Reflection

I wasn't exaggerating the last time around

My column on  March 15 provided specific instances of the failure of law and order and the gross abuse of authority by some of those who supposedly have a duty to uphold the law of the land.

It was a strange coincidence that on that very day, another train of events began which provided proof, if proof be needed, that, in terms of personal security and the protection of one's property, the average citizen is pretty much on his own.

On that day, my partner and I decided to drive the 20 kilometres to a large town (city?) to attend the Sunday Fair and do our marketing for the week.

Having wandered around this really great pola and made our purchases, we wended our way home. 

Stopping at his residence, we asked our labour supervisor whether anything of importance had occurred in our absence.  He had some disquieting information to convey. A gang of about 15 young thugs had terrorised the young men who were guarding the durian trees on our land which they had 'leased' from us for the current season.

The miscreants

I subsequently learned that the miscreants had approached the location from their village which is about three or four kilometres from where the trees are, going up footpaths through the village expansion 'colony' that lies between their village and the trees.

  After intimidating the three young men who were trying to save their leased crop from the monkeys, giant squirrels etc., they had taken the durians stored in the 'watchers shelter' and then proceeded to hurl large sticks at the durians still on the trees.  They had also climbed the neighbouring coconut trees and stripped them of kurumba and then attacked an adjacent mangosteen tree to which they had done significant damage with another fusillade of sticks and stones. 

Having eaten as much as they could and drunk the kurumba, they proceeded to make their way home.  This was where our paths crossed after we resumed our journey home.

My partner and I, both past the proverbial three score and 10 years, came upon the pack of young men, some probably still in their late teens, advancing towards us on the narrow and rough jeep track that passes for a motorable road, shortly after we resumed our journey.

Leader of the gang

When I pulled up beside a durian-carrying 'tough' who looked like the leader of the gang and asked him where he and his mates had got the durians, coconuts etc. that they were carrying, he insolently and with a laugh said they had bought them, and proceeded on their way.

After the young victims had lodged a complaint, together with my employee, at the local police station, the police said they could do little because none of the thugs were known to the victims and were from a village outside the jurisdiction of the police station where the complaint was lodged.

In a day or so after all this, we were able to get the names of two of the gang and passed them on to the police.  "Our" police then proceeded to go through the rigmarole of contacting the police station in whose jurisdiction the gang members lived with a view to having the two individuals picked up for interrogation and suitable action.  Not to waste the reader's time, nothing has come of this up to date.

Just when we thought we had seen the last of the gangsters and had given up any expectation of police action, I get a call about 10 o'clock one night from the boys who were again doing guard duty that night at the durian trees.  One whispers to me on his cellphone that seven of the gangsters had returned, this time armed with swords and knives, demanding durians again.

Accede to the request of the thieves

I suggested that they do not put up any resistance but accede to the 'request' of the thieves and that I would phone the police.

I get through to the police station and inform them of what was transpiring as we spoke.  The policeman taking my call tells me that I should come down to the station the following morning and make a complaint!  When I suggest that, given the urgency and danger of the situation unfolding, this was not a particularly helpful suggestion, the man at the other end of the line insists that the victims themselves called and complain.

The durian guards, in panic mode by now, don't seem to be able to get the police station number right and are unable to get through to the cops.  This leaves us with the task of acting as the conduit for information between the police and the victims of the unfolding crime.  To little practical purpose though, because, despite our entreaties, based on the fear of serious violence, they appear not prepared or not able to take appropriate action.

A while later, the durian guards phone us to say that some of the thugs have left and are coming down the road which passes by our residence.

For the benefit of the reader, we live in an area of dense vegetation, close to a (barely) motorable road with no street lights and with the closest dwellings no nearer than two kilometres from us.  We might as well be living in a tropical jungle in the circumstances, particularly given the fact that our lighting at night is provided by our own generator.

Council of war

Anyway, my partner and I, the 'domestic' and our labour supervisor who has come up the hill on his motorbike at our request, form a council of war to decide on what needs to be done in the circumstances with the distinct prospect that the departing group of thugs could well launch an attack on our residence either in search of loot of some kind or 'just for the hell of it,' particularly since they appear to have had more than their share of kasippu prior to embarking on their adventure.

We agree that the best course of action was to switch off the generator, thereby making our home less of a beacon/lighthouse on the hillside and be vigilant in the event that these thugs decide to attack us. And so the night passes. Not a particularly restful one but one, thankfully, without further incident.

We learn, the next day that, the batch of thugs who had chosen to stay under the durian trees had departed after availing themselves of more of the spoils a little after the first group of their number had departed.

Unable to apprehend

Another trip to the local police station results in the acting O.I.C and another officer going down to the area from which the thugs, after suitable consumption of ganja and illicit brew, start their nightly depredations and, despite two forays, are unable to apprehend even those about whom we had obtained basic identification. 

Despite a significant period of time having elapsed, the police from within whose jurisdiction this gang operates, have done nothing to apprehend them or even to conduct any basic inquiries.

The simple lesson to be learnt from all of this is -  don't depend on the custodians of the law to provide security of person or protection of property in this "land like no other." Do what you need to do to protect your person and property if you are to survive the depredations of thugs in your vicinity in rural Sri Lanka. 

Above all, make no mistake, the rule of the jungle prevails and you need to develop the capacity to defend yourself against armed and dangerous predators if you are to survive.