At the entrance of Star of Mysore office hangs a framed quote by Leo Tolstoy: “If you feel pain, you are alive. If you feel other people’s pain, you are a human being.”

When I walked into the office yesterday and saw the news report about a man named Suresh, a haunting question followed me in: Are our public servants human beings?

The answer, tragically, is no —most are not.

Suresh’s story is not just heartbreaking — it is terrifying. It should send a chill down the spine of every honest, law-abiding citizen in Mysuru and Kodagu.

Suresh walked into a Police Station — a place meant to provide protection and justice — to file a missing person complaint about his wife, the mother of his two young children.

But instead of help, he was met with horror. He was forced to identify a skeleton as that of his wife. Then, he was tied, hoisted upside down and beaten until he confessed to a crime he didn’t commit — his wife’s murder.

The Police then arrested him, without a shred of credible evidence and without a second thought for the two young children who were left parentless.

Suresh then spent the next two years languishing in jail. 

An innocent man was branded a murderer, children were orphaned, a family was destroyed, a reputation forever stained. All of this in one day, by one Police Station led by one Police Officer! 

This is not incompetence. This is not human error. This is cruelty. This is inhumane.

This makes one wonder, why are the so-called “liberal” voices and “Human Rights” warriors silent?

Is it because this heinous act is happening under the watch of the Congress government? If not, then why this silence?

How can an institution, the Police Service meant to protect and serve, fall so far below the minimum threshold of empathy and human kindness? The answer is bleak: Because when khaki is in trouble, khadi protects it — Police are protected by their political masters.

Today, many mock the Indian Police Service (IPS) as the Indian Political Service. Unfortunately, it’s not far from the truth. Our Police Force has become willing participants in political machinations. The reasons are three:  money, post-retirement political career and caste politics.

As Karnataka High Court Justice R. Devdas observed, “Plum postings are assigned for monetary considerations.”

MLAs reportedly charge lakhs of rupees for letting Inspectors serve in their Constituencies. So, naturally an Inspector enters into the “investment recovery mode” instead of “justice delivery mode.”

Then there is the promise of a post-retirement political career. Names of Police Officers like Shankar Bidari, H.T. Sangliana, L. Revannasiddaiah and Abdul Azeem come to mind. So, where does their loyalty lie — with the law or their future political benefactors?

Finally there is caste. Police appointments are increasingly caste-aligned. Political parties reward Officers of their caste or ideology. In such a system, justice naturally is the first casualty.

In most civilised nations, when a law-abiding citizen sees a Police Officer, it evokes a sense of security. But in India, it often evokes fear                               and distrust.

Ironically, for a criminal in India the sight of a Police Officer evokes both, a sense of anxiety and comfort — anxiety about having to negotiate a deal, but comfort in knowing that a deal can indeed be struck.                                                         What a tragedy?

But not all is lost. There are good Officers and the public does appreciate such Officers.

Take the example of Rakesh Maria, the legendary former Mumbai Police Commissioner. 

As a young ASP in Akola, Maharashtra, Maria decided to take on the dreaded Matka don, Shravan Bhirad Pehelwan.

In a bold raid, Maria entered the don’s den, kicked the don to the ground, pulled him up by his moustache and paraded him and his gang back to the Police Station. He restored public trust in the Police.  

So moved were the citizens of Akola that during Ganesh Chaturthi they moved the procession route to pass in front of Maria’s office and as they passed his office the crowd throughout the route loudly chanted “Ganapati Bappa…MARIA!” instead of Ganapathi Bappa…MORYA” —  the people of Akola found a way to salute their protector, Officer Maria. 

During colonial rule, we had  the Indian Police “Force” — a feared arm of oppression. After Independence, it was renamed Indian Police “Service.” Yet even an independent India’s Police remains a “Feared Force” rather than a “Trusted Service.”

For now, under the current Congress government, Karnataka is inching dangerously close to becoming the Bihar of South India — Jungle Raj — a place where law-makers and law-keepers are the biggest law-breakers. 

If we do not course-correct, if we do not punish the inhumane Police Officers, if we do not train our Officers to be human first and Officers next, we will one day wake up in a Karnataka where justice is just a memory.

Suresh’s story is not an exception. It is a warning.

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