Off The Leash

Some stories never make it to file notings or press briefings. They move in murmurs, exchanged in lift lobbies and murmured across dinner tables. One such story is circulating quietly now, involving a pair of student activists, a Delhi Police unit better known for its counterterrorism work, and a brutal episode of alleged custodial torture.

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According to Lakshita and Gurkirat, the beatings they endured, allegedly with leather whips, no less, weren’t the result of political provocation or subversive action. The reason, they say, was far more banal and yet more chilling. A personal dispute involving a well-placed official’s family.

The dots aren’t hard to connect for those in the know. The bureaucratic grapevine points toward a senior officer from the 1995 batch, currently helming a national mission in the water sector, and reportedly well-networked in the right circles. Her name isn’t in the FIR, of course. It wouldn’t be. That’s not how these things work.

But the very idea that a private grievance could, allegedly, set off a chain of events leading to days of illegal detention and physical abuse by a specialised police unit that has set alarm bells ringing. Or at least ought to.

No outrage, no press statements. Just a ripple of unease in the system. Just whispers. And in Delhi, whispers often say more than official press releases ever will. The kind that remind everyone of what power looks like when it’s exercised off the record, and off the leash.

The chair is filled, but is it occupied?