Attack, raid, threaten, make scurrilous accusations, leak targeted information and footage, inflict maximum reputational carnage and imprison. This is the playbook of the mafia, not of a serious police force that swore allegiance to the people of this country and is committed to fighting crime.

Yet, the information coming to light now that lawyer Akil Bissessur has been granted bail and the serious allegations made by his lawyers against some members of the police paint a picture so desperately sad that it is dispiriting.

Without wanting to paint all the police force with the same brush – as many police officers are law-abiding citizens bent on doing what is right by their conscience – we have all watched in awe the video of a group of police officers raiding the home of Akil Bissessur’s girlfriend, reluctantly showing a warrant apparently not signed by a magistrate. We watched the house being subjected to acts of indescribable barbarism. What we saw was not police officers doing what they can to access the premises of what they claimed to be a drug dealer. The footage clearly showed acts of vandalism and viciousness unworthy of our republic.

Then the police leaked a targeted chunk of their own video, suggesting that the drugs they were after were in the overnight bag the lawyer carried out of the room. What followed was the stuff nightmares are made of: both Bissessur and his girlfriend were taken into custody and spent 19 full days in detention! Anyone who has visited our detention centres can attest to the filthy, unsanitary conditions imposed on detainees there.

All this for the police to suddenly come and tell us, 19 full days later, that they have no objection to the release of the one they had accused of being a drug trafficker. And we learn by and by that the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) didn’t find Akil Bissessur’s DNA on the drugs ceased in the premises of the raided house that now looks more like a construction site than the home it must have been before the police exacted their revenge. No DNA on the drugs supposedly found on a drug trafficker who had been on the police radar for months! Please tell me another!

Yet, in the middle of this tragedy, there is uplifting news: first, the system many had started doubting has proven once again that it is safe and sound. Secondly, the FSL didn’t tamper with the evidence. Thirdly, the police did not object to the lawyer’s release once they failed to show proof of his culpability. Fourthly, a magistrate released him with minimal constraints: he only reports to the police station once a week on a Saturday, which allows him to carry on with his professional activities unhindered…

What this episode has also shown is that, when there is apparent gross injustice, men and women of good faith come together to fight it as one. If some of the “Avengers” preferred to hit their political calculator to see what political mileage can be gained or lost out of this, others fearlessly ran to the rescue and challenged the narrative distilled by the police. Perhaps the sweetest part of this bitter saga is former Judge Balancy also lending a hand to see the triumph of justice.

So perhaps not all is lost. Perhaps such tragedies act as reminders that justice still prevails, late – very late at times – but it still does. More importantly, that there are men and women still prepared to fight for it. That arguably does not erase the pain and suffering at times inflicted on innocent hapless citizens. But it’s still something.