Once bitten twice shy

Policemen resort to various methods to overpower criminals. These range from roughing up the man to immobilize him or at worst by dealing a blow to some sensitive part to bring him under control.

However recently the public were made aware of a new method by the khaki brigade to deal with suspects whom they arrest. This is by sinking their teeth into a good fleshy portion in the person of the victim. In other words BITING. Perhaps the khaki men are giving vent to some hidden frustration.

With the end to the war and limited action they may be in need of an outlet. Also with the police department banned from going on strike, staging protests or death fasts something had to give.

According to a front page news item last week two policemen had first assaulted and then bitten a man at a check point. The man who was travelling in a tractor had been bitten in the stomach. The duo naturally had been interdicted apparently because even in the police manuals biting does not constitute a mode of arrest.

Putting the bite, yes. That of course is in a different sense when motorists caught flouting road rules are asked to fork out. Even then their bark is worse than the bite as attested to by many a victim who were at the receiving end.

We don’t know what made the cops resort to this method which indeed is unprecedented. One bite could be tolerable but here both policemen had sunk their teeth evidently into a choice morsel of flesh no doubt making a big impression of their molars on the poor man’s stomach.

This is one case where the cops will have no escape route. The teeth marks would be conclusive evidence in any court of law. This could also forewarn any other policemen with a cannibalist bent to think twice. After all don’t they say once bitten twice shy.

What made the two policemen decide on this unusual course is anybody’s guess. Were they under the influence of liquor and used the hapless victim as the bite? But such accompaniments to alcoholic drinks are usually ‘devilled’, ‘Fried’ or ‘grilled’.

Did the cops, assuming of course they were under the influence of liquor see something in the would be victim’s physical make up that answered to the aforementioned culinary styles? But here they had obviously bitten off more than they could chew.

They have been interdicted. Maybe these two policemen were given to graft and may have been waiting to put the bite on their victim. That it was literally the case could be put down to one of those things. Hopefully this will not set off a biting spree among the general public now that the guardians of the law no less has shown them the way.

Particularly with our people’s representatives who are now gearing up for the mini polls. Already most of them are going for each other’s jugular with vampiric delight. It would also be interesting to see if our erstwhile parliamentarians too would follow suit. Why not? There is scope for some good juicy bites in the ample torsos of our legislators who are forever asking us to tighten our belts.

Mercifully the victim of this double bite was a man. We don’t wish to hazard a guess of the consequences had the victim been a member of the opposite sex. With so many revealing attire now the norm, the policemen would not have needed a second invitation. Hope the habit does not catch on and extend far into uncharted territory.