POLICE – THE FEARED AND THE DISRESPECTED

 

POLICE   شُرْطَة   POLITIE   POLIZIA, huge number of duties are assigned to them, from maintaining peace, law and order to investigation and getting hold of the culprit. The duties are not limited but are numerous, many of which we can’t even think of. In addition to that, their duty hours are also not specified. In other countries, the word ‘police’ associates with it a great sense of respect, powers and dignity. In India though, police is not looked upon with such respect and values. What it is seen is with fear, more of a disrespect. Why is it so? Why is the police not respected? Why is it not looked upon with dignity and pride by the citizens of our country? Is it the police which is at fault for such conditions or are the citizens so rude, selfish and disrespectful that they look down upon the police?

Well, it is not the one who is at fault but both of them are culprits here. From the point of view of the citizens, it is the police which looks at fault. Likewise, from the point of view of the police, the citizens seem to be at fault. People say the police officials do not do their job properly, that they are often late, there is corruption, they are too harsh at times and much more. The police, on the other hand, says that the people breach the set rules, acting against the law and trouble other people so they are at fault. Therefore, both seem at fault.

With fear comes disrespect. People at first fear something and then when fear stays over a period of time it turns into disgust and eventually into disrespect. The police is seen representing the power of the state and not as the friend and protector of the people. Such perception has its roots in the history, precisely the colonial era where police force was mainly used to protect the empire and suppress rebellions and dissents. It is also seen as the most corrupt government department. This is clearly shown by the fact that every year 50% of the complaints received by the National Human Rights Commission of India are against the police personnel.

Corruption ranges from bribery to suppress a case, fabricating a person into some false case to altering the proofs or suspects of a case, helping the powerful people to get off a case. Other ill acts of the police include fake encounters, sexual harassment, custodial crimes, etc.

Similar was observed in Priyadarshini Mattoo Murder Case in which a law student of Delhi University was allegedly raped and murdered by person who was the son of an IPS officer, at her flat in 1996. The trial judge and the High Court observed that the perosn’s father had manipulated the probe in the initial stages. Terming the police failure to protect the life of a citizen the Delhi High Court criticized the police “for absolute dereliction of duty”: “You are the root cause of all this. Had action been taken during that time, the girl would have been alive” the bench observed.

Also in Shivani Bhatnagar murder case, the prime accused was an IG in Haryana. It took the police 3 years to make that arrest.

Black Lives Matter protests were the aftermath of several occasions of brutal use of force by the police against black people. The protests began in New York City and slowly the whole world supported it.

 

After listening to such incidents how can the common people refrain themselves from disrespecting the police. Not only disrespect but the police is also looked down upon. It is criticized heavily. When such incidents happen on a regular basis, slowly people’s faith on the police starts to waive off and at some point completely vanish, the nation being at a greater loss. 

The public has also created some unwanted perceptions on its own. In case of driving a motor vehicle without a driving license or without proper documents or without a helmet or in a rash and negligent way, if the police gets hold of people they try to make several excuses to get away. They even try to run and escape. That’s not the way. People clearly know the consequences of their not following the rules and if they get caught what will happen. Then when police uses force or some ways to get hold of them, people resist. This, therefore, creates disrespect in the minds of the people for the police which is but created by their own acts. Similarly when police catches person as suspects in some criminal activity, even if the person is innocent, they (people) try to resist and the police has to use force, which again lowers the dignity of police and they are disrespected. People, instead of resisting or panicking, should keep calm, contact their lawyers and try to cooperate with the police. If he/she is innocent it would be proven and no major issues would be created.  An additional thought that arises in people, at several occasions, is that police is wasting its time or the police is sitting idle and the culprit is roaming freely. What this brings is only disrespect and nothing else. In the end, both the public and the police are at loss. In current situations of curfew and lockdown, police is trying to do its best to ensure that people stay at their homes. It is even harsh at times and uses force which creates fear in the minds of the people. But the people also have to understand that what is being done is for their own safety. Well, if people don’t understand that then the fear of police that makes them stay home, is good.

We as people should try to be more reasonable and should try to understand the situations. The police is not always into mischievous  acts. Sometimes what we just need to do is believe in the law, try to follow the law and cooperate. Things would get better if we try.