Police, police thyself

The message must be clear: no uniform, no office, and no rank grants immunity from the rule of law

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The Supreme Court's order directing the Delhi Police to register an FIR against two former CBI officers is more than a legal instruction—it is an indictment of a system that protects its own while trampling on the ordinary citizen. By insisting that even investigators must be investigated, the court has reminded us of a truth the police establishment would rather forget: nobody is above the law. The case dates back to 2000. Two citizens alleged that they were coerced and intimidated into withdrawing a complaint by two CBI officials—Neeraj Kumar, then joint director, who later became Delhi's police commissioner, and inspector Vinod Kumar Pandey. That it has taken nearly a quarter of a century for the matter to even reach the stage of a proper investigation tells its own sordid story. If this is the pace of justice for a case taken