Political
Diary
New Delhi, 7 July 2020
Rakshak
Ya Katil?
LAW
UNTO THEMSELVES
By
Poonam I Kaushish
Last week tore to
tatters the slogan: With you, for you, always. The sordid tale has it genesis
in a father-son duo keeping their mobile shop open 15 minutes into curfew hours
in Tamil Nadu’s Santhakulam, being arrested and brutally tortured by the police
who hit their private parts and buttocks leaving deep wounds followed by death.
Worse, they tried to cover-up but for timely intervention of the Madras High
Court which ordered a CBI-CDI enquiry. Earning the ignominy of rakshak nahi, katil.
Predictably, the
public disgust has sparked rage nationwide even as courts continue to receive
complaints and physical evidence of police torture of over a dozen victims. In
fact, the heinous cold-blooded custodial murders of Jeyraj and Beniks are a
chilling reality of the police becoming all powerful wreaking havoc with
horrifying impunity. An environment, wherein the men in khaki behave like bloodthirsty katils
with the State maintaining a deafening silence.
Turn to any mohalla, district, city or State the
story is tragically the same. Be it a minor offence or major crime, brutality
and bestiality have become synonymous with the police. Want to get rid of
somebody? Call up the “Policewala Katil”
From bride-burning to road rage, out-of-court “settlements”, fake encounters
and torture deaths it has trapped all with bullet-proof precision. Sending
petrified shivers down one’s spine.
Two cases in point: It
is not incidental that umpteen complaints of police rancorousness in Covid 19 times are rampant whereby
the pandemic has become a pretext to short-circuit the rule of law.
Thrashing and abusing
migrant workers, shop-keepers and hawkers for not paying hafta, people forced
to hop like frogs for being on the road during curfew.
A complainant goes to
file an FIR. The SHO refuses to record it if it pertains to the rich and
powerful or demands money, threatens and shoos him away. A woman complainant is
molested and raped, specially in notorious UP and Bihar. If the FIR is against
a corrupt policeman, God help. Who will investigate it? How will evidence be
collected? None of his colleagues will oblige, to protect their own. Leaving
the petitioner with limited options: Go to the media, write to higher authority
and hope to hell that somebody pays heed.
Less said the better of
our polity. All know what is happening. Umpteen Police Commissions have been
constituted and over 8 reports presented. Only to be dumped in raddi and forgotten. Why? At the crux:
Who should control the police? The State
Government or an independent body? A
Catch-22 question, for our power-greedy netas
to honestly answer and us to stupidly expect.
Experience
shows how over the years the police has not only misused but also grossly
abused its powers. Scandalously,
it defies logic and accountability with impunity thanks to protection from
their political mai baaps in power who use them as an instrument of partisan agendas against rivals, businessmen, hoi
polloi etc.
Questionably, is the police more sinned against than
sinning? Are the main culprits politicians? The truth is midway. Both are two
sides of the same coin’ enjoying bonhomie when it suits them. Both work in
tandem in furthering their own self-interest wherein the police has been
politicised over a period of time by the misuse of power over appointments and
transfers. Consequentially, the system becomes self-perpetuating.
Politicians appoint
police leaders who are pliable and even, sometimes, iniquitous. Chief Ministers
use transfers as a danda to get cops
to do their bidding. Both khakiwallahs
and Ministers scratch each others’ back with no concern for public good and for
upholding the law. Hence, criminalization of politics has given way to
politicization of crime and political criminals. Resulting in complete
brutalization and dehumanisation of the polity and police.
Yet, can the ‘upar
se order aaya tha’ excuse isolate the police from blame when in the
garb of maintaining law and order it thrusts a reign of terror? Is it true that
a deeper rot in our policing mechanism has crept in?
Think. 'Encounters''
have become a common phenomenon in policing across the country. Public approval
of this blatantly illegal practice follows the steady breakdown of the judicial
system over the last few decades. This practice has resulted in making
criminals of policemen. Remember the public’s gleeful joy when the Telangana
police gunned down four rapists. Unless the judicial process comes back fast on
track public pressure will succeed in perpetuating this uncivilized practice.
As things stand, frustrated
officers with nothing to lose engage in abusive behavior which is compounded by
unskilled junior and low ranking officials going along to please their bosses, earn
their confidence and become partners in crime. Those
who refuse are humiliated and given punishment postings. In UP the average
tenure of DSPs is an abominable three months. Punjab, too, has a poor track
record.
Of course, police is
notorious for highhandedness and third-degree torture methods. Senior officers
call it a normalised practice from the British era. Officers thrive by
releasing photos of accused in police custody with fractured arms and legs.
“Slippery toilets” at the station are cited as reason for their fractures to
the magistrate. Notwithstanding, it is ‘normalised’ extra-judicial punishment
“to criminal elements.” In every State there are often a handful of senior
officers who endorse such extra-judicial practices for their flawed
understanding about criminals and their origins.
Said a senior police
officer, “compromises have become more a routine than an exception. This encourages
corruption, which is an all pervasive phenomenon.” The problem is “hafta” and “chai pani” are considered a policeman’s birthright who get away by
hiding behind netas for their venality.
Recently, a Delhi Police DCP stood accused of amassing disproportionate assets
worth a few hundred crores while a UP Police DG disclosed an Inspector General was
under investigations for releasing a criminal involved in the Nabha
jailbreak.
Where do we go from
here? The Government needs to equivocally spell out that police excess will not
be tolerated under any circumstances. It must not only end the prevalent
culture of impunity but also impress upon the force that due process must be
upheld and that it is not a privilege but the citizen’s right.
Time to enact laws
against torture wherein Parliament should ratify the UN Convention Against Torture
and amend the Indian Evidence Act to make inadmissible any evidence obtained on
the basis of police interrogations that involve the use of torture or cruel,
inhuman or degrading treatment or other illegal coercion.
Alongside, create a
system of effective independent investigations into complaints of police abuse and
misconduct. This is paramount against the backdrop there is no independent and
effective investigations into complaints against the police. To reduce impunity
Central and State Governments should undertake independent investigations and comply
with the Supreme Court’s order in the Prakash Singh case mandating the
establishment of a Police Complaints Authorities and provide such bodies
sufficient resources and independence to carry out their duties in a way that
creates public confidence.
Simultaneously, the
Government should provide incentives for better police behaviour. Fill more
senior and junior positions by promotions, not direct recruitment. Senior police
officers should actively encourage juniors to innovate police station
procedures and publicly appreciate them. The Centre should bolster the capacity
of the National and State Human Rights Commissions and create a culture that
rewards respect for human rights and professional conduct.
Clearly, the police
will have to change radically in order to become people-friendly. The goal
should be to reinforce the Rule of Law along-with the ethos shifting from
enforcement to enablement. Law and Order should be divided into two separate
departments. With a separate police force for each.
As Herman Goldstein
succinctly said: “The strength of democracy and quality of life enjoyed by
citizens is determined by the police’s ability to discharge duties.” Will the aam aadmi continue to rot behind iron
cages at the hands of the policewala katil?
A time to ponder and introspect: Kiska
danda, kiski lathi aur kiski bhains?
---- INFA
(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)
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