In many of the superhero comic titles around the world, one of the major conflicts is between the protagonist, generally a masked vigilante working outside the boundaries of law and the law itself. The protagonist generally deems the law as insufficient for making a difference (eg. Batman, Punisher, Daredevil) or sees it as his/her moral responsibility to try and help people (eg. Spiderman, Captain America) and thus operates without sanctions of the law to impart justice, more often than not by violence. The law however does not usually support this and as a result we see a constant conflict between law enforcement and the protagonist.
Indian Superheroes however, have had very little to no trouble at all with the law. In fact many of the Indian crime-fighters have been endorsed by the government (Super Commando Dhruv's Commando Force is recognized by the government as a crime fighting body). Only notable exception has been Doga whose early storylines included a constant stand off with the Law. Of late however, during the contemporary era, the police stand off stories have taken a backseat and Doga spends his time fighting crime almost exclusively. Let us take a moment to understand why is there such a stark difference in the treatment of an almost similar plot point in both these styles of writing.
In the comics from the developed world, superheroes and crime fighters are essentially alternate dispensers of justice. They usually operate outside law and as a result end up competing with the law enforcement agencies to enforce it. The highly efficient law enforcement agency of the developed countries with access to resources and skills to get the job done takes offense at this vigilantism and uses its resources to combat it. The characters that are supported by the police however, either come from the government in one or the other, or live and operate in a city which has a bleak environment. Superman is USA's poster boy and so the cops do not hate him whereas it took decades of hopelessness and despondency to get Gordon to support Batman. Spiderman operating in New York receives no such support from the police or the media in his efforts while Daredevil operating in the crime ridden Hell's Kitchen has favor with the cops.
So we can see a clear correlation between the hero's precinct of operation and the support, official or otherwise, that he receives from the law enforcement. Vigilantes working in safe, happy environments never receive any substantial help and often meet resistance from the law enforcement while characters operating in bleak, crime ridden settings often are supported by the officials.
This is what ties into the attitude of law enforcers in Indian Comics about vigilantism. During the Golden and Silver Ages of Indian comics, trust in the police was waning and the situation of law in India was bad in general. The police was viewed as corrupt and inefficient amongst the masses and was generally mistrusted. As a result they were effectively written off from the story lines. This reflects in Indian comics as the police's role being negligible. Parmanu's alter ego is that of a police officer but even then we see very few glimpses of the police working a case. Most of the crimes are handled by the super heroes while the police are merely concerned with detaining the criminals and keeping them in the prison (something they are hilarious ineffective at for obvious purposes). The police even when appearing in these comics were almost exclusively used as a comic relief and were often shown as cowardly and bumbling fools who could not get anything done to save their lives, literally.
You could argue that the police handles the lower level crimes but we see in many comics characters like Dhruv or even Nagraj dealing with pickpockets, muggers and general low life thugs, something which is way below their usual job profile of saving the universe every other thursday. Another argument that can be made in opposition is that the writers could not factor in police subplots into the 32 or 64 page comics which were the norm back then. This however can be denied as one of Doga primary antagonist back during its early years was Inspector Cheetah and we often saw Cheetah on Doga's tail (pun intended) in something almost resembling a subplot.
One major counter example however is that of Diamond Comics' Chacha Chaudhary. In Chacha Chaudhary comics, the police are shown neither as ineffective nor as irrelevant. They do however seek Chachaji's help on crimes they can't solve. It is also noteworthy that Chacha Chaudhary himself isn't as much of a crime fighter than he is a consulting detective. He is an old man incapable of running around, fighting criminals and so he outsources the justice dispensing to Sabu or almost as often the police. Therefore in Chacha Caoudhary comics, the police play a somewhat important role and have not been relegated to being nobodies.
In conclusion, in Indian comics, most characters do not face any trouble with the law enforcement. This is an effect of the general perception of the police being ineffective by the Indian population in real life which manifests itself into the storylines causing the police to take a backseat and their faults appearing as exaggerated versions of themselves, with the force usually being portrayed as irrelevant and almost useless in fighting crime. There has been a shift of late in the contemporary age where the police have been given some amount of recognition but the change is still too slow and too little to be of any significance.
Indian Superheroes however, have had very little to no trouble at all with the law. In fact many of the Indian crime-fighters have been endorsed by the government (Super Commando Dhruv's Commando Force is recognized by the government as a crime fighting body). Only notable exception has been Doga whose early storylines included a constant stand off with the Law. Of late however, during the contemporary era, the police stand off stories have taken a backseat and Doga spends his time fighting crime almost exclusively. Let us take a moment to understand why is there such a stark difference in the treatment of an almost similar plot point in both these styles of writing.
In the comics from the developed world, superheroes and crime fighters are essentially alternate dispensers of justice. They usually operate outside law and as a result end up competing with the law enforcement agencies to enforce it. The highly efficient law enforcement agency of the developed countries with access to resources and skills to get the job done takes offense at this vigilantism and uses its resources to combat it. The characters that are supported by the police however, either come from the government in one or the other, or live and operate in a city which has a bleak environment. Superman is USA's poster boy and so the cops do not hate him whereas it took decades of hopelessness and despondency to get Gordon to support Batman. Spiderman operating in New York receives no such support from the police or the media in his efforts while Daredevil operating in the crime ridden Hell's Kitchen has favor with the cops.
So we can see a clear correlation between the hero's precinct of operation and the support, official or otherwise, that he receives from the law enforcement. Vigilantes working in safe, happy environments never receive any substantial help and often meet resistance from the law enforcement while characters operating in bleak, crime ridden settings often are supported by the officials.
This is what ties into the attitude of law enforcers in Indian Comics about vigilantism. During the Golden and Silver Ages of Indian comics, trust in the police was waning and the situation of law in India was bad in general. The police was viewed as corrupt and inefficient amongst the masses and was generally mistrusted. As a result they were effectively written off from the story lines. This reflects in Indian comics as the police's role being negligible. Parmanu's alter ego is that of a police officer but even then we see very few glimpses of the police working a case. Most of the crimes are handled by the super heroes while the police are merely concerned with detaining the criminals and keeping them in the prison (something they are hilarious ineffective at for obvious purposes). The police even when appearing in these comics were almost exclusively used as a comic relief and were often shown as cowardly and bumbling fools who could not get anything done to save their lives, literally.
You could argue that the police handles the lower level crimes but we see in many comics characters like Dhruv or even Nagraj dealing with pickpockets, muggers and general low life thugs, something which is way below their usual job profile of saving the universe every other thursday. Another argument that can be made in opposition is that the writers could not factor in police subplots into the 32 or 64 page comics which were the norm back then. This however can be denied as one of Doga primary antagonist back during its early years was Inspector Cheetah and we often saw Cheetah on Doga's tail (pun intended) in something almost resembling a subplot.
One major counter example however is that of Diamond Comics' Chacha Chaudhary. In Chacha Chaudhary comics, the police are shown neither as ineffective nor as irrelevant. They do however seek Chachaji's help on crimes they can't solve. It is also noteworthy that Chacha Chaudhary himself isn't as much of a crime fighter than he is a consulting detective. He is an old man incapable of running around, fighting criminals and so he outsources the justice dispensing to Sabu or almost as often the police. Therefore in Chacha Caoudhary comics, the police play a somewhat important role and have not been relegated to being nobodies.
In conclusion, in Indian comics, most characters do not face any trouble with the law enforcement. This is an effect of the general perception of the police being ineffective by the Indian population in real life which manifests itself into the storylines causing the police to take a backseat and their faults appearing as exaggerated versions of themselves, with the force usually being portrayed as irrelevant and almost useless in fighting crime. There has been a shift of late in the contemporary age where the police have been given some amount of recognition but the change is still too slow and too little to be of any significance.
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ReplyDeleteNever viewed the relationship between our superheroes and the Police department in this context.
ReplyDeleteThe points you highlight are quite valid and noteworthy.
On the same lines, Manoj comics characters too, to a large extent, enjoyed a cordial relationship with the authorities.
Ram-Rahim, Crookbond, Sagar-Salim, Amar-Akbar, Colonel Karn, Vinod-Hamid were either consulting detectives or Government spies.
Sherbaaz too, was kind of a problem solver whose services were availed by the Police department quite often.
Interestingly, two very famous characters of Manoj Comics – Hawaldar Bahadur and Inspector Manoj were part of the department (as the name suggests) and were loved by the readers. Hawaldar Bahadur, however, faced some malice from within his colleagues because of his feats and his popularity.
In Raj Comics only Inspector Steel could be considers a full-fledged crime fighter who was also a part of the Police department. Inspector Vinay (Parmanu) hasn’t done enough crime fighting in uniform for him to be considered a uniformed crime-fighter.
As I am writing the previous like, RC’s Barrister Vishwanath comes to my mind. Only 4 comics, but I find his a really interesting character and I wish we had more of his stories.