End this mindless police brutality

A humanitarian crisis like the one we are facing now calls for empathy, but the mindless brutality unleashed on hapless citizens by Karnataka police while enforcing the lockdown can put even the stone hearted to shame. At the genesis of the problem was a thoughtless decision of the state government barring people from using their vehicles for purchase of essential commodities even during the small window between 6 am and 10 am when shops were allowed to open. While senior citizens were put to great hardship in urban areas, in Malnad and other parts of the state, where the nearest shop could be 15 km away, people were asked to walk the distance. In Koppal, a pregnant woman was forced to trudge six km to reach a hospital as no private vehicle came forward to ferry her for fear of police reprisals. While such instances of insensitivity were many, one of the most heart-wrenching scenes was that of a lady sub-inspector in Kolar thrashing a transgender person who was purchasing medicines after a recent surgery. The Bengaluru police were perhaps the most savage in their behaviour as they went about mercilessly wielding their lathi on anybody they could set their eyes on, damaging at least one autorickshaw and impounding vehicles of even those who had stepped out for vaccination.

Unfortunately, both DGP Praveen Sood and Bengaluru Police Commissioner Kamal Pant, looked the other way as the atrocities continued for two days and were forced to act only when public outrage on social media reached the tipping point with some even tagging the UN Human Rights Commission. Considering that such ruthlessness was witnessed during last year’s lockdown too, when the then Police Commissioner Bhaskar Rao quickly intervened and succeeded in giving the force a humane face, Sood and Pant should have been better equipped this time. Instead, some officers openly spoke of subjecting people to “lathi ruchi” (taste of lathi) and “mightiest hand of law”.

While it cannot be denied that the public has been lax in following Covid-appropriate behaviour, the police can only book violators under the provisions of law and have absolutely no power to resort to inhuman acts like beating up people. The DGP and Commissioner will be seen as implicitly encouraging hooliganism by the men in uniform, unless the guilty officers are identified and punished without delay. A psychological assessment of all police personnel should be conducted periodically and those found unfit should be weeded out. Cruelty by law enforcing agencies has no place in a democracy and the Karnataka police by their highhandedness have tarnished not only their own image but that of the state too.