In another incident, a boy and his elder sister who were standing and chatting outside their own building compound one night at about 11 p.m. were asked to go in by the police. Because the policemen had worn civil dress, the girl and her brother asked them to produce their identity cards. This angered the police and the two of them were forcibly dragged to the police station and were assaulted 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 displayed marks of injuries on their bodies and the girl also informed the judge that she was raped by the police. The judge did not listen to the two of them and put them behind bars.
There have also been several complaints about traffic constables slapping vehicle owners/drivers who violate traffic rules instead of imposing a fine on them. In April 2014, Agnelo Valdaris, a resident of Reay Road, Mumbai was brutally murdered and his body flung on the railway tracks by the Wadala railway police to show that it was a suicide. Two of Agnelo’s friends who were with him at the time of the incident were also stripped naked and asked to perform oral sex on each other. They too were brutally tortured by the Wadala railway police and a false case was also implicated against them. Everyday we hear of custodial deaths in police stations and there is no inquiry against it, nor are the police arrested for causing these deaths. Mr Rakesh Maria, are you reading this?
On April 17, 2015, two men on motorcycle robbed a woman of her mangalsutra at Dombivili while she was walking on the road. When she went to the Vishnu Nagar Police Station to lodge a complaint, the cops, instead of registering her complaint, gave her a huge sermon. I could cite many more examples where the police have refused to help people that could fill this entire page. Maybe next time, I could. I too have suffered at the hands of the police on several occasions on account of no fault of mine. And when I would go to the Police Commissioner’s office to lodge a complaint, nobody there would listen to me nor would they register my complaint.
If you take a round in the market in any part of India, you will see policemen accepting bribes (haftas) from various people. These poor men/women who earn very little, are harassed by the policemen everyday. And if one resist in giving them (the police) money, they are beaten black and blue and a false case is registered against them.
Jubel D’Cruz
