No one, however, is talking of action against the officers who not only allowed the BD-VHP men to take the law into their hands, but also watched their subordinates being threatened and robbed of their badges.

Members of the Cops Group, which organised the pageant, are frustrated with the inaction. ``The vandals went berserk in the presence of three senior police officials -- DCP (South) Mohan Jha, ACP M M Thakur and PI Chavan -- who just stood there and did nothing'', they raged. ``If we hadn't wound up the show when we did, there would have been blood everywhere.''

One of them asked, ``They were freely hurling abuses, even at girls. Is that what they call culture?'' Police Commissioner J Mahapatra, when contacted, sought to distance himself from the matter. ``I am yet to acquaint myself with the incident, which occurred in my absence'', he said. ``I will make a statement tomorrow.''

DCP Jha, who held the fort in Mahapatra's absence, said, ``Before taking any step, we have to study the pros and cons and ensure that it does not lead to further deterioration of the situation''. Interestingly, Jha sought to deny that the protesters had threatened policemen or snatched their badges. ``Arguments with the police in any kind of agitation is a very normal thing'', he explained, refusing to entertain any further questions. However, a senior police officer, on condition of anonymity, admitted that ``it was a police failure, but it was a political game''.

He said that the police had gone slow in the wake of the suspension of two officers (since stayed by the court) for the firing on Ganeshotsava revellers in Surat last week. The officer pointed out that the city had been peaceful on occasions like Ganesh Chaturthi, Muharrum and Bakr-Id. ``The miscreants should have been arrested there and then. But if we didn't arrest them at that time, why should they be arrested at all now?'', he asked.