We may be familiar with the term from our school history classes. The western world at that time was at the pinnacle of their glory and thought to themselves to be the highest in the world order in terms of civilization.
So naturally, they thought it was their duty to educate the people of the colonies whose resources they looted and plundered for their well being.
The Government of India Act,1935, and other such legal frameworks were put in place to colonize Indians for their benefit.
The custodial deaths of a father-son duo traders Jeyaraj and Bennicks shook the conscience of the whole Nation triggering an outburst of reaction in social media and a section of people started asking for police reforms as in the case of the death of George Floyd in United States which erupted into the #BlackLivesMatter protests.
Jeyaraj and Bennicks were arrested on the charges of not closing their shops even after the deadline was over(due to lockdown) which angered the police who arrested both members of the family. The two later died.
The issue gained national attention with people demanding justice be meted out. Justice, as assumed would be to dismiss the officers from the service and charge them for murder. However, there is a section for whom justice means instigating protests, bringing people to streets, blocking roads, rioting, vandalizing, looting, damaging public property and inconveniencing the public.
But the questions arises as to whether the punishment meted out to the culprit officers will stop the police from indulging in such acts of violence? In that case, can we even call it justice?
The answer is a big NO.
Systemic Lacunae
The curriculum for premier civil services like IAS, IPS, state services, and the Indian Penal Code are based on systems and codes designed by English men who viewed Indians, not as citizens with rights but as subjects meant to be subjugated. The usual tendency of the personnel inducted into these services is to view their position not as a means to serve but as a position of power and privileges. The colonial mindset is even more in the state police and especially among those lower in the hierarchy. If such is the legal framework, mindset and training that the bureaucrats undergo, how will such atrocities stop?
One may even remember that almost all Indians welcomed the encounters of four men who were accused of rape and murder of the veterinary doctor Priyanka Reddy. Had due process of law been followed in that case, the punishment would have been different and considering the snail’s pace in which the judicial systems work, it would have come too late (as in Nirbhaya case). To add to the agony of victims, we will have ‘human rights activists’ and lawyers appealing and delaying justice.
Unless these systemic lacunae that exist in our bureaucracy and judiciary are reformed, there will be no cure to corruption, highhandedness, and extrajudicial killings.
The other side of the coin
Our police are over governed and under regulated. They are working under scorching sun in summer and they do a whole lot of work other than what police in other countries are assigned to. They need to stop agitations,cool down protestors,to protect politicians besides catching murderers, rapists,petty thieves, and so on.
They work overtime for state-determined wages and are not allowed to form unions unlike the other government staffs like teachers whose demand for higher wages no matter how much ever they earn seems to never end.
The need of the hour
Our policy should be amended to treat perpetrators and victims as fellow Indians and mainly humans and not as subjects who need to be educated or tamed for the benefits of the very few in the top ladder of governance. The Central government has used this pandemic as an opportunity to undertake structural reforms in different sectors that comes under its control. Likewise, the State government should prioritize areas under it that includes police and prisons. The judiciary too should evolve process that ensures speedy dispensation of justice.
Every citizen should be subject to the same rule of law and no innocent should die unnecessarily except through due process of law for crimes committed.
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