Might Is Right: How Parties In Power (Mis)Used The Indian Police Force

On January 14, the Delhi Police got a few ­admonitory lessons from Tis Hazari judge Kamini Lau. 바카라�Have you read the Constitution?바카라� Lau asked, as she tore into them for arresting Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad in connection with anti-CAA ­protests, and for behaving as if 바카라�Jama Masjid is in Pakistan바카라�. (She granted him bail the next day바카라�although clouding the trail a bit by telling him to stay off Delhi and not 바카라�interfere바카라� in its elections.) The focus here, however, is not Azad. It바카라�s how the police바카라�as an institution, as the most visible instrument of law바카라�seem all too often to ­occupy a space far away from the ideal. Which is, working for the citizenry, securing their pursuit of legal freedoms in a hugely unequal, violent society. Something else Judge Lau said바카라�that Section 144 of the CrPC cannot be used as an instrument of repression바카라�offers a clue. The structure of power in which the police are embedded is still that of the colonial era, where the people are seen as the enemy.

Scan, in your mind, the images of brute police force in Jamia Millia Islamia, including inside its library. (That this helped 바카라�nationalise바카라� the anti-CAA protests only showed what Indians thought of it.) Contrast that with its mute inaction as a masked mob ran amok in JNU. And later, a transparent lack of impartiality as DCP Joy Tirkey listed the accused at a press conference바카라�naming Left-affiliated students (who bore enough signs of being victims in that episode), and a conspicuous silence on the ABVP. Fan out to Lucknow, where the arrest and torture of Sadaf Zafar only crowned charges of a reign of ­communally motivated brutalities across mofussil UP. Mangalore police in Karnataka invited charges of a ­similarly violent partisanship.

But the problem is deep-rooted. It lies in a whole ­history of being used as an instrument of partisan agendas by all parties in power. Think only of the Emergency years바카라�infamous episodes like the custodial torture/murder of Rajan in Kerala바카라�or the firing on protesting adivasis in Nandigram under Buddhadeb Bhattacharya바카라�s Left regime. We go beyond the ­headlines바카라�and dip into history바카라�to try reveal an ­intrinsic skew at the heart of Indian policing.

Also Read

A Symbol Of Mistrust, UP Police Reflects State's Deteriorating Political Landscape

Scared Of The High And Mighty, Odisha Police Is Always At His Master's Service

A Dreaded Force In Land Of Insurgency, J&K Police A Law Unto Themselves

The Changing Colours Of West Bengal Police: Now Acting As Trinamool's Henchmen

Karnataka Police: Emerging As Rogues In Uniform During CAA Protests

Tamil Nadu Police: Masters At Smothering Voices, Dissent

Politicisation Tarnishes Efficient Image Of Kerala Police: How Absurd Can It Get

OPINION | Delhi Police Had Brilliant Officers, It's Missing Good Leadership Now

They Just Hate Dissent, How North East Police Flexes Its Muscle Or Is It The BJP?