*meeting with the commissioner of police � protest against police

high-handedness*

having read the first hand report by shri anjanasudan on the police
highhandedness on the 06th march, 2008, a group of committed hindus, under
the leadership of smt radha rajan ji decided to meet with senior police
officials in chennai, to register our protest and to seek their action on
the personnel involved. the following is the report on our meet with the
commissioner of police, greater chennai, shri nanjil kumaran. we could not
meet with the additional director general of police, shri k vijayakumar, as
he was out of station. however, a letter of protest was handed over to his
camp assistant and we were told that the adgp will be available on tuesday
at chennai to receive our delegation.

the delegation included, besides radha rajan ji, joint secretary, vigil
public opinion forum, shri swaminathan, advocate, madras high court, capt h
balakrishnan, ins (retd), a war veteran and s v badri, hindu devalaya
parirakshana samiti.

*background:*

a handful of muslims protested outside the lalith kala academy at chennai on

the 06th of march. the prince of arcot, who visited the site earlier in the
day, thundered that what was presented was "bunkum" and was far removed from
history. he even volunteered to have discussion on the issue with anybody
who can debate with him on this part of history (i can see a thousand hands
going up to volunteer). but these psuedos' know how to throw challenges, but
once we volunteer, they will hide in their zanana. he even yelled that he
would speak to the appropriate authorities and have the exhibits removed
before friday's namaaz. and he succeeded, as the willing police servants of
the public (which public?), had them removed on thursday evening.

the police acted as though on a cue. the force did nothing to quell the
handful of muslim protestors. instead, were silent by-standers. and to prove
their "secular" credentials in the land of karunanidhi, pounced on the
hindus who were doing nothing but projecting the right history of the moghul
atrocities on the hindus and their destruction of the hindu mandirs. what
irked the prince was the presence of two exhibits, the ones that showed the
army of aurangazeb destroying the keshav rai mandir at mathura and the other
of the destruction of the somnath mandir. under pressure, the police wanted
both the pictures removed. and threatened the elderly lady volunteers of
dire consequences should they not remove them.

the police were lead by the assistant commissioner of police, murali who to
say was most vile and abusive to the women is the understatement of the
year. sample a few:

francois gautier is a "white dog" (vellai naai) and (pointing to a young

woman volunteer, he thundered) "what is your relationship with him?". "he is
a terrorist". "are you also a terrorist like him"? "show me your passport"
(to the indian national)? and many more unprintable words and questions��

there were expletives flowing out of his heavily moustached face, with the
ease of a "kazhaga udanpirappu" (meaning dmk card holder � brethren of
karunanidhi).

the women who come from well-respected families and have never been exposed
to such derangement of alphabets were shell shocked. and as this continued,
he pulled down the paintings and smashed two of them. the attendant
policemen followed the leader and there was free-for-all, as the cops
brought the hall down.

the women were told by the acp that they were under arrest. this was around
7-30 p.m. no guidelines were followed. no arrest memo given. there were no
lady constables or lady police officials. the women were whisked away to the
thousand lights police station. they were abused by choicest of expletives
reserved only for use by the tamil nadu politicians, these days. the women,
who hail from some of the most respected families in chennai, were
bewildered, dumb-stuck, shell-shocked and absolutely humiliated. radha rajan
ji, who got the message at mumbai called up a senior police official, whose
intervention saved the night for the ladies, who had by now crumbled under
the burden of shame. the acp forced them to write a note stating that the
women were taken to the police station only for inquiry and they were not
arrested.

*acp murali:*

from his acts of vandalism in the lalith kala academy and from the
description obtained from the eyewitness of the events, i am convinced that
he is rudeness personified. a handful of muslim protestors could make him
bend his back to god knows how many degrees. when the commissioner of police
tried to convince us that he is an upright officer, we vehemently had to
disagree with him.

his choice of words and language, while addressing women, does not do his
schooling, his parentage or his upbringing any proud. what is shameful is
that in a country where the anti-hindu exhibits of the likes of mf hussain
is protected with zeal by the policemen, the exhibition of facts of moghul
rule under aurangazeb is ransacked by the very same policemen and arresting
innocent hindu women volunteers.

what one is not amused is the drawing of parallels by a section of press as

also the artists of chennai between mfh and this exhibition. they have
equated this exhibition to mfh's and have stated that there should be
freedom of artistic expression. fact's exhibition is not an example of an
artistic expression, but representation of facts of history. from the very
history the moghals wrote during their period of reign. there lies the
difference.

*meeting with commissioner of police, shri nanjil kumaran:*

the c.o.p. received us well. radha ji presented our protest in a thorough

manner. when it came to acp murali, the cop said that he is an upright
officer, to which we had to disagree and state that the kind of words that
he used against innocent women made us wonder at his lack of culture and
certainly not befitting a person of his rank in the police department.

the cop raised a technical point that the organizers had not obtained the
necessary police permission for the exhibition (francois, is it true?). and
that the police wanted them to remove only the two exhibits and then
continue with their exhibition, despite the lack of obtaining permission.

when told about the blatant violation of guidelines and procedures in

"arresting" women, he agreed with us and said that he would certainly make
an internal inquiry and set things right.
the following is the text of the protest letter given to the cop. similar
letter was handed over to the camp assistant of the adgp. radha ji's
interview was well covered by the sun tv, during this evening's bulletin,
condemning the police atrocity at the exhibition venue.

watch the slideshow of the police high-handedness:

http://s260.photobucket.com/albums/ii33/svbadri/?action=view�t=21ac2193.pbw
*

**

*text of petition handed over to the cop:*

to:

the commissioner of police

shri nanchil kumaran

greater chennai police.

sub: flagrant violation of procedural guidelines

when arresting women

sir,

on the 6th march 2008, ac murali of the thousand lights police station
arrested three women, and one man, srimathi saraswati, dr. vijayalakshmi.
srimathi malathi and shri br haran at 7.30 p.m. the following for your
attention �

1. women are not supposed to be arrested after 6 p.m

2. no arrest memo was given to the persons arrested

3. no lady police officer or lady constable was present at the time of

arrest

4. on orders from the joint commissioner of police shri balasubramaniam, ac

murali was compelled to release the women but he did so only after forcing
them to write and sign a statement that they came to the police station only
for inquiry and that they were being 'let off' after inquiry

vigil has the greatest respect for our men in uniform in the armed forces
and the police services. we therefore feel compelled to approach you to seek
redress. ac murali besides using the foulest language against francois
gautier (vellakara naai, porukki, terrorist, associates of terrorist) was
also guilty of removing and causing damage to the paintings.

needless to say, a police officer cannot interpret the law nor take the law
into his own hands. he must only enforce the law. in the best interest of
retaining our confidence in your department for upholding the highest norms
of policing, we seek that you deal with the errant officer in question
internally.
violating procedural guidelines with regard to arrest of persons,
particularly elderly women, and the use of abusive and foul language, is in
our view a very gross offence and merits the strictest disciplinary action
by the department against the police officer concerned. we are determined
that the officer concerned must tender an unqualified apology to all the
three women either in writing separately to them or through us. the women
will not come to your police station again not even to accept the apology.

we are sure you will heed our legitimate demand and act in best interest of
the reputation of the tamil nadu police and in the interest of rule of law
which is the defining feature of mature democracies.

yours' sincerely,

radha rajan,

joint secretary, vigil public opinion forum,

swaminathan, advocate, madras high court,

capt h balakrishnan, ins (retd), war veteran

s v badri, hindu devalaya parirakshana samiti

namaste,

s v badri, camp: chennai

08-03- '08