India, Sept. 24 -- The police ought to be the natural, visible and trusted representative of the Government to immediately address any concern or perceived danger by the citizenry. Personnel are expected to be accessible, unbiased and positively interventionist to address any crisis. Maintenance of "law and order" is their foremost function. In a wounded and increasingly polarised society like India, where the societal faultlines and suspicions run deep, it is only the supposedly apolitical and "independent" institutions like the police that can theoretically rein in violent tempers, passion and hatred unleashed by those who have vested interest in keeping the societal pot boiling. From controlling secessionist movements, insurgencies, ci...