Hate culture won’t let any ‘Subodh Kumar’ live: UP DSP on Bulandshahr cop’s murder

An Uttar Pradesh police officer has attributed the mob killing of an on-duty police inspector, Subodh Kumar Singh—over cow slaughter allegations in Bulandshahr—to the growing lynch mob culture in the country.

Abhishek Prakash, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) who is currently posted in Bhadohi district, lauded Abhishek Singh, son of the slain cop, for putting up a brave face amid personal loss. “I salute Abhishek who even after losing his father is not speaking the language of hatred and violence,” the DSP said in a moving Facebook post.

“Today my father has died. Tomorrow a mob could kill a top police officer. Then someday it will be a minister. Should mob-killing culture be allowed to go on like this? Absolutely not,” Abhishek Singh, had earlier said in an interview with the NDTV. “I hope a day doesn't come when we are killing each other within India.”

Stressing that his father always told him “to be a good citizen” and the prevailing mob culture would yield nothing but destruction, he further told NDTV, “Not just the chief minister, I would appeal to the entire country, please stop Hindu-Muslim violence.”

Pointing towards the “institutional crisis”, the 34-year-old DSP in his post suggested as to how the growing mob culture is threatening the constitution and putting the life of policemen at a greater risk of losing life while performing professional duty. “The soul of constitution won’t die at it’s own. It would take a collective effort as it requires sowing of seeds which grow into mob frenzy and kill the constitution,” he said, stressing that “the brutal murder of police inspector Subodh Kumar Singh by the frenzied mob must be looked at in this context.”

Maintaining that the “the policemen have to bear the burden of the institutional failure of the other departments as well, he further wrote, “Inspector Subodh was not an activist, a politician, an artist, a journalist or a rabble-rouser. That’s why there are not many people raising a hue and cry over his killing.”

In his post, he has also touched upon much delayed but widely desired police reforms in the country. “He was a police man. And I know that every policeman is viewed as a crooked, who doesn’t mind licking the boots of political leaders. Inevitably, this is the destiny of the policemen,” he said and went on to add, “The Police department, over the years, has lost its sheen. But please enlighten me for want of resources amidst political pulls and pressures, which department or institution in this country has flourished?”

But significantly, he said, the police especially have to deal with the situations which invariably pose threats. “Those who work with the other institutions hardly come across a situation in which inspector Subodh Kumar found himself before he got killed,” remarked the DSP, who has previously worked with the All India Radio.

Seeking the attention of those “who are not serious towards the emerging trends in the society”, he asserted that, “Whatever may be the conspiracy behind this murder, such incidents have been writing the history of our times. These incidents have the potential of changing the geography of our country.”

Recalling a similar incident when he encountered mob frenzy over a cow carcass, the DSP further said: “At that time, the hatred (communal) had not encroached upon much space as is the case today.”

“The seeds of hatred that are being sown today, won’t let any ‘Subodh Kumar’ to live,” he remarked, and added, “May be a bullet is waiting for me too.”