A team of officials of the Enforcement Directorate, who were ‘visiting’ the office of a prominent casino at the Panaji waterfront as part of a probe into a case of money laundering have alleged they were mistreated by staff of the casino including managers who confined them, disbelieved their claims that they were genuine officers of the Enforcement Directorate and disregarded them. The casino officials even called the police to report the raiding ED officials and the situation ended with a case being registered against the representatives of the casinos who allegedly confined, assaulted and otherwise obstructed the ED officials from doing their duty.
The incident reflects a crisis of credibility not just for the Enforcement Directorate but for several other law enforcement agencies who seek to exercise their statutory powers. On one hand, we have people falling for con men and scamsters disguised as or pretending to be legitimate officials including the police and ED sleuths and in the process duping gullible citizens. It should then, come as no surprise that casino managers and people in general are skeptical when it comes to dealing with the state and its enforcement agencies.
The fact that the officials are often in plain clothes does not help their cause. It is seen that even when doing routine enforcement duties like traffic stops police officials are seen in plain clothes, and only the officer issuing the challan is in uniform. It is a similar situation for drug raids, which are done largely by plainclothes officials whilst, the arresting officer is in uniform largely because the law mandates the search and seizure be done by uniformed officers for it to stand in court.
While there may be genuine reasons for police and other law enforcement agencies to be in plain clothes, it immediately raises questions about the authenticity of the raid or similar action. In official photographs released by the police to the media, many officers and staff are seen not in uniform making it difficult to tell who are the cops and who are the criminals they are parading.
The Goa Police, who are currently running a campaign to tackle cyber crime would be well advised to operate in a manner that distinguishes or sets them apart from the common criminal and conmen. Should it be any surprise that when the enforcement agencies behave no differently than the former they are treated as such?
Enforcement agencies have a strict operating protocol that has been laid down and reiterated not just internally but also through court judgements. The agencies are well aware of the SOPs yet as we have seen, via video clips that have gone viral, officers of such agencies instead of behaving in a stately manner, befitting the state that they represent are seen throwing their weight around by shouting, behaving in a high-handed manner as if they have been personally affronted.
Enforcement officers acting on behalf of the state have a statutory duty which they have to perform. They have no business shouting, deriding, hitting out, insulting or talking in a demeaning manner towards any accused or in this case staff of the casino they are raiding.
When acting on behalf of the law, there should really be no need for the use of any other method of enforcing authority during a raid. Resorting to such methods only reduces statute rather than enhancing it. Authorities acting with contempt towards citizens, shouldn't be complaining when paid back with the same coin.
