions cannot take the place of judiciary and announce punishment for the 'guilty'. Such acts do not have any ethical or legal sanctions.

In that sense the brutal outbursts of public rage against local criminals in recent past, which often ostensibly had direct instigation from political quarters are really, really alarming for a civil and peaceful society.
The rot may not as yet have set in but it can be certainly smelt.

The worst manifestation of such mass (or should I say 'mob') 'awareness' was there in a bright sunny morning in the heart of the city and one of the most important localities- Ramnagar- some three years ago when four motorbike lifters were chased, searched and mercilessly beaten to death on spot. Police remained a silent spectator despite the fact that the macabre scene was being enacted for several hours. The police had earlier failed to nab the motorbike lifters who would enter any house, any place and steal the motorbikes with impunity. Years after years the theft continued and there was no breakthrough on the part of the police. Naturally people were angry. But then, anger does never in any circumstances justify murder in any form or any manner or by any group of a civil society.
Police had earlier failed to protect the people's property, but on that fateful morning police failed to protect human life 'question of their being criminal or innocent notwithstanding. In fact, police seemed relieved at the elimination of a perennial menace. No responsibility was fixed up, none was arrested.

And this was the worst of the failures.

I am sure those local 'Dons'- who were chased but managed to escape the murderous wrath of the mass- would have encountered the same fate as the four Bangladeshis had faced at Ramnagar. Their high sounding but misplaced titles like 'Mafia' or 'Don' would not have saved them from lynching. The fact that they ran and they survived is only reassuring that there would remain a chance for their arrest and a fair trial for them in the court of law, not at the hands of angry mob.

Written on September 26, 2008

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