The kind of comments made by the Barpeta judge on democracy and police while granting bail to Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mevani are enough to open our eyes. Jignesh was first arrested by a district police in Assam on the basis of some tweets made by him, and when he got bail, he was arrested for misbehaving with a female policeman while in custody . The Sessions Judge has made harsh comments on the functioning of the Assam Police, terming this whole matter as fake. He has requested the police to control the chaos. Most important is the judge’s observation that a hard-earned democracy cannot be allowed to turn into a police-raj. The observation assumes significance in view of the phenomenal rise in the number of prisoners killed while attempting to ‘escape’ from police custody in Assam over the past few years.
This conduct of the Assam Police is indicative of the increasing political interference in the police day by day and the tendency of the top police leadership to surrender completely when given an opportunity. If such an MLA, who has the power of the whole country, can be implicated in a fake case, then what can happen to the common citizen can only be imagined. The desire to use the police against its opponents is not the legacy of any one political party. Recently, Punjab Police also raided the house of poet Kumar Vishwas in Pilkhua on a similar virtual remark. Remember that Assam and Punjab have governments of different parties, but both have the same hunger to deal with their opponents through the police.
How the political use of the police violates the constitutional guarantee of individual liberty is well understood from incidents like Assam, but even more worrying are the incidents of communal frenzy that have taken place in different parts of the country in the last few days. And the failure to deal with them seems to be behind the same political interference. This intervention has been done from time to time by the governments of different parties.
In the 75th year of the country’s independence, which we are celebrating as Amrit Mahotsav, who expected that the blisters of hatred would burst in different parts of the country and the fountains of pee would deprive our bodies of that aura, which As the world’s largest democracy, we deserved. It was no accident that this year on the occasion of Ram Navami, one-third of the country became a victim of some kind of violence. For this we were preparing for the last many days. Meanwhile, elections have been held in many states including Uttar Pradesh, in which the Hindu-Muslim card was played openly. During these, when mutual hatred was at its peak, Sant Sammelans were organized in many parts of the country. There was much in the way of speeches made at these conventions or the manner in which weapons were displayed, which could not be expected in any saint conference. The Supreme Court put a stay on the proposed Dharma Sansad in Roorkee after several religious parliaments and the atmosphere were poisoned. The ease with which the local administration disciplined the organizers and the participants made it clear that only the state lacked the will power to lead to provocative speeches in previous religious parliaments. The activism that can be expected from the judiciary has not been shown. Many individuals and organizations went to the Supreme Court regarding the speeches made during the first Dharma Sansad in Haridwar, but in the absence of any effective action, there were many more programs before the proposed program of Roorkee and more and more provocative speeches were made in them.
The kind of riots that have happened here in the past have affected our image in the whole world. If we want to be the world’s largest economy, we have to improve our homes. No nation can become an economic superpower if the universally accepted principles of natural justice are not followed. Civilized nations in the world are called those in which there is rule of law and this is possible only through law-abiding police. Fake encounters are born out of the desire of the police to take over the role of the judge itself. This system of speedy justice will only make our society barbaric and uncivilized.
We must not forget that the police is the most visible part of the state. During communal violence, when curfew is in place, often on the deserted streets filled with silence, only the police represent the Indian state. If it fails to win the trust of any section of the society, it simply means that a large section has lost faith in the state. India is a multilingual and multi-religious society and its welfare lies in protecting this diversity. The impartiality of the Indian state is judged by the fair and professional conduct of the police during times of religious, ethnic or linguistic tensions. Unfortunately, in the recent riots, policemen are seen trying to please their political masters.
Politicians anxious to use the police in their narrow interests have to understand that its misuse is like a double-edged sword. Those who motivate the police for illegal conduct forget that the day they are not in power, the same police will not hesitate to conduct unlawful conduct against them also. Interestingly, politicians who have faced police brutality while in opposition are also eager to misuse it as soon as they gain power.
(These are the author’s own views)