It is not clear whether the Central and State governments will step up to remedy the situation, particularly when they have been constantly attempting to undermine several Constitutional & statutory institutions dragging us all to a fascist-style autocracy. In the absence of independent institutions, who will bell the cat?
NIRMALKUMAR MOHANDOSS
The death of the Father-son duo in Sattankulam due to police brutality has shocked the conscience of the general public, leaving most of them mentally agitated. While a few policemen have been suspended, a Judicial inquiry on the incident has also been ordered. Apart from Departmental action, activists & the civil society have stepped up their demand for expeditious criminal action against the erring policemen.
Police brutality and custodial death have almost been a norm in the Indian set up for quite a long time. But the society in general and the various Constitutional institutions in particular, have miserably failed to check such instances. When I say ‘society’, I include general public and their perceptions. Just about two years ago, 13 protestors were shot to death by the Tamil Nadu police during anti-sterlite protests but many people were aloof. The largely upper class and urban population, including popular figures like Rajnikanth only spoke about the ‘protests turning violent’ while justifying the brutal massacre. Though the police had the duty to maintain law and order, whether the shootout was carried on as the last resort; whether alternative remedies were exhausted; whether Standard Operating procedures were followed etc., remain unanswered.
Initial media reports from information collected from the family, friends & colleagues of the Sattankulam victims, and several other connected factors reveal that the police brutally tortured and sexually harassed the victims to death. No legal or procedural formalities were observed while arresting and keeping them in their custody. This shows that excesses of police are not limited to physically abusing the victims but also extends to violation of several substantive & procedural laws. It is therefore crystal clear that mere framing of procedural laws or laying down Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) cannot limit the police excesses. Justice to Jayaraj & Bennix should bring justice to several other victims of the past, also resulting in prevention of another such casualty. If the Government had tightened up on the police or if the general public had reacted constantly post Thoothukudi shootout, the Sattankulam incident might not have occurred.
Strengthening the core Constitutional values of democracy, personal liberty, Human Rights, fraternity, equality, among other things, is the only panacea to most socio-political problems in the country. While the world is marching towards bestowing legal rights to non living things, natural habitat & animals, India is fast moving backwards by centuries in abridging even Fundamental Rights of its citizens.
Mob lynching, Caste discrimination and rape culture have become common and routine recently. It is not a secret that average Indian mindset has always been largely backward, feudalistic, elitist, casteist and chauvinistic. But now as India is moving towards a far right, hyper-nationalistic and police State, people are slowly used to or rather trained to accept the wrongs in the society and polity with indifference and silence. Any form of dissent and question is dealt with harshly resulting in imprisonment, threat and in some cases even death. Interestingly, the elites among the public now even proactively disdain anybody raising their voice against social and political wrongs. This is evident even from the smallest things like the bee-line formed in social media to defend the sheer incompetence or abuse of the State forces.
Police brutality against the general public can largely be reduced by bringing police reforms and by training the police on SOPs in dealing with protests and other situations they encounter. The State has also informed the Madras High Court that a High level Committee has been formed to prepare SOPs. But instead of reducing those to mere theory, effective mechanism should be put in place to continuously monitor their implementation. Regular drill sessions and ‘on the spot’ training should be institutionalized among the police forces. Existing institutions like Human Rights Commissions should be strengthened by infrastructure. Mechanism should be available to the victim’s family or friends or even public to immediately seek intervention of Judicial Magistrates, who must be vested with powers to crack down police brutality in custody. District level committees should be set up with judicial and civil officers to review the Human Rights situation in the neighbourhood. The Supreme Court had in 2015, directed the Central and State Governments to put police stations and interrogation rooms under surveillance of CCTV cameras in order to prevent custodial torture. This has to be implemented at the earliest and data from the stations should be connected to a common grid under the supervision of the District level committees.
Mental and physical health of police officers and constables should also be checked and monitored regularly. Most police personnel do not have adequate time and space to socialise or engage with their families. Practically, most of them work round the clock without proper rest within and outside police station. Suicide among police personnel is also on a rise. According to press reports available, according to data released by the Ministry of Home Affairs, 166 policemen died of suicide in Tamil Nadu between 2010-2014 most of it due to stress and work pressure. In the first week of March, 2020 alone 11 deaths were recorded among police personnel, out of which 6 were suicide. Only about 2 years ago, the Madras High Court had observed that “working round the clock, 365 days, the police personnel need adequate rest”.
As recently on June 16, 2020 the Financial express carried an article titled ‘India needs to wake up to the dire need for police reforms’ which spoke of the police force working under incomprehensible pressure without adequate pay, living in terrible conditions and worst of all, beholding to corrupt and venal superiors. The article also pointed to a PRS report of 2017 which identified six areas where considerable work was needed – police accountability, the need to separate law and order from investigation, poor working conditions and an overburdened police force; constabulary related issues; police infrastructure; and public – police relations. Without answering these questions within the police force immediately, abuse of their powers cannot be put to scrutiny easily.
Proper mechanism should also be devised to criminally prosecute police personnel involved in custodial deaths. Independent investigation should be ensured to investigate & punish the perpetrators. In this process, it is also necessary to check that the lower rung or constabulary is not victimised to safeguard officers. A special law to deal with these matters is the urgent need of the hour.
Above all, instead of analysing the police brutality & connected Human Rights violation in seclusion, a comprehensive measure is necessary to build a more just, democratic and righteous society. Interestingly, we live in a society that celebrates the 'encounter specialist' hero-cops in films. The people have to be educated about how to deal with violation of Human Rights, abuse of State powers and excesses of police action. In fact, many people still do not know that police cannot beat them as a matter of right. They are stuck unaware of what to do when they are abused by the police.
But however, it is not clear whether the Central and State governments will step up to remedy the situation, particularly when they have been constantly attempting to undermine several Constitutional & statutory institutions dragging us all to a fascist-style autocracy. In the absence of independent institutions, who will bell the cat?
[The author, our founder Nirmalkumar Mohandoss is available for comments & feedback at nirmalkumar.m.law@gmail.com]
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