The very men who are supposed to uphold the law are routinely found misusing their powers. Policemen work together with organized gangs to extort huge sums of money by falsely implicating people in cases of flesh and other trades. In North India, it is still worse. Policemen drag suspects on the road with a rope and beat them up in full public view. They also rough up motorists who do not obey their orders. On August 28, 2015, the traffic constable outside Lokmanya Tilak railway station confiscated the autorickshaw’s driving license in which we (my wife, my daughter and myself) were travelling. They imposed a fine of Rs 500 on him just because we were carrying extra baggage. There are several instances of policemen raping complainants in police stations and chowkies too.
On Friday, May 22, 2015, at around 6.45 p.m., a young boy of around 20-21 years of age was severely beaten and his clothes torn in full public view by the traffic police constables of the Sion-Dharavi police chowki near Sion railway station just because he asked the police constables the reason for the nakabandi that was taking place that very moment. When the public went to help the boy (including myself), we were all lathi-charged. On December 28, 2013, I too was falsely implicated by the traffic police constables of the Bhoiwada, Lalbaug police chowki at Parel in Mumbai just because I refused to pay them a bribe for carrying goods in the tempo in which I was travelling.
Instances of attacks by the police in India on innocent citizens and misuse of power by them are reported in the media almost every day. In yet another incident, the Mumbai police mercilessly assaulted a young girl of around 21 years of age on September 27, 2015 at the pandal of Lalbaugcha Raja for no fault of hers just because she was trying to make her way through the huge crowd of people. Two women police constables were suspended. The decision was taken after watching the video footage that went viral after the incident.
In India, policemen misuse their powers and take the law into their own hands just because they are supported by thugs and corrupt politicians. Everyday we hear about custodial deaths in police stations and no inquiry is conducted against them. On April 17, 2015, two bike borne men had stolen a woman’s gold necklace at Dombivili while she was walking on the road. When she went to the police station to lodge a complaint, the cops, instead of registering a complaint delivered her a huge lecture.
In yet another attack, novelist ‘Puliyur’ Murugesan of Tamil Nadu was physically attacked in Karur by the police for portraying them in bad light in his recent book.
Yet in one more incident, a boy and his elder sister who were standing and chatting outside their own building compound late one night were asked to go in by the police. Because the policemen were not in uniform, the girl and her brother asked them for their identity cards. This angered the police and the two of them were forcibly dragged to the police station and beaten up badly. They were also stripped naked and the girl was raped repeatedly in front of her brother by several policemen. The next day when they were produced in court, the girl and the boy showed marks of injuries on their bodies and the girl also told the judge that she was raped by the police. The judge did not listen to the two of them but put them behind bars.
Earlier this month too, a couple was badly beaten up by the cops of/at the Andheri Police Station for no fault of theirs. Action against the cops has not been taken so far. This shows how corrupt our entire police department is.
Jubel D’Cruz
