Opinion No common crime
The killing of a policeman in Bulandshahr challenged the state. UP government can ill afford to be seen to support impunity. The killing of Inspector Singh violated this contract and threatens to open the door to anarchy. It was no common crime but a challenge to the state, and the chief executive has so far refused to acknowledge its gravity.
Country needs to evolve well-rounded protocols for managing disasters, not look at them as only administrative problems. 
Earlier, the UP chief minister had been criticised for not travelling to meet the bereaved family.
Over 80 retired bureaucrats have written an open letter on a serious matter in Uttar Pradesh. They have demanded the resignation of chief minister Yogi Adityanath, for failing to acknowledge the gravity of the murder of a police officer in Bulandshahr amidst a fracas over allegations of cow slaughter. They include former foreign secretaries, Sujatha Singh, Shivshankar Menon and Shyam Saran. The latter two have served as national security advisor and chairman of the National Security Advisory Board respectively.
Also on the list are former Prasar Bharti CEO Jawhar Sircar, former Delhi Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung, former Planning Commission secretary NC Saxena and former bureaucrats turned activists Harsh Mander and Aruna Roy. It would be wrong to dismiss them as the usual suspects with no stake in UP, for they are the most articulate spokespersons for their calling.
They are stakeholders in the matter, since the civil services represent the majesty of the Indian state. Their letter argues that by failing to act with despatch on the shooting of Inspector Subodh Kumar Singh, CM Adityanath has abdicated his responsibility to the Constitution. The writers say that “.in India’s most populous state, Uttar Pradesh, fundamental principles of governance, of constitutional ethics and of humane social conduct stand perverted.”
Earlier, the UP chief minister had been criticised for not travelling to meet the bereaved family, for dismissing the murder as an accident and then as a conspiracy, and for his administration conveying the impression that cow slaughter is a more pressing matter than murder. The killing of a policeman is especially heinous because it violates a central contract on which the state is founded. In a constitutional democracy, a disarmed populace surrenders the capacity for violence to the state, which has a monopoly. The designated repository of armed force is the police, and it follows that their writ cannot be challenged by force of arms by the people.
The killing of Inspector Singh violated this contract and threatens to open the door to anarchy. It was no common crime but a challenge to the state, and the chief executive has so far refused to acknowledge its gravity. The rebuke by 80 former civil servants is not unjustified. It must spur the UP government to show more respect for the Constitution.
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