& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

A Questionable Move by Shopowners
It was inevitable Gfven the continued state of lawlessness and rising instances of city crime, it was only a matter of time that some people would start to form their own protection groups for the very purposes for which the taxpayers money is Snt to maintain the police The Federation of
aka Shopowners Association has decided to form zonal bodies to resist terrorists and extortionists It was inevitable in the sense that small business people, especially the retail outlet owners, could not have been expected to remain inactive for long in the face of growing evidence that local gangsters were regularly extorting money from the business people under the threat of damaging the premises if not complied with. Recently it has been reported that paying protection money to just one group was not enough. Rival gangs demanded money from the same shops if business was reputed to be good So successful shops were made to pay higher protection' money than the rest The incidence of the local thugs not paying for goods purchased' became almost a regular affair
However, the saddest aspect of these developments was the fact that students were reported to have been involved in such activities. The local colleges are said to have become dens of criminals from where the extortionists operate This situation cannot be allowed to continue. We cannot allow a few criminals to spoil the good name of our student community whose contribution in the last struggle against autocracy the nation recalls with pride
While the decision of the shopowners to form thetr own protection groups was inevitable, it must be understood that any such step is fraught with danger There exists the possibility of some very unhealthy development. Setting up protection group, however noble may be the motive, amounts to taking the law in one's own hands How do the shopowners plan to deal with the criminals? Either they will have to stop their regular work and take up guard duty or hire musclemen to do the Job. So instead of eliminating. the shopowners may end up setting one group of gangsters against another. Who will prevent the protection group of one area from vandalising another area? Taking the law into one's own hand, however effective and practical it may look tn the short run. is full of numerous pitfalls in the long run. Once the system of self-protection becomes a practice and people start to depend less and less on the police, then imagine what civic life would be like. If a theft shoula occur in some shopping area, the owner, instead of going to the police, would end up going to the respective protection group, who would employ their own methods in finding the criminal, which, we can guess, may easily turn out to be quite ugly and barbaric.
While we sympathise with the plight of the retail traders, we cannot support any move which will further erode public confidence in our law enforcement agencies. On the contrary we suggest that the shopowners should take up measures in cooperation with the police and see how they can help each other. The shopowners should also establish a dialogue with the students with a view to isolating the criminal elements from the majority of the students. It is riot going our separate ways, but by working together — the police, the shopowners and the students — that we can solve the problems of rising crime.