Trend of talking about morale of police force if action taken against police for killing an innocent: Journalists siding with killer cops, showing insensitivity towards victims!

Kabeer

In Karnataka, Anti Naxal Force (ANF) constable Naveen Naik had killed a youth, Mohammad Kabeer, 23, by firing him with AK 47 because the policemen 'mistook' him to be a Naxalite.

This news didn't make it to national headlines, especially, in North India because of the Lok Sabha elections. The incident had occurred last month in Chikmanglur.

The policeman, Naik had shot at Kabeer repeatedly. He fired nine rounds. Three bullets hit Kabeer, who died on the spot. It was clearly a case of extra-judicial killing.

After the murder, the defence of the ANF was that they 'suspected him to be a Naxal'. It was too big an offence to be hushed up. The effort to paint him as 'illegal cattle trader' to get sympathies of right-wing and turn it into a communal issue also failed, as it was a clear case of murder in cold-blood.

The BJP was against booking the policeman and its state chief even opposed compensation to the  youth's family. BJP leader CT Ravi said, "The incident was accidental, no doubt....but youths have been involved in illegal transportation of cattle". The BJP leaders said it was 'appeasement'.

Isn't it shocking that for BJP, even a murder is appeasement! In several regions in Karnataka, Bajrang Dal and Ram Sene have created frenzy in the name of cattle trade. It has become a big extortion industry, and it is used to demonise the minorities.

Bureucratic pressure on government, public

In fact, it was not just politicians, but police officials and bureaucrats also tried their best to save the policeman. There were attempts that the case of murder was not registered apart from objecting to the accused policeman's arrest also.

It was clear that many police officials wanted to save Naik. Even Home Minister KJ George earlier spoke in the same tone as the opposition party. After CM Siddaramaiah's intervention, and due to rising anger and protests, the accused policeman was booked and arrested.

However, the case was not handed to CBI despite demands from different sections of civil society. The CID has been given the task to conduct an inquiry in this case. Kabeer and his four companions were travelling in a pick-up truck when they were stopped. The allegation was that Kabir tried to escape and ANF commando (constable rank) shot him dead.

Questionable role of section of media that sides with 'killer cops'

On April 27, Indian Express reported, 'ANF has not halted operations over constable arrest; Home minister', a six column lead news on page 2.

It said that 'home minister denied reports that the ANF went on strike in protest against Naik's arrest', in the end of the story. Which reports? Express didn't clarify.

In fact, after any such incident, it is quite often seen how stories are 'planted', about 'the morale being down among cops'. So are cops emotion-less, killers? No. Policemen also have families and many of them are just and unbiased.

They are aware, what it means when an innocent is killed. However, planted stories are aimed to creating pressure on government. So whose side are you? For the victim or for the killer? Let the law takes its own course and the case be tried in court.

Actually, the Indian Express itself carried a report by Harsha Raj Gatti, which says, in the first paragraph that the ANF has suspended its operation attributing it to 'sources', (no official or ANF sources either), though in the second para, it carries Home Minister's version that the ANF hasn't gone on strike after the cop's arrest.

Read further, it says, "Sources in ANF said night patrolling and combing had come to a halt and only occasional daytime patrolling was being carried out following a drain in morale after ANF constable Naveen G Naik was arrested for shooting the youth, Kabeer."

Again, the talk of low morale! Which policemen said it? Or who asked the journalists about it? Are we a banana republic where cops have the immunity to kill and if they murder someone, they should not be arrested, because it will affect their morale? Is it a military ruled country or dicatorship where citizens have no rights or no sense of jusice?

Here again, Indian Express reported that how 'probe' 'reveals' that ANF cop fired when the youth fled. Apparently, there is nothing too shocking in this news report. But it, in fact, suggests that the cops fired because he fled, as if it was justified! How innocent.

The fact is that the youth was not a Naxalite at all. But he was killed, though he was not wanted for any offence and had committed no crime. But journalists 'intelligently', do their bit, trying to make it sould differently, and watering down the cop's crime.

If you read all these reports [see links below] you will find not an iota of sympathy for the victim or his kin. Strangely,  you find how there is an attempt to water down the crime by talking about , 'bullets were not fired on chest', 'report saying he was shot when he fled', and about 'morale affected' without any substantiation or quotes. It is not about singling out Indian Express.

It is about how section of journalists for whom there is no relative sense of justice. The journalists who should be totally unbiased [if they are not concerned towards citizens] seem to be taking side for the men in Khaki, even if they err.

This is a sad trend for journalism and the society. Newspapers should talk about getting justice for the common man. Ironically, in the cas of poor, or those who are not VIPs, such killings are treated in a similar manner.

However, if police raids a joint and catches VIP's kids snorting drugs, there is talk of police excesses and need for action. Journalists interact with officials and policemen on a regular basis and somehow get more 'protective' of the policemen, rather, than doing their own job.

The journalists should report plainly, the facts, intead of manipulations to save the skin of those responsible of crime. It hurts the victims, the weak, who don't have a voice, as it makes it even difficult for them to get justice. See the three reports and do you find any sensitivity or concern towards the victim:

Report 1, Report 2 and Report 3

Trend observed recently:

1. If a vendor or auto-driver is thrashed or beaten to death by policemen, the news is increasingly been ignored. The reason given in newsrooms is that 'Who wants to read it?'. In English newspapers [also in Hindi newspapers now], it is said that this news is 'not for TG'. TG means target group. The auto-walla or thela-wala is not supposed to be a potential reader and also news related to him will not interest large number of readers, it is believed

2. If policeman kills an ordinary or poor man in custody, there are less attempts to get the versions of victims' kin. Rather, the versions of policemen are prominently published. A superior officer's statement about 'we will look into it' or about clean-chit is promptly published. The reason is that speaking for the victim doesn't help you, however, the cops' clout helps journalists in their daily lives. So it is, probably, always more 'useful' to file reports about cop's morale so as to be on their side and keep them in good humour.

3. When policemen catch women for flesh-trade and parade them, to show their success in catching a major crime, or indulge in moral policing, the journalists clap. However, if there is a raid at a pool party or a rave party, where youngsters from the rich and upper middle class are found with drugs or other 'immoral' activities, this set of journalists get hyper-active and blame police of excessive action and using its energy in the wrong direction.

This is aggravation of the same tendency which was witnessed in general cases earlier. Like in cases of accidents, if 10 persons die in a locality populated by low income group, it will not get the prominence, compared to even a few injuries in a mishap in a 'posh' locality.

[*Read about the killings of Ranveer Singh and Kuldeep HERE]

Brutality in Bihar: Police firing kills four including pregnant woman in Forbesganj in Araria

Araria killings again show police's anti-poor mindset

Once again the ugly face of police was revealed in Forbesganj in Bihar's Araria district where policemen opened fire at villagers, killing four persons including a pregnant woman and a child.

The police force which is supposed to protect the citizens mostly acts as if it is a paid militia raised to serve the interests of the high and mighty.

In this case also, the firing was to serve the interests of a politician who owns a factory near Bhajanpur. That the victims were Muslims is another aspect.

But the truth is that often policemen turn trigger happy when they confront a crowd that comprises the poor. Anybody who is hapless and not well connected, gets the cops boot or bullet.

[See this shocking video* at Dainik Bhaskar's website which shows the policeman stomping over a body]Even more chilling was the sight of a home guard personnel, Sunil, stomping over a body, as if he was celebrating the murders in cold blood. The administration remained passive until the video footage was aired on TV channels.

The man was injured in firing and as he fell unconscious, he was lynched by the personnel. Sadly, the incident occurred in a district which is currently headed by a woman police official Garima Malik, who is currently posted as SP Araria.

In news reports, Malik seemed to justify the use of force. It is something that has happened innumerable times. Poor people are shot dead. The police officers then justify it by claiming that they acted to save themselves from the 'irate mob'.

This age-old mentality persists though the degree of contempt and violence towards poor is much higher in rural area where policemen have unchecked authority. As more information trickles it, its clear that the politician was on the spot and had a role in the incident.

It is a terrible reality that the uniformed men get salaries from the citizens to protect them and join the force with the oath to save them but strangely don't bat an eyelid while shedding their (citizen's) blood.

After every such incident, the officers claim that the mob had gone 'berserk' and had to be 'controlled'.

Ironically, no Chief Minister takes high moral ground. Police excesses are tolerated to absurd limits.

One expected that Nitish Kumar would have taken a strong action or at least condemned this indiscriminate killing by policemen. He would have earned respect for it.

It is really a shame that sixty years after independence, our force shoots 'protesters' and demonstrators. From Kashmir to Bihar, the situation remains the same. Cops get into a sort of frenzy and shoot from point blank range--mostly in heads, chests and not in the lower part.

The conflict at Forbesganj has some history. Here also land had been acquired long back. Recently, villagers had razed the boundary wall of a factory that was constructed recently and had blocked the only route to their village.

Forget rubber pellets, water cannons, tear gas or other measures of crowd control. There is a sort of glee with which policemen subject the poor to torture. Either it is Jammu and Kashmir or Bihar, police remain the same and their political masters appear indifferent towards such blatant display of policemen's barbarism.

Else one would have seen tough action against the culprits. It is this approach that lets the policemen get away with heinous crimes and as a result the incidents keep recurring in different parts of the country. Not supension or transfer, the guilty cops should be dismissed from service after a quick inquiry, in order to send a strong message to the rogue jawans.

Still, one hopes that Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar would take note of the serious human rights violation and take stringent action. Though a judicial inquiry has been announced, the need is to take quick action rather than wait for years for the outcome of the report and then expect its recommendations to be acted upon.

Read journalist Mumtaz Ahmad Falahi's report 'She came to see me, got six bullets in her head' from Bhajanpur village in Forbesganj (Araria) at Twocircles.Net. The second report is 'Police shot my brother from behind, then romped over hid body'.

On this blog the issue of policemen opening fire at innocent persons and targeting the poor has been raised repeatedly. Read the past stories:

1. Is the Indian police a force to safeguard the rich?
2. Extra-judicial killings: Ranvir's encounter in Uttarakhand
3. Police brutality: Truth of an encounter in Manipur and shocking photographs
4. Innocent Kuldeep gets bullet, Vandals get respect: What's wrong with our society?

[*The video is also available on youtube at this link]

Police brutality: Truth of an encounter in Manipur

In all 'encounters', the version is almost same:

The police cornered the person and asked him to stop, but he didn't and instead fired at police. While no jawan got injured, the person died in the exchange of fire.
Chongkham Sanjit, 27, was killed near Assembly in Imphal, and that was the version of the police commandos of Rapid Action Force until a lensman, who had shot the entire sequence of events, exposed the lies.

Initially, News weekly Tehelka published these photographs. Such encounters are common in North East, though they always don't make news, as they can't be contradicted and the citizens don't resent as long as the person killed is not 'related to us' or unless they can 'relate to him'.

The magazine tells us that Salam Ajit Singh, Okram Ranjit Singh, Taslimuddin, Laishram Dipson and Ningthoujam Anand were also killed in similar encounters. One of them was a mason, the other was lorry driver, another a labourer and one of them was a rickshaw driver.

Naturally, their kin can't be in a position to fight. The question is that why cops do it? There are numerous reasons ranging from personal rivalries, need to 'show' work by eliminating 'goons', the desire for rewards and gallantry medals, instilling sense of fear among others for easy 'earning' (extortions) and often just the urge to do it because they have tasted blood.

Less than a month ago, Ranbir Singh, an MBA student, was killed in an encounter in Dehradun, the capital of Uttarakhand. A probe was ordered after much hue and cry though the news channels had initially accepted the police version and termed him a militant. Had he been Shabbir instead of Ranbir, there wouldn't have been an inquiry either. In that case, the degree would not have come to his help, as stories like 'techies taking to terrorism' would have been planted intelligently.

We have one of the most inefficient, most corrupt and most brutal police force. The police force can't change. It can't become sensitive because it is governed by the same law and code that were devised in 1861 by the British to govern the 'natives'. There are castes, tribes and communities who were called 'criminal tribes' before independence and though they were de-notified, the police still treat the tribes like Pardhis as criminal. Children born in these housholds are seen as suspects from the day of their birth.

And our polity & bureaucracy have failed to form a new police act. When recruits get into force, within months they understand that they are not in the force to solve cases of thefts or murders and keep the area's lawlessness under check, but they have to 'manage', 'sort out' things, keep working relations with gangsters and gamblers so that they keep paying 'hafta', keep musclemen in good humour and ensure that everybody who matters among the political class and well-to-do remain happy.

If an offender wants to mend ways, he can't. Even if he is living a peaceful life, he would be arrested and interrogated every time for each incident of major crime, despite knowing that he is not involved in the crime. That happens because that's how the 'system' works. It doesn't treat poor [those who don't have connections] Indian citizens fairly. Justice is not delivered unless you are well connected.

State governments belonging refuse to act on this issue. Every time the Supreme Court asks them about the model police code and the implementation of the recommendations for change. Politicians don't want a change. Bureaucracy doesn't want police to get out of its hand.

The police remain an anti-people brute force in this country. It is not to serve the citizens as jan-sewaks but to serve the masters, who were Whites in the past, and have been replaced by the top brass that includes civil servants, filthy rich and well-connected. It has a licence to exploit and harass others.

Extra-judicial kilings: Ranvir Singh's encounter in Uttarakhand

The recent 'encounter' of Ranvir Singh in Uttarakhand has once again raised the issue of police brutality and absolute lack of accountability among the force.

For a change, the Uttarakhand Chief Minister who has just taken charge and wants an image makeover for the state government, swiftly recommended CBI inquiry. Unlike in most cases, it seems justice might be done in this case.

Otherwise in most cases the inquiries are ordered after months and years so that whatever evidences exist against policemen should vanish by then.

The incident hit headlines just because Ranbir was considered 'someone like us'--an MBA. And when the police said he was a terrorist, the vocal urban middle-class and TV channels were suspicious. How can he be a terrorist?

A dreamy-eyed youth from Ghaziabad going to Dehradun for his first job posting. His family background may not be as 'upwardly mobile' as many anchors and reporters in the national media, still he hailed from neighbouring Ghaziabad and the encounter took place not too far from Delhi. Otherwise, innumberable such killings take place throughout the country without getting even a mention.

Rural citizens and poor who can't pull strings keep getting killed in encounters without any proper inquiries. Most magisterial inquiries are eyewash, as the magistrates who conduct them are friendly to the police and have to work along side them. The doctors who conduct post-mortem reports don't go against the state government (police).

In Ranvir's case, at least, questions were asked. This was because of his 'promising career'. Unfortunately neither questions are asked, nor there is any suspicion or outrage when poor Indian citizens are killed in cold blood by the police--either a slum-dweller in urban areas or tribals by dozens in Chhattisgarh.

The version of police is accepted. Besides, the distance from Delhi also determines the amount of media coverage, which often puts pressure on the administration to act. That's the reason that in Ranvir's case, despite the initial acceptance of police theory 'terrorist shot dead', things have finally moved.

The reaction of citizens and media has led to action and nearly a dozen policemen have been booked for murder. Of course, all political parties are unanimous on this occasion unlike in Batla House encounter where it was said that even an inquiry would affect the 'morale of police'.

Alas, in most other cases of custody killings and encounter deaths, the guilty policemen not just get away with murders but earn 'medals' for gallantry and distinguished services which entitle them to free railway journeys, promotions and other benefits.

The death of Kuldeep

Just a few months back a youth was killed in Haryana. The youth, Kuldeep, a 22-year-old lad, was killed in cold blood. After mounting pressure the police had retracted and claimed that the 'trigger was accidentally pushed'. I had then written a post on police's brutality 'What's wrong with Indian society: Innocent get bullet, vandals get respect'. If you have a few seconds do read this post.

A tale of two encounters: Dehradun and Batla House
Also, read two Jamia teachers--Manish Sethi and Adeel Mehdi, making a comparison of two encounters at Twocircles.net. The writers tell us the encounterables, those who can be executed in an encounters, and how the even the procedural magisterial inquiry was sabotaged in the case of Jamia Nagar incident. Link to the report.

What's wrong with Indian society: Innocent get killed, Vandals get respect

Innocents are shot dead without a thought while goons under the garb of politicians can slaughter the soul of the nation but are spared. This is a sad reality in today's India.

The Indian police that never takes any action against a person who is remotely a 'VIP', kills a 22-year-old Kuldeep Kumar without any provocation. The incident occurred in Bhiwani in Haryana. They later said that it was an accident. The trigger got accidentally pushed. Kyaa saadgi hai!

This is the problem with this nation. The Indian Police are still governed by the same Police Act which the British had formulated in 1861 to rule over the natives. The act that treated Indians as subjects and where police were not for the security of the colonial natives but the 'White Masters'

Today the White Master is replaced by the VIP. This VIP is a strange term in a democratic nation. In India, a VIP is one, who is either a politician, a filthy rich businessman, a filmstar, a crackpot or anybody from comedian Raju Srivastava to Rakhi Sawant.

This list includes everyone who has either got a few billions or is visible on TV. He has the right to mibehave with the rest of 'mere mortals'. He can be a Govinda, he can be a Bihar minister who slaps a airline manager and he can be a 'politician' like Raj Thackeray who can let loose his cadre on tens of thousands of people.

But never, the cane of police will never even touch Raj or his goons. Of course, the Bhiwani boy whose marriage was scheduled a month from now, probably deserved a bullet because he was not a VIP or VVIP. He was brutally shot dead and the shameless cops said that they mistook him for a criminal. They never make a mistake in case of any VIP even with a cane. Do they?

We have to blame ourselves for this situation. Haven't we given the police and politicians this right? We fight over religion, caste and all such things that eventually end up ceding our rights and getting civil liberties curbed. We, of course, never speak up for justice and liberty.

Rahul Raj was killed just a few days back for 'hijacking' a bus. Bihar feels he was murdered, Maharashtra feels a terrorist was done to death. Rest are also divided on the basis of their 'other affiliations'. [Any affiliationf or law!] Society supports the encounters just like they happen in movies and feels that's the ideal way without realising its danger for the civic society.

Of course, when unrestrained police gets corrupted and politicised to such levels that a common man gets thrown in lockup for a brawl for weeks while a VIP is allowed to go scot-free even after getting people killed and goes out on 'bail' and we still don't speak up, can there still be hope?

Aren't we a selfish and hypocritical to the core. Kuldeep's death is just one example. It happened close to Delhi and it became a news. Hundreds of such stories unfold in rural India everyday. But for most of us, there is no sense of outrage, as perhaps, the person is always 'the other'.

There are Muslims speaking for Muslim suspects and there are Hindutva organisations speaking for the ones like terror suspect Sadhvi Pragya. But innocent and ordinary citizens have none speaking for them. Who will speak for them, who are nothing, just ordinary Indians?

UP police had arrested the wrong 'Aftab' for Court blasts

Just a fortnight back the Special Task Force (STF) of Uttar Pradesh had declared that this young lad arrested from Kolkata was a hard-core militant, dreaded Harkat-ul-Jihad-e-Islami activist and was responsible for serial bomb blasts in the courts of Uttar Pradesh.

Now the police has accepted that he was not the person involved in any crime. ADG Brij Lal* says that 'yes he is innocent'. The let him go and and the police calls it a case of mistaken identity now.

His family members had all the while kept insisting that the police were falsely implicating him but the joint team of UP Police and West Bengal CID had no hesitation in terming him as mastermind of the bomb blasts and supplier of explosives.

The top cops of UP termed him a terrorist. Newspapers declared him a dreaded militant, not a suspected one, even before the case went to court. For 17 days he was kept in detention, beaten up, allegedly subjected to all sorts of torture. His mother came to Lucknow and begged the police and administration to have mercy on him.

See this Times of India report about Aftab Alam Ansari being the key HuJI operative and a prized catch. The police and media share equal blame for this. The cops declare that he is a terrorist and the journos don't call it a claim or question it, but repeat the same throwing all journalistic caution out of the window.

From Khwaja Yunus to Aftab Alam, the story is same. Muslim youths are picked up at random in similar fashion. The police have to show their efficiency after terror attacks and to ease the pressure on them, dozens of youths, mostly poor are rounded up, kept in illegal detention and made to confess. Not all are as lucky as Aftab, who at least got released.

Read the whole story in The Telegraph, that how the police blundered and the court set him free. The goof-up has been accepted. The police had paraded him in press conference, given him several aliases and presented him as an anti-national.

The fact that UP has a BSP government and the State is not ruled by BJP (or Congress government in Maharashtra), has also made a difference. And Lucknow is certainly not Ahmedabad. But, the police are the same everywhere. But will the trauma he underwent go away.

The youth's fater died long ago. He works in the electricity department in WB and his mother had brought all proofs and identity cards to Lucknow to stress that her son had no other identity. There was anger in Muslims in Lucknow over the arrest.

Lately UP police have been conducting similar arrests (a la Maharashtra police) and encounters quite regularly. In such encounters all the criminals are always dead and AK 47 are recovered from them (which they never get chance to use against police during encounter). The public is not fool and understand the cooked story.

The Union government must take cognizance. Rogue cops are plenty in our policing system. There are demands of action on the guilty cops from various quarters. But what about dozens languishing in lockups without trial.

I don't know if anybody will drag these cops to the court. I doubt his family will have means to stay in Lucknow and fight the case. They will surely rush back to Kolkata. NGOs and social rganisations must take up this issue. At least, he should be paid damages for his character assassination.

There is another important issue. Why should police go to any extent to find a scapegoat, who is usually poor, to save its skin after any major crime or terrorist strike. One wrong arrest does far greater damage to the society and the reputation of police than a dozen right catches.

(*ADG Brij Lal had recently said at another press conference that two militants were indoctrinated at the famed Deoband seminary. The role of Deoband in freedom movement is known to everybody. But with such cops at the top, you can't expect better from the lower brass.)