Ordinances teach how to do

SURAT, June 30: Any person violating any of the above listed sections is liable to imprisonment that may extend upto a period of one year al...

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SURAT, June 30: Any person violating any of the above listed sections is liable to imprisonment that may extend upto a period of one year along with fine as per section 135 of the Bombay Police Act (BPA) 1951.”

Come a festival, a public function, an election or an important event that may or may not have overtones of violence, and the police department publishes an ordinance — a printed format listing the don’t s and those who are exempt from it — that remains in force for a fortnight.

Among the activities prohibited usually by such notices are carrying of weapons, inflammable substances and explosives, collecting weapons or anything that can be used as weapons, carrying of burning objects in rallies, burning of effigies, making provocative speeches and the like.

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While police officials maintain that such ordinances are absolutely essential, some admit — off the record, of course — that they are little more than exercises in futility.

A copy of the directive will usually find its way into the police records — never to be referred to again — and into newspaper offices, where it will be reproduced in a corner of an inside page. Said one officer, “Practically no one is ever arrested or even fined (for violating the ordinance), but it does help to instill some fear in the minds of mischief-makers. But it is true — issuing ordinances is more of a convention than a serious business.”

Some of the clauses of the ordinances too, clearly seem to follow the dictates of convention rather than logic. For instance, they prohibit shouting and singing in public places, something so commonplace that they don’t even merit a second glance.

City Police Commissioner Maniram, however, pointed out that ordinances not only acted as deterrents, but also allowed them to arrest people under Sections 68 and 69 of the BPA, which allows them to be detained for upto two hours.

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Additional Police Commissioner (range II) P C Thakur added, “The directive is essential for the operation of law and acts as a safeguard when people question the basis of arrest in a court.” Additional Police Commissioner (range I) S P Chitturi too said the prohibitory orders were invaluable for the “specially in sticky situations”.

One officer narrated an incident dating back to the French Revolution to exemplify the usefulness of the ordinance: A youngster thrilled with the notions of democracy and freedom and the like was throwing his stick about carelessly and eventually hit an elderly woman. She chided him, to which he retorted that people were free now. To this, the lady replied, “Remember, your freedom ends where my nose begins”.

It was this spirit, the officer said, that was upheld by the prohibitory orders.