Day 60 – Case Study Q 3.

3. You are posted as the SP of a minority dominated district in a northern state. The newly elected government has given clear instructions to your department that interfaith marriages should be monitored closely as instances of brutal violence on certain occasions have been reported by the media. The radical members of the majority community believe that the minority is using marriage alliance as a tool of conversion and to outnumber the majority. They disrupt interfaith marriages and have in fact killed the groom on certain occasions. Since they act as a mob, it is difficult to take any action. Now with the instructions coming in from the top leadership you believe that things will change for the better and you will have the essential resources and personnel to maintain peace and order in your district. One night, you receive an intel that a fringe group belonging to the majority community is planning to abduct and kill an interfaith couple who are getting married in the coming week. You also get to know that the girl is the daughter of a powerful politician from the opposition party. Immediately, you start mobilising your personnel so that you can depute them to avoid any mishap. However, you receive a call from your senior who directs you to abort your plan of action immediately. He instructs you to keep a blind eye to the issue. You are perplexed by the instruction. Upon further enquiry, you get to know that since the daughter of the opposition party’s leader is involved in this case, the ruling party wants to take political mileage from the controversy that would erupt after the abduction or even killing of the couple. You are stunned to know the sinister designs of the ruling party. You tell your senior that you won’t succumb to the unreasonable prohibition and would rather go ahead with your plans. Upon knowing your intent, the senior issues your transfer order with immediate effect and instructs you to join at your new place of posting. You realise that you aren’t left with many choices now. But at the same time you don’t want the situation in your district to go out of hand as it would mean a communal catastrophe.

Q. What would you do in this situation? Examine the alternatives that you have with their pros and cons.