This sad story needs to be told. Ravindra Patil, a young boy from Dhule, joined Mumbai Police as a constable in 1997 and, later, was chosen for the elite commando squad, whose primary duty is to tackle terror situations. Instead, he was plucked out of the squad and sent as bodyguard to Salman Khan. Mumbai Police needs to rethink its policy on providing men to protect VIPs. In this case, Salman had received threats from the underworld. Sending a young and inexperienced constable, with just two years of active service, to protect a matinee idol like Salman was most thoughtless.
If there was a real threat, a lone constable would hardly suffice. VIPs should be advised to hire trained security men from the reputed agencies now mushrooming in Mumbai. In advanced countries of the West, people like Salman have hired such trained security personnel from the open market. Governments there don’t provide security to private individuals by the logic that, if they did, rich people would skim away all the policemen enlisted to protect the life and property of the entire population.