The shooters came under attack on the heels of an altercation between a security guard of the complex and the driver of a DIG of police following the latter's attempt to park his car at a place where parking is not allowed. The tiff centering on the incident soon degenerated into a one-sided drubbing of the helpless shooters by the policemen.

The injured include Asif Hossain Khan, the boy who won a gold medal for the country at the 2002 Commonwealth Games. His participation in the next Asian Games has become uncertain as doctors have said that it would take at least six weeks for him to recover fully. That is certainly not how gold medallists are treated in any civilised society.

The police violated the law twice. First, the insistence on parking a vehicle at a place not designated for this purpose was not expected of the law enforcers. Secondly, they pounced on the men who had tried to resist the violation of a rule. Obviously, the rules cannot be different for the police -- a truth the law enforcers failed to accept. And what is most shocking is that they swooped on the shooters and employees at the complex without even considering whether all these people were involved in the altercation between the driver and the security guard.

Then they cooked up a story to defend themselves, or to frame charges against the victims, which amounted to brazen lies. This is a favourite ploy of the law enforcers to cover up their misdeeds.

The police atrocities at the shooting complex must not go unpunished. Somebody at the top has to take the responsibility of the totally uncalled for attack on the shooters. The law enforcers have to realise that they are not above the law.