The administration is seen as having lost control when the policeman on the street reaches for his/her baton. Ideally, a cop uses the baton, and subsequently other deterrents, including firearms, only when tackling a situation that has or is on the verge of getting out of control.

In that sense, this morning’s rally from India Gate to Rashtrapati Bhavan, to protest Sunday night’s beastly gangrape and near-fatal assault in a bus in south Delhi and demand better protection of the average citizen, might have gone “out of control”. The reason the cops had no way but to use the baton, water cannon and teargas shells on the protesters — primarily students, many teachers, youths, activists and concerned citizens.

The problem is, when peaceful protests are deemed to have gone out of control it is the failure of the men and women manning the streets and the officials administering them from their offices.

So welcome to Delhi, the national capital where the administration seems to have lost the plot barely six days after a woman is mauled, raped, battered and, perhaps presumed to be dead, thrown out of a bus by seven men. And it’s barely the third day of the agitation, which is seen to be gathering force.

In three days, one of the country’s best-administered police forces has turned from being held apathetic at best — where on earth were the men in khaki when THAT bus crossed three police checkposts THAT night? — to being the rank bad guys — what on earth were they doing, using force to stop the agitators? — and the liability lies with the rudderless leadership.

Ironically, this comes barely a day after Delhi Police got a pat on its back from the union home secretary for “outstanding” work in nabbing the culprits. Equally ironically, that very incident gave the first peek into the now-unravelling story of how the administration is losing the plot: when you need one of the nation’s topmost bureaucrats to bat for the cops for doing their job, you don’t expect much of a reaction. Save a smile, a smirk or scorn.

Yes, the country needs order. Yes, there’s no excuse for breaking law, not even during peaceful protests. And, yes, the agitators should not cross the limit. And yes, there’s a thin line between a rally and a mob — you cross that, and you invite justifiable wrath.

But did they merit a violent restraint? Should the country’s top bosses be safe from the voice, noise, demand and angst of thousands over an issue that drew out so much rage, anguish and even tears from parliamentarians barely two days ago? And should the country’s president and prime minister be held and protected as such Martians that you cannot protest outside their home or office?

Dear administrators, the questions are staring at the face and unless you address them now the momentum may be lost forever, at least for this scene and act of the bigger plot. Already, TV is showing the rage among many in the crowd has turned against the state and central governments — like it did in the Anna Hazare movement last year, starting from the immediate issue of corruption to the vicarious anti-government pitch — and time, like the slippery buffoon it is, is running out.