Tortured
State
By Gladson Dungdung
13 October, 2007
Tehelka
At a time when the government
of Bihar is trumpeting its achievements as good governance, the images
of a mob led by policemen assaulting a petty thief in Nath Nagar in
Bhagalpur, Bihar, shocked the entire country after it was shown on TV.
To prove its commitment to good governance, the government took immediate
action and punished the two policemen involved in the incident. But
the Police Men Association and many senior police officers deny that
the incident was a case of police torture and want the two dismissed
policemen to be reinstated. They argue that the policemen tried their
best to protect the thief but the crowd did not allow them to do so.
But initial outrage created
by the live telecast by TV news channels of the Allahabad fake police
encounter and the Bhagalpur incident has had little impact on the Bihar
police. The cases of police torture are increasing day by day in the
state. Soon after the Bhagalpur incident, the police of Bikram Police
Station of Patna district severely beat and caused the 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 the hands and legs of
a footballer Santosh Kumar and extracted his teeth. There have also
been several incidents of police locking up minor boys after involving
them in false cases.
It is notable that these
heart-breaking incidents of police torture and high-handedness have
taken place near the capital city of Bihar. They serve as crucial examples
of misuse of power by the officials who are responsible for the law
and order. After Nitish Kumar became the Chief Minister of Bihar there,
there has been a rise in the occurrence of such cases, at a scale that
has not been seen in the history of Bihar before.
People's Watch, a human rights
organisation has monitored and analysed the cases of police torture
in four districts of Bihar: Patna, Bhojpur, Nalanda and Nawada. Most
of the cases included in this study involved custodial torture and death,
fake encounters, torture of women, lathi charge, police firing and negligence
in duty that 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 female.
Furthermore, the study shows
that the highest number of victims, about 47.5 percent of the total
number, is from the Dalit community, followed by the backward community
with 31 percent and victims from the higher castes forming 21.5 percent.
And occupation-wise comparison of the victims reveal that 45 percent
of victims are daily wage labourers, 9 percent students, 5.4 percent
house wives, 3.6 service holders, with the remaining 38.4 percent victims
coming from other walks of life.
The study reveals the cases
of police torture from the angle of age of victims; 11.4 percent of
victims are children of age between 0 to 14 years, and 28.3 percent
between 15 to 30. On the basis of education, the study showed that 30.1
percent of victims are illiterate or uneducated, 59.1 percent literate
or educated, and 10.8 percent highly educated.
The most startling fact is
that in 47.7 percent cases, the perpetrators, whether 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 cases, 32 percent, took place in police stations, 27.5 percent
at home, 22.6 percent in villages or outside villages and 17.3 percent
elsewhere. The perpetrators are 57.8 percent constables, 28.5 percent
sub inspectors, 9.8 percent inspectors, 2.5 percent DySPs and 1.4 percent
higher officials. The data clearly shows that the lower ranks in police
are responsible for the majority of torture incidents.
But none of this constitutes
an answer to the key question: why the police use torture on ordinary
people? The state director of People Watch and former district &
session judge Abhaya Shanker Prasad discloses that the main purposes
of police torture is to acquire information from suspects, as punishment
to the accused, and for intimidation and teaching a lesson for future.
Fake encounters, according to him, are often done for promotion in service,
to get a reward but also under political pressure.
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 more violent and demands instant justice.
The majority of the people, whether they are from the professional class
or common men, support police torture and also denies human rights without
a second thought. What is the police for, if not for punishment, is
the question they commonly ask. In such a society, the police alone
cannot be blamed for such incidents. For the situation to change, individuals
must start with respecting human rights within the family as well as
the community. Only then will the government's thrust to create an accountable
and transparent system of governance can succeed and the human rights
of ordinary citizens can be protected.
The fact is that the Nitish
Kumar administration has shown some signs of good governance in the
state, but the increasing number of incidents of torture, lynching and
atrocities against the weakest section of the population has put a question
mark over the government's achievements. Police torture is one of the
worst forms of human rights violation, which must not be tolerated.
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. There can be no talk of good governance when the basic
human rights of citizens are being violated on a day-to-day basis.
Gladson Dungdung
is a human rights activist working against police torture in Bihar
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