Punish
The Criminals In Khaki
By Harsh Dobhal
31 August, 2007
Countercurrents.org
Bhagalpur
is back in news again. Same Bhagalpur where in a barbaric act, policemen
had poured acid in the eyes of 31 undertrials in 1980, blinding them
tortuously. The incident had shaken the nation's conscience then. Twenty-seven
years later, television sets grabbed our eyeballs with shocking images
of a 20-year-old man being dragged by a policeman riding a motorcycle,
with his hand and legs tied. Salim Ilyas, alleged to have stolen a gold
chain from a woman, was severely beaten up by a lynch mob when two men
in uniform arrived on the spot. These custodians of law, instead of
saving the boy from mindless public wrath, joined the blood-thirsty
crowd, beat him up and dragged him by their motorcycle for well over
100 metres until the chain snapped and this small-town pick pocket fell
unconscious. It seemed a perfect shot straight from some Hindi film.
A sequel to 1980 acid pouring-into-eyes incident.
This is not new to Bihar
where parading women naked in the street, gouging out the eyes of prisoners,
chopping off body parts, throwing acid on faces are not uncommon. Ilyas
was a petty thief and a thief should undoubtedly be punished. But there
are adequate laws for that and what men in khaki did on August 27, reaffirms
the barbaric and brutal face of the police of a democracy that prides
itself in boasting about protecting fundamental rights of its citizens.
And why only Bihar. Media
reports are replete with incidents from all across India of police torture,
sometimes beating up suspects to death. Hardly any day passes without
a report regarding abuse of power by these protectors of law. In one
such incident a few years back, a young management graduate was beaten
to death by a drunken cop over an argument over Rs 50 autorikshaw fare
in Mumbai's Thane district.
While Bhagalpur incident
is as much about mob violence which should have no place in a democracy,
the uncondonable behaviour of the crowd can also be seen as people having
lost their faith in the rule of law. And, thus, at the slightest opportunity
they tend to take law in their own hands.
However, police behaviour
such as the one displayed in Bhagalpur with such impunity needs a closer
scrutiny. Let us not forget that perpetrators of crime of acid act in
1980 got away with their crime. While on Supreme Court direction, the
31 victims (26 of them are dead now), got a monthly compensation of
Rs 500 as only as a sop in the name of justice rendered to them, the
policemen responsible for the heinous crime were never brought to justice
by successive governments in Bihar.
Mumbai's communal carnage
of 1992-93 was aggravated by the shameful role played by the police.
Years later, Sri Krishna Commission, set up by the government after
the riots, came out with its report that indicted over 30 police officers
for their role. The commission's report found specific police officers
to be utterly "trigger happy," "guilty of unnecessary
and excessive firing resulting in the deaths of innocent Muslims,"
"extremely communal" and "guilty of inhuman and brutal
behaviour." In short, the Commission found out, the police were
"communally biased against Muslims" and observed that the
lapses in the investigations were not merely cases of negligence but
deliberate attempts to suppress material evidence and sabotage the probe
into violent incidents. It recommended strict action against them. Yet,
no significant action has been taken against these policemen till date.
Among these are officers against whom an FIR was lodged but no arrest,
suspension or dismissal took place. Officers against whom departmental
enquiry is completed escaped with minor or no action taken and many
officers have been exonerated.
Obviously, police personnel
acting with impunity know that they are likely to go unpunished. This
is also explained by a strong nexus between criminals and politicians
in recent times. The criminalisation of politics and politicians has
led to undermine the authority of honest police officers and consequent
decline in the discipline of the force with the police becoming vulnerable
to wrong influences looking elsewhere for protection and rewards. On
the other hand, the State has enacted 'draconian laws' that give police
and armed forces unaccounted powers. This has fostered climate in which
impunity flourishes and which ultimately has shaken public's confidence
in police.
Till few years back, if a
mob was beating up a petty thief anywhere, someone from the crowd would
have leaped up for his rescue. Not any more. With the faith in police
and constitutional machinery eroding very fast, nobody wants to be caught
in a legal complication. Either way, it is the failure of the constitutional
machinery.
While the system has failed
repeatedly in punishing the personnel responsible for crime and instead
enforces 'black laws", the police quite frequently acts beyond
the bounds of even these laws, almost with impunity. And that is why
the incidents of third grade torture, killings in fake encounters, maiming,
rape, violating modesty of women, opening fire on peaceful demonstrations,
setting houses and even villages on fire and dragging a young boy through
a government owned motorcycle. Police know that most probably they would
not have to face, much less suffer, any punishment. Therefore, blinding
of prisoners in Bhagalpur, extra-judicial killings in Punjab and Jammu
and Kashmir, police encounters here and there appear to be having the
tacit complicity, and even approval, of the State. The August 27 Bhagalpur
incident is reflective of a deeper rot besetting the system.
(The writer is Managing Editor
with Combat Law, a journal on human rights and law, and can be contacted
at [email protected])
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