08-29-2012, 03:21 AM
dnaindia
As for the poor handling of the August 11 rally, senior officers say the state intelligence department had alerted the city police in writing that about 15,000 people from outside the city are expected to attend the rally. The alert, though, failed to appreciate the potential of this gathering to turn violent. Be that as it may, the city police has its own mechanism to gauge the turnout from the city and assess the kind of preparations that were under way. Experts say the number of men on the ground were sufficient to handle the crowd if only they had been allowed to exercise their mandate.
If the riot control protocol of lathicharge, lobbing of tear gas shells and firing was not followed and not allowed to be followed, the question to be asked is, were there orders from above to go soft on the protesters-turned-rioters? Patnaik is a man known to crack the whip all too often. When he seeks out maulanas to calm a rioting mob, there is something amiss.
A related and equally compelling question is, what would have happened to Patnaik had he ordered his men and women to open fire? Would he have been in a worse shape than he is today?
As for the poor handling of the August 11 rally, senior officers say the state intelligence department had alerted the city police in writing that about 15,000 people from outside the city are expected to attend the rally. The alert, though, failed to appreciate the potential of this gathering to turn violent. Be that as it may, the city police has its own mechanism to gauge the turnout from the city and assess the kind of preparations that were under way. Experts say the number of men on the ground were sufficient to handle the crowd if only they had been allowed to exercise their mandate.
If the riot control protocol of lathicharge, lobbing of tear gas shells and firing was not followed and not allowed to be followed, the question to be asked is, were there orders from above to go soft on the protesters-turned-rioters? Patnaik is a man known to crack the whip all too often. When he seeks out maulanas to calm a rioting mob, there is something amiss.
A related and equally compelling question is, what would have happened to Patnaik had he ordered his men and women to open fire? Would he have been in a worse shape than he is today?