A story or a passage or a situation that was loved by my father called ‘EYE-WITNESS’. (From A Policeman’s Report). He himself was a super cop and obviously it is natural for him to fall in love with this passage. For him this is one of the best reports any policeman can ever write. This report shows the reliability of the ‘EYE-WITNESS’ and also the importance of investigation. It teaches not to trust anything, any statement even of the affected unless verified. For my father, this report is the culmination of policeness (hope a word like this exists). He taught me this passage from my childhood and his teaching is as fresh as yesterday. Even during his last days he had volumes to speak on this passage.
“….. At 4:35PM, on the afternoon of July 16th 1977, I was on duty in the City Market. A small boy came running up to me, and said that there had been an accident in Temple Street nearby. I went there at once, and found a crowd collected around the body of an elderly gentleman. He was lying on the pavement outside a fruit shop. He was conscious, but could not answer my questions. He kept calling in a weak voice for his wife.
“I examined him, and found that he had no serious injuries except for a blow on the back of his head. He was losing a little blood. I asked the crowd to move back a little, to let him breathe more easily. I sent the same small boy to the Post Office on the opposite side of the street to ask the postmaster to telephone for an ambulance then I asked the people standing around what had happened. Mrs. Narayan, of No.232, Temple Street, said that the victim had just left her shop after buying two kilos of mangos. She had not seen the accident itself. Mr. K. Gulati, of No.192, Seventh Cross, said that he had seen the victim stepping off the pavement, wiping his face with a handkerchief, because of the heat. He thought that he had been knocked down by a young boy cyclist in school uniform. Another witness, Mr. K.L.S. Raj Gopal of Charminar School, disagreed with this. He said that the accident has been caused by an auto rickshaw. All agreed that the cyclist or auto rickshaw had not stopped. At this point the victim spoke. He disagreed with the witnesses, and said that he had been knocked down by an elephant. I advised him to rest quietly until the ambulance came. He was by this time able to give his name and address. At this point, the ambulance arrived, and the injured man was taken to the Jawaharlal Nehru Hospital.
“Before leaving the scene, I noticed same squashed mangos lying in the street near the pavement. There was a mark of a tire across the fruit. I went to the address that the victim had given and informed his wife. On leaving the house to return to my post, I saw a motorcycle parked outside a coffee shop. It had mango juice all over the rear wheel and mudguard….”
A short and well written passage and has volumes to speak. Do not trust even the victims because even their point of view will also be biased. For my father and I this passage gave the importance causing an enquiry even into the obvious things of life, by keeping the eyes, ears and mind open. Never trust anything as true. The truth reveals itself. This is what the policeman’s beautiful report vindicates. Further, this report also gives a lesson in keeping emotions away while compiling any report. My father who was an acclaimed policeman honored by the President of India for his distinguished services, and a policeman trained by the dreaded ‘Scotland Yard’ of London and by the ‘Royal Canadian Mount Police’, asked me to keep this report as the guiding force for my life.
About the Author
Dr. K. Raja Gopal Reddy is a seasoned internationally qualified Insurance professional.
What you are reading here, may not answer all the questions we have, but has the absolute power of asking unsettling questions which increase the interest in the strange world, and show the contradictory wonders lying just below the surface of the commonest things of life. Look at this disturbing but beautiful thought of Friedrich Nietzsche “God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him”.
Dr. Reddy can be reached at: raja66gopal@gmail.com
