Police Torture And Good Governance
By Gladson Dungdung
23 September, 2007
Countercurrents.org
An ordinary thief has been tortured by the Police in Nath Nagar of Bhagalpur of Bihar in style of a crime scene of any Hindi Film which shocked the entire country at a time when the government of Bihar is trumpeting its achievements as good governance. The government took immediate action and punished the two police men involved in the incident to prove its commitment to the good governance. But the Police Men Association and many senior Police officers deny the incident as a case of police torture and are advocating for reinstatement of the two dismissed police men. They argue that the police men tried their best to protect the thief but the crowd did not allow them to do so.The live telecast by TV News Channels of Allahabad fake police encounter and Bhagalpur incident of Police torture has created commotion in the entire country. But in spite of this there is no any impact on the Bihar police. The cases of Police torture is increasing day by day. Soon after the Bhagalpur incident, the Police of Bikram Police Station of Patna district severely beaten and caused disappearance of an accused Kaushal Kumar and declared him an absconder to save them from the allegation of torture. In another incident the officer in charge of Phulwarisharif Police station broke hands and legs of a footballer Santosh Kumar and extracted his teeth.
The heart breaking incidents of Police torture have taken place near Patna the capital city of Bihar. There are also many incidents of putting minor boys in the police lock up by involving them in false cases. All these incidents are crucial examples of misuse of power by the officials who are responsible for the law and order. They have made a fun of law. After Nitish Kumar became the Chief Minister of Bihar there is a rapid increment in cases of Police torture, which had not been seen in the history of Bihar so far.
A Human Rights organization People’s Watch has monitored and analyzed the case of police torture in four districts of Bihar i.e. Patna, Bhojpur, Nalanda and Nawada. In this study the cases included are Police torture, fake encounter, torture of women, custodial death, Lathi charge, Police firing and negligence in duty which took place between July 2006 to June 2007. The study reveals that out of the total victims in these cases of Police torture 76 percent victims are male and 24 percent are female.
From the line of caste it shows that 47.5 percent victims are from the Dalit community which is the highest followed by the backward community with 31 percent and 21.5 percent of higher caste. If one looks to all these cases in the occupation wise one finds that 45 percent victims are daily wage labourers. Beside them 9 percent students, 5.4 percent house wives, 3.6 service holders and 38.4 percent victims are from the other walk of life were subjected to police torture.The study reveals the cases of police torture from the angle of age of victims; the 11.4 percent victims are children of age between 0 to 14 years. The 28.3 percent victims are between age group of 15 to 30, 49.3 percent victims are between age group of 30 to 50 and the rest 11 percent above 50 years were victims of police torture. On the basis of education 30.1 percent illiterate or uneducated are victims of police torture. 10.8 percent highly educated people and 59.1 percent literate or educated has been subjected to police torture.
The most startling fact is that in 47.7 percent cases, perpetrators (police or private persons) have lodged criminal cases against the victims. The 7.2 percent of torture victims have died up till now and 5 percent cases of police torture have been compromised. The study also reveals that highest number of torture case, which is 32 percent took place in the police stations. 27.5 percent at home, 22.6 percent in village or outside village and 17.3 percent elsewhere. The perpetrators are 57.8 percent constables 28.5 percent sub inspectors, 9.8 percent inspectors 2.5 percent Dy SPs and 1.4 percent higher officials. The data clearly shows that the lower ranks in police are responsible for the majority of torture incidents.
Here the question arises that why police inflict torture on the people? The State Director of People Watch and former District & Session Judge Abhaya Shanker Prasad discloses that the main purposes of police torture are to acquire information from the people, punishment to the accused, intimidation and teaching a lesson for future. According to him the police commit fake encounter to get overnight promotion in service, to get reward, and to get high amount of money but some time inhuman act of fake encounters are done under political pressure too.
The society is also not less responsible for the incidents of Police torture. It can be said that the society as a whole has become violent and believe in instance justice. The majority people whether they are Advocates, Teachers, Doctors or common men support the Police torture and also deny human rights without a second thought. They question, what for the police is if not for beating? In such a state how can only Police be blamed for torture? If police torture need to be stopped then every one should be made aware of human rights and torture. One must start practicing the human right within, in the family and in the society. There is a thrust need to work towards the accountable and transparent system of governance so that the very human rights of the people can be protected.
Though a bit of good governance is being seen in Bihar in the regime of the Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. But the way cases of police torture and Dalit atrocities are increasing is a big question mark to the existence of good governance in Bihar. Police torture is the worst forms of human rights violation which can not be tolerated. There is highly need for the government to take strong action to stop police torture. The Constitution of India guarantees the right to life, equality, liberty and dignity of individual to its people and the state has duty to protect these rights. The good governance can not be established till the human rights are protected.
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