Police personnel are also humane if ....

Notes of a footnote : 

Police personnel are also humane if ....

Yes. All of us in journalism have by and large had bitter experiences about the conduct of sections those in Khakhi uniform. Having suffered quite a bit at the hands of men clad in khakhi during the dreaded days of Emergency I have had more than my share of misuse of power by a section of police personnel.

But, during the turbulent times that UNI was passing through, my colleagues and I  found police personnel –be it men or women – extremely helpful , even while strictly following law in dealing with agitators of our kind. With no exaggeration , we can say for a fact that we found police personnel to be very as humane as us  in their conduct.

For instance, when the UNI management called police into the Head Office premises at  9 Rafi Marg , New Delhi  on October 3, 2006 in a bid to oust employees protesting peacefully against the illegal entry of Mr Subhash Chandra ; the police simply refused to take action saying how could they do so if the employees were in their own office and peacefully protesting over an issue.

Not only that, when the UNI management later put a blanket ban on employees holding peaceful meeting inside the Head Office premises on the pretext of a court order premises it was the police that provided them a spacious alternative place to exercise their democratic right to engage in peaceful dharna and protest meetings, just adjacent to the main gate of the Head Office, which earlier used to be a corner reserved for taxi stand.

Similarly in Mumbai , a lady senior inspector, who along other personnel had come on the night of November 4, 2006, on an telephonic  complaint lodged by the then UNI's Mumbai bureau manager Surinder Arora to evict me from the Bandra office (where I was on hunger strike), went strictly by the book. She initially me to the Kherwadi police for enquiries in connection with my fast.

After her enquires, the same lady senior inspector dropped me back at the UNI Bandra office, only to find that the office was locked with some employees still confined inside the office under instructions from " Delhi " and the UNI Mumbai Bureau Manager. By then , my fast had entered third day. Realizing the predicament I was in, the lady senior inspector concerned allowed me to continue my fast on the veranda of the main gate of UNI Bandra office. Thanks to her, I could make use of toilet facility reserved strictly for the police on the top floor of the same government building , where UNI's Bandra office is located , on the following days. Not only that the Police escort provided to me during my fast used to offer me food always before taking it himself.

The same police official would visit me off and on as long I was on fast to enquire about my health. As I write this, my heart goes out to the lady senior inspector concerned for treating me humanely during the period I was on fast – a thing I expected from my own colleagues associated with the UNI management but in vain. It was not without reason that I had started addressing that lady inspector as TAI, a very polite Marathi word used for elderly female ones.