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Roshan Thapaliya

The Kathmandu Post

Publication Date : 06-03-2013

For me and for the age group I represent, there is a great feeling of violation that has come about in recent days. The Nepal Police’s act of nabbing youths with long hair and tattoos on their bodies on the streets has left me stunned and pondering over my very fundamental rights. How can one conclude that a rough external disposition of a person is a guarantee of him being corrupt in heart and criminally inclined in mind? The reasoning is ludicrous, and shows a clear lapse in the thought process in the very top intelligence department assigned with the sensitive task of the country’s security.

 This strange modus operandi of the Nepal Police in which they have antagonised anyone with long hair and tattoos as criminals will do very little to curb crime that is rampant in the city.

The incident that prompted the police to arrest all the people with long hair as perpetrators is the involvement of people with such disposition in a recent crime. But the appearance of a person is in no way correlated with criminal instincts. Criminals are not manufactured in a factory with long hair, tattoos and leather jackets. They come in all forms - wearing posh suits, with brush cut hair, with a dash of nice manners; actually in any civil appearance you can think of.

One might need to take the police through a lesson in high school chemistry to make them understand the concept. All alkalis are bases, but all bases are not alkalis. You may find that criminals have long hair. But all people with long hair are not criminals.

The action that the police force has taken seems to be an act of flustered conscience. They are not able to prevent the crimes taking place in broad daylight; and to show and feel that they are doing something, they sort to harassing youths in this way.

Attacking a person based on his/her personal appearance is an infringement of his basic rights. The decision that the Nepal Police has taken is immature and ineffective. Nefarious networks are not composed entirely of people with rough appearances. Actually, the most notorious criminals lie in highest of social strata --corrupt government officials and political protectors of dons, hooligans and mafia bosses. And most of these people from nefarious networks don’t wear long hair and have tattoos on their body.