India, April 24 -- Everyday, the police in India face an Odyssean dilemma - the protagonist of Homer's epic, Odyssey, had to choose between Scylla, a six-headed monster, and sailing past Charybdis, a deadly whirlpool, on his tortuous voyage back home after the Trojan war. India's police force, similarly, has to choose between enforcing the rule of law and giving effect to the "law of rulers". The police may have taken an oath to enforce the rule of law but that, quite often, involves daunting risks of antagonising the political class, which has the power to transfer, punish, and humiliate policemen. Under the circumstances, the majority of police personnel choose - quite like Odysseus - what they perceive as the less painful path: Followi...