JOIN USPolicing in the 21st century
What are we having this liberty for? We are having this liberty in order to reform our social system, which is full of inequality, discrimination and other things, which conflict with our fundamental rights.” -B R Ambedkar.
A deliberate immunity for the guilty is created when the police are unable to defend those who have approached them. The very definition of policing is to maintain law and order in an area (or in a situation), but a certain section of the society faces heavy conflict with policing in India.
Kesari Majhi* , a Trilokpuri resident tells Metrolife, “My daughter has been missing since January 13. When I went to the police they refused to lodge my FIR. I want my daughter back, I have approached NGOs and other bodies who have highlighted my story. But only the police can bring back my daughter.”
An incoherent Majhi, surrounded by her husband Lalji and in-laws, was asked to speak properly as she was not audible. She just couldn’t stop crying. Her husband, an autorickshaw driver, takes over from Majhi saying, “We go to the police every day.
They literally call us and our daughter names, implying that our daughter has run away with her lover and does not want to be with us anymore. They accuse her of being of ‘wrong character’.”
Majhi’s daughter Sulochna, a Class XI student, once went missing in December. The police found her and allegedly asked her parents not to question her about where she was. Lalji says, “The police knows everything but does not want to do any investigation.
There could be only one obvious reason. Once there was a raid done in Kalyanpuri after which the SHO was suspended, he had many restaurants in Paharganj, the police are afraid now.”
Lalji started driving an autorickshaw very recently. He believes that one day while driving, he might just spot his daughter.
Asha Devi, recognised as Nirbhaya’s mother says “young girls are at great risk today. The city has so many bars that run late night. People are afraid that their daughters are being ‘trained’ as dancers for the bars.”
She says, “I did not face problems with the police as my case had been taken up in a big way. But look at the justice system; they said it is ‘fast-track’ but it has been two years and I am still waiting. Justice is also a huge part of law and order of the country.”
As the fast-track court judgement is still on hold at the supreme court, Nirbhaya Jyoti Trust, a body has been created to mobilise the police and law to keep at the case.
A volunteer of the trust says, “By now the culprits would have started getting over their guilt.”
“It will take years but I am persistent. One should not fear the police, they can refuse to file an FIR, but for how long? One must keep trying, because at times in our lives it is justice that would redefine our existence in society. Till then we are nothing,” says Asha Devi.
Maja Daruwalla, director, Commonweath Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) says, “The behaviour of police changes depending on who approaches them. If you belong to a certain strata of the society and if you are well aware of your rights and laws then the police cannot offend you. This kind of distrust has built up in people slowly over the years with cases such as Majhi’s.”
Daruwalla shared how given the unacceptable increase in atrocities against women, increased 67 per cent from 2002 to 2012, the new Criminal Law Amendment Act, 2013, recognises the inherent need to strengthen the accountability of the entire system, including the police, as was evident in the 23 per cent increase in complaints against the non-performance and lack of accountability of police.
“But at the end of the day what needs to be demonstrated is the willingness of the police to uphold the rule of law, in spirit and letter, and it is this behaviour change that the reform process needs to catalyse,” Daruwalla emphasised* The name of the victim
Kesari has been changed for safety reasons.