LONG ago, a Hindi movie titled ‘Ardh Satya’ had portrayed a grim picture of how enforcers of law become colluders in crime in some or the other manner. The title of the movie that caught people’s fancy then, did play with words when it suggested that some elements in law enforcing agencies may be colluding with criminal elements, but a lot of truly good people also man those agencies -- thereby keeping intact the sanity and sanctity in the task of fighting crime. Over time, that picture has not moved much away from the standards of older times when ‘Ardh Satya’ was first made. Today also, some elements may be hiding in the ranks of law enforcement agencies and may be acting in collusion with crime lords. After looking at the details that emerged from ‘The Hitavada’ investigation of the irregularities in filing of First Information Reports (FIRs) in the Mahadev App case in Chhattisgarh, we feel strongly that those undesirable elements will not succeed and supremacy of law will finally prevail.

 

For, even as ‘The Hitavada’ realised how some elements in the law enforcement establishment were trying to protect their collaborators, it also came across some other elements that are trying to defeat the ugly nexus. This realisation has given rise to a hope that things are more likely to go in the right direction than not in the time to come. We feel pretty assured that all the wrong-doers in the Mahadev App case will be brought to book -- as per the desire and resolve of Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi and Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Mr. Vishnu Deo Sai. Despite this realisation, we must admit that ‘The Hitavada’ investigation gave us enough reasons to feel quite worried about how the larger Indian society will stay free from the influence and clutches of crime in the time to come. For, as we realise, what appears to have happened in one case may be just a tip of the iceberg of unholy nexus crime is often able to build with people in official positions. Apart from the latest details in the Mahadev App case, what worries us, therefore, is the universal reality of crime -- that it generally flourishes with some ‘blessings’. However, long years of watching public affairs has given us enough reasons to believe that no crime anywhere in the world ever succeeds fully and there comes a time when its tentacles are exposed and sheared.

 

This will happen in the Mahadev App case as well. This silent belief, this firm faith in the supremacy of the system, makes us feel that in due time, good elements in the law enforcement circles would prevail and defeat the elements of the ugly nexus. Some elements in the law enforcement domain may have succeeded in blocking searches to an extent, but such a blocking cannot take place on a permanent basis. There will certainly come a moment when all the partners in the nexus would get dragged out in the open and suitably taken to task. The criminal base of the Mahadev App case, however, does not stop only at some elements in the law enforcement circles. Those are extend deeper into political domain as well. If anything, this is the actual reason for extended concern we feel about the right handling of the Mahadev App issue. However, the nation knows by now the Prime Minister’s first rate disdain for crime and corruption. That acts as an assurance that in time to come, all hand-in-glove alliances of crime would get exposed in due time and crime lords and their partners elsewhere would get aptly and amply punished. The Mahadev App case has acted as a reminder to the larger society of the ugly reality of unholy nexus between crime and people in high positions. Like every other crime of similar nature got exposed fully, this one, too, would go the same way -- to a sensible fruition.