I am afraid, I am taking a break.

My attention was captured by a news clipping on a national news channel, a couple of days back. The news channel projected the menace caused by the wayward bikers who were risking their own lives as well those of the passers by. They were shown to have converted a busy road in a high security zone into a circus ring. The channel condemned the police inaction in the matter.

Today, the channel is showing its update. One biker has been killed by police bullet while another is hospitalised.

What makes me to take a pause from my currently targetted subject in the posts on dead woods in the judiciary, is that the presence of the dead woods is somewhat a universal phenomenon, as the news story under reference persuades me to infer.

Let me outline the inputs which require analysis.

First of all, take a look at the manner in which the news story is projected by the electronic media.

The projection calls into question police action, questioning whether the biker's offence was so serious as to receive death penalty, though the media simultaneously gave a tell tale picture of the stone pelting on police van which was badly damaged.

It is evident that the electronic media is not interested in an objective presentation of the episode. It presented a clipping in which the mother of the victim was shown weeping and questioning the police action, but the media did not show any diligence about asking the grieving family how the fact escaped their attention what their young son was doing with his bike at 2 AM when it was time for the other members to sleep.

Secondly, be it the electronic media or the police, why it does not shock any one when disorder rules the roost on main thorough fares.

The electronic media gave its answer, stating that as and when the police tried to apprehend the hoodlums doing dangerous feats on road at odd hours on the main thorough fares, police found itself handicapped, as the bikers would defeat the police by speed.

It is here that dead woods need to be identified among the mediamen as also among the police.

The police has the power, better say duty, not just power, to lodge a case. No matter if the offender is unknown or unidentified. A case against unknown can be filed which police may supplement with facts and identification at subsequent stage of investigation.

This is equally true even in case of illegal road jams which small places like Bhagalpur frequently witnesses without the police discharging the above obligation and duty. 

This power is, however, exercised at the whims of the administration, as was done some years ago at or near Arrah in Bihar when a train was damaged by the angry without ticket passengers who aggressively reacted against magistrate checking.

It is time that dead woods are clearly identified in all segments, especially in the media and police, whose imbecility corrupts objective perception of the viewers.