How to stop police brutality

The Patiala army officer assault case shows how policemen can be brought to book for their excesses

Brutal attacks by policemen, drunk with power, seem to have become the norm.

While the poor and downtrodden would just reconcile to the situation when beaten up by policemen, the educated lot with a high degree of awareness will not take things lying down. They will vehemently oppose any infringement of their rights and drag the policemen to court for punitive action against them.

The brutal assault on Colonel Pushpinder Singh Bath and his son in Patiala on the night of March 13-14 by a posse of 12 policemen returning after an encounter, and the incessant efforts of the family thereafter to get them booked are an example how policemen can be taken to task when they take law into their own hands.

Jaswinder Kaur, the wife of Colonel Bath, left no stone unturned to get justice for her husband by personally meeting every other senior army and police officer; she even met ministers. Her efforts yielded the desired results.

All 12 errant policemen were placed under suspension and a departmental inquiry instituted against them. The SSP of Patiala, Nanak Singh, has stated that the inquiry would be completed within 45 days. A joint inquiry usually takes a longer time as all 12 personnel must be given a full opportunity to defend themselves in the interest of natural justice.

The episode would not have gained such wide publicity in the national media if the SSP had promptly attended to the call of Jaswinder Kaur after she got the information about the assault on her husband. 

Dilly-dallying in the registration of an FIR not only irked the family but also sent out a clear message that efforts are being made by the police to hush up the case. The indifference of the SSP led to the escalation of the matter to higher authorities and a blitzkrieg in the media – both electronic and print – apart from social media.

The distrust over the police inquiry has stretched to such an extent that the family believes that justice would not be done in the case, with senior officers attempting to shield the recalcitrant policemen. They met Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann to request him to hand over the case to the CBI. Although attempts could have been made to exculpate the wrongdoers if the evidence made available was vague or lacking reliability, in this case, enough evidence seems to have been garnered by the colonel and his family to seal their fate.

Apart from the evidence that would be recorded from the victims and other witnesses, media reports suggest that video clips are available of the brutal assault to nail the culprits.

By their own admission, the 12 policemen were in an inebriated state when the incident took place. Though not in uniform, they were on duty nevertheless, carrying weapons and were returning to their base after an encounter. 

The fact that they were drunk and in a state of intoxication goes on to compound the gravity of the offence. Their offence of being intoxicated while on duty and subsequently assaulting an Army officer and his son gets compounded. 

While such incidents tend to tarnish the image of the police, the fact that their superiors come to their defence and exculpate them of any wrongdoing encourages such recalcitrant elements in the police force. Strict action alone can deter other police personnel from taking law into their own hands. 

On September 14 last year, an Army officer and his fiancée had to face the ignominy of being assaulted and even molested at the Bharatpur police station in Bhubaneswar, when they went there to lodge a complaint against some hooligans who had harassed them while they were on their way back home.

But instead of registering the complaint and acting on it, the policemen and policewomen beat up the fiancée and even molested her in the dead of the night. Intervention by senior army officers led to the suspension of five policemen and policewomen and a judicial commission was constituted to enquire into the matter. 

On the morning of September 5, 2023, former Delhi Police Commissioner and former Governor of Nagaland Nikhil Kumar went to the residence of the Assistant Superintendent of Police Sweety Sehrawat in Aurangabad (Bihar) with problems relating to escalation of crime in the area.

She declined to meet him at the residence and asked him to meet her in the office. Other victims who had accompanied him prevented her from leaving the residence, compelling her to speak to the veteran IPS officer. She informed him that her residence being her personal space, she does not attend to people there, though Nikhil Kumar reminded her that an IPS officer is on duty 24 hours.

Sometime in 2006, in a vertical interaction course for police officers in New Delhi, an officer from the Delhi Police was invited for a talk as he was engaged in social work through an NGO, in addition to attending to his duties as a police officer.

After he had concluded his talk, a police officer from Karnataka asked him as to how he managed to devote time to social work as policing itself is a 24-hour job. When the speaker replied that he attended to it in his spare time, the Karnataka officer shot back that a police officer ought to be always available for the public to maintain law and order.

The incident in Patiala has served as a reminder of the need for senior police officials to be accessible to the public, particularly when they are in distress, irrespective of the time.

Just a few words of assurance and consolation from senior police officials can de-escalate brewing tension and anger and instil a sense of confidence in the public.

As is hammered in the minds of all police trainees in training institutions, public support is of utmost importance in the job of policing.    

(The author is Inspector General of Police (Retd), CRPF)

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author's own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH.