Police should not become a tool for politics

The state legislature session in Belagavi that concluded on Thursday will go down as the most shameful if BJP lawmaker CT Ravi had indeed made the alleged obscene remark on Women and Child Development Minister Laxmi Hebbalkar.

- RAMU PATIL Assistant Resident Editor [e-mail]

It would be a black mark on the state legislature. There is no justification for such conduct. However, Ravi has denied the allegations and the investigation is under way. The law must take its course.

The events that followed soon after the Legislative Council proceedings adjourned sine die raise several pertinent questions, especially about the police action. First, the visuals of the minister's supporters, including her assistant, chasing and charging at the lawmaker in the corridors of the Suvarna Vidhana Soudha showed a total breakdown of the system. Marshals had a tough time controlling them and protecting the MLC. Understandably, tempers run high in such situations. But letting people take the law into their own hands inside the Vidhana Soudha premises reflects poorly on the whole system.