Wholesale arrest spree

The government is apparently hell-bent on foiling the opposition programme. But the means chosen for achieving the goal is causing great worries to the people at large. The point to be noted here is that they are treating political activists and criminals alike -- a highly disturbing development. Many innocent people have been hauled up with the result that not only opposition is denied political space unsuspecting ordinary people are also having to take the brunt of police action.

What is most reprehensible is that they are being shown arrested in pending cases. That amounts to bringing false charges against citizens and harassing them for purely political reasons. The police are resorting to gross abuse of the Section 54 of the Criminal Procedure Code and under Metropolitan Police Act. Arresting people on sheer suspicion is the worst thing that can happen in a democratic society. This is going on despite a High Court ruling that directed law enforcers not to arrest anybody under this Section of the law. The HC also instructed the police to immediately inform the relatives of the arrested person. Police are clearly not obeying the HC directives as thousands of anxious people are running from police stations to courts to know the whereabouts of their arrested family members and relatives. What right do the law enforcers have to punish such a huge number of people in the name of a preemptive strike?

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One of the major negative impressions the government is creating is that it's giving no space to the opposition. The police action against suspected opposition activists will only add substance to the opposition's claim. The arrests, which are a very crude way of dealing with the opposition, do not fit into any kind of democratic system.