Video Editors: Abhishek Sharma, Varun Sharma
Video Producer: Shohini Bose
Yeh Jo India Hai Na… It is losing its faith in the police! And, to talk about it, we’ve drawn up a charge sheet –
Charge 1
Police Seen Destroying Public Property
Our police has been seen destroying public property. Instead of keeping the peace during anti-CAA and NRC protests, the police, in some cases, have actually perpetrated the violence. CCTV footage from Muzaffarnagar in UP shows policemen breaking the windshields of several vehicles and even destroying CCTV cameras!
Why destroy CCTV cameras? To make sure that video footage of their arson does not reach the public. But fortunately, it has reached us all! Who are these policemen? What are their names? Will they face any punishment? We may never know.
Charge 2
Police Have Taken a Political Side
Police personnel have taken a political side and have been openly communal towards citizens they are supposed to protect. SP City from Meerut Akhilesh N Singh was seen and heard telling Muslims living in his city to “Go live in Pakistan”.
At least four people were killed in Meerut in the anti-CAA-NRC protests, in a city that has seen communal riots in the past. An SP-level officer forgets that his job is to keep the peace and not make inflammatory statements...
But will Akhilesh Singh face a reprimand? Not at all. In fact, the opposite. UP’s Deputy CM KP Maurya told the media that the SP had said “Go Back to Pakistan” to stone-pelting Muslims who were raising pro-Pakistan slogans. But see the video. The alleged stone-pelters and sloganeers are not there and Akhilesh Singh’s hate-filled speech is directed at five bystanders, two of them kids. How can UP’s Deputy CM defend this cop?
Across India, there have been at least 25 deaths in the anti-CAA-NRC protests. Of that number, 19 people have been killed in UP. We should be asking why. Why is the police in UP particularly trigger-happy? Are the ‘shabashis’ from the political bosses encouraging them?
The Quint spoke to former Mumbai Police Chief Julio Ribeiro, one of the best cops India has ever had – a tough, no nonsense cop. He says the politicisation of our police forces is a fact and needs to stop now.
“People don’t expect the police to be politicised and if you find that they take action as per the law and according to the facts of the case, many things will improve – the law and order, the security climate, all that will improve. But, unfortunately, the process of depoliticisation of the police has not started. Though the Supreme Court has understood it and passed orders, the states on some pretext or the other, are not following it.”Julio Ribeiro, Former Mumbai Police Commissioner
Charge 3
Often, Policemen Just Watch Violence Unfold
Often, when they are needed the most in order to prevent violence, our police forces just watch it unfold and do nothing. Visuals of masked youth, dozens of them, armed with sticks and sledgehammers entering the JNU campus unchecked on 5 January, after which they attacked students, professors, and destroyed property, have emerged.
An Indian Express article says that no less than 23 calls were made to the Police Control Room, reporting the violence. But Delhi Police did nothing. There are visuals of the same gundas leaving the campus, still armed and even then, the police did nothing!
Some face-saving police flag-march followed, that’s it. And several days after the violence, we don’t have any idea who these attackers are!
When someone snatched the purse of the PM’s niece, the culprit was nabbed within 24 hours. Which is great! But in JNU, on 5 January, a video of the masked mob entering as well as leaving the campus surfaced, and the police still doesn’t know who these gundas are, leave alone arresting them.
Faith in Police at an All-time Low
OK, let’s accept the excuse – we shouldn’t, but let’s accept for a bit that the policeman’s job in the time of anti-CAA-NRC protests is a tough one. There is political pressure. So, let’s look at a case where there’s neither of that. Let’s look at a small case in Mumbai.
16-year-old Tarun Gupta, a child with autism, with impaired speech and vision, went missing in early October 2019. There is CCTV footage that shows him at Panvel Railway Station on the outskirts of Mumbai for two full days. But the local police and the Railway Police just ignored him. They could have rescued Tarun but did not.
Instead, a Railway Police official bundled him into the luggage van of a train that took Tarun to Sawantwadi near Goa. There again, there is CCTV footage of him at the railway platform and yet again, he was not rescued. He got onto another train, headed towards Mumbai, but has not been sighted after that.
The police could have rescued this 16-year-old at Panvel or at Sawantwadi. But they did not. What does this reveal about our police forces? A crumbling work ethic.
Don’t we often hear – ‘Stay away from the police’? Why? Because we have stopped seeing a policeman as someone we can turn to for help, protection, or justice. If we, the ordinary citizens, are going to be asked to “Go back to Pakistan” by a local cop, if we are going to see our car’s windshield being destroyed by our cops, if they are going to watch as my head is split open by lathis, if cops are going to do nothing to find my child...
Yeh Jo India Hai Na... It is nothing if the police stops doing its job.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)