Street legal

Sir — There seemed to be little difference between the lynching of Abodh Kumar Singh, a truck driver in Asansol, and something like the Bhagalpur blindings (“Truck driver burnt to death after crash”, Feb 21). The police have been routinely blamed for torturing suspects and convicts and being generally inhuman. However, if public anger continues to grow at this rate, it is soon going to become more dangerous than State terrorism. The Left Front government should be concerned with the law-and-order situation in Bengal. There must be something profoundly wrong with the administration for the people to take the law in their hands. More astonishing was the way media attention panned on Singh as he lay writhing on the streets. Instead of trying to ‘make’ news, the journalists could have helped the poor man by getting him medical help.

Yours faithfully,
Rana Basu, Calcutta

Sir — Abodh Kishore Singh was brutally murdered by the mob. There is no other way of describing his death. Admittedly, he ran over a 12-year-old child, but vengeance does not bring justice. The incident proves how people have lost faith in the police. Years of administrative indifference have made the common man disregard the regular channels of redress. Such misuse of collective strength has become common. Only the electronic media seemed to be savouring every bit of this gruesome incident. One fears that such needlessly extensive coverage would result in more mob protests, with many erring drivers being victimized. The only way to counter such outbursts is to stick to the norms of civilian life, follow traffic rules, and to live and let others do the same.

Yours faithfully,
Poushali Roy Sengupta, Hooghly

Sir — Of late, it has become usual for the people to challenge the official course of justice. The police, who are habitually late in arriving at a scene of accident, do little to control the mob’s show of anger. After the Bhagalpur blindings, we bemoaned the cruelty of the police. Who are we — the people — going to hold accountable for the truck-driver’s death now? The people who attacked Abodh Kishore Singh were certainly not acting out of their grief for the boy run over by Singh’s truck.

Yours faithfully,
Tajuddin Ahamed, Burdwan

Sir — The tragic chain of events in Asansol leading to the deaths of a young boy and then a truck driver was inevitable. Abodh Kishore Singh happened to bear the brunt of public anger whose actual target was the system. Many are to blame for accidents, not just reckless drivers and careless pedestrians. The public works department, for instance, does not maintain roads, the civic authorities do not evict encroachers, car-owners park their cars wherever they choose, the police allow heavy vehicles to ply on busy roads during rush hours, and traffic offenders always manage to get bail. When the administrative and legal machinery fail, people’s anger finds release in such violent outbursts. If the police in a metropolis like Calcutta are too lazy to take action against those who violate the ‘stop-line’ rule, or to penalize those who use dangerous metallic fixtures on their cars, we can only guess how strongly traffic rules are enforced in the districts. Such misrule is bound to increase when small cars start flocking our roads.

Yours faithfully,
Tapan Pal, Batanagar

Coffee and slippers

Sir — Memories of the raj refuse to go away even after six decades of independence. One disturbing aspect of the colonial legacy is the insistence on dress codes in exclusive hotels and clubs. These seem to apply primarily to the ‘natives’. I have been to several premier hotels and clubs in India and found foreigners, mostly Caucasians, being allowed to move freely in shorts and slippers. They come down to meals looking slovenly but feeling perfectly at home. It is patently silly to impose dress restrictions on people who would either not know about it or feel uncomfortable wearing certain kinds of clothes.

Yours faithfully,
A.S. Mehta, Calcutta

Sir — Manjamma’s ordeal at Mumbai’s Taj Mahal hotel brings out the hypocrisy of the Indian hospitality industry. There have been innumerable anecdotes about Indians suffering racial discrimination and humiliation abroad. But in Manjamma’s case, she was insulted for her ‘Indianness’ in India itself. The best hotels in India are mostly frequented by well-dressed but uncouth people. No wonder that an ‘improperly’ dressed gracious old lady visiting a posh hotel for a cup of coffee annoyed its management.

By refusing entry to Manjamma, the Taj has disgraced not only its reputation but also the hospitality industry.

Yours faithfully,
Surajit Das, Calcutta

Sir — “Slippers spoil coffee dream” (Feb 22) goes to show that despite all the rhetoric of a booming India, we continue to cling to the colonial dream. We enjoy appeasing white people, honour archaic and irrelevant norms, and feel privileged whenever we get a chance to give them preferential treatment.

Yours faithfully,
Shovon Chakraborty, Calcutta

Sir — It is unfortunate that 82-year-old Manjamma got a mouthful of insult instead of a cup of coffee at the Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai. It is ridiculous how Indians have refused to recognize the relationship between clothes, climates, convenience, comfort and customs, opting instead for pompous dress-codes, compelling people to wear black coats even in the midsummer heat. The hotel authorities, who have promised to look into the matter, should apologize to Manjamma as soon as possible, invite her to the coffee shop and treat them to a nice meal free of charge.

Yours faithfully,
Md. Aslam Parvez, Calcutta