posted on 11/28/2003
I have written an open letter to the CM of Jharkhand and Chief Justice of Jharkhand High Court narrating my last night ordeal. I would reproduce the same here-
To
The Chief Minister
Jharkhand

Cc: Chief Justice, Jharkhand High Court

Sub: How safe is Ranchi?

Sir
Outsiders always ridiculed this part of India as being unsafe. I, a sub-editor with the Hindustan Times, Ranchi, out and out derided them thinking that a mountain was being created out of a molehill. I thought it was all negative publicity. But I was wrong. Realisation dawned on me on early Friday when few drunken revelers assaulted me on the Government Bus Stand campus over a trivial issue.
Had it not been for the support from the local shopkeepers, I would have been beaten mercilessly.
It’s a known fact that traveling through the Naxalite terrains of Jharkhand in trains and buses during night can prove to be fatal. The argument goes, the countryside is entrapped in Naxal violence. Does the same logic hold good for cities also?
My nightmarish experience has led me to believe that there is no semblance of a civil society in the city. On minor provocations, people can resort to mindless violence. I would say the feudal mindset has not been completely wiped off from this place.
I would like to narrate my experience before you-
After completing my work in the office (Hindustan Times), I along with my colleague Goutam Das went to the Bus Stand to enjoy tea. However, few youth came to the venue and started spitting on my motorcycle. After I requested them not to do so, they hurled the choicest of epithets on me and created a ruckus there. A fracas followed in which I received internal injuries. Five to six young men, all consumed by Bacchus, came in a white car. They were apparently coming from a wedding party as their car was decorated.
They also tried to set my vehicle on fire and boasted of having influence in the corridors of power. Before leaving, they threatened me with dire consequences.
I am a small time scribe trying hard to get myself inured to the journalistic rigours. But such incidents depress me.
Should such misdemeanour be allowed to pass by? I want answers. When drunken driving is banned by the law, how did they manage to flout all the rules with impunity? How could the police absolve themselves from protecting the law-abiding citizens? More than 20 hours have passed and the assaulters are still traceless.
If no is above the law, I challenge you to restore my faith in the law of the land by bringing the guilty to the book.

Yours truly,
Prasanna Raghav
Copy-editor
Hindustan Times, Ranchi

Date: 28/11/03