By Hyo-Jin Paik
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia
BANGALORE, India – Police forces in India are accused of undermining democracy and breeding brutality. Human Rights Watch is urging the Indian government to take major steps to rectify the police system that facilitates and encourages human rights violations, such as torture, illegal detention and extra-judicial killings.
For example, in one case, a death of a woman killed while in custody was passed off as a suicide. In other cases, suspects have been tied to wooden sticks and tortured until they fainted.
India’s dysfunctional police system is the result of poor working conditions and a culture that encourages impunity by allowing the police to commit human rights abuses so as to alleviate excessive workload and not create a backlog of cases.
85% of the Indian police comprise low-ranking officers who work long hours and live in cramped quarters far from their homes. Furthermore, most of the policemen are not trained to handle complex criminal investigations. Indian police officers also receive immunity from prosecutions for actions conducted while on “official duty.” For example, official figures from 2005 show that 23 policemen were charged with atrocities, but none were convicted.
“India is modernizing rapidly, but the police continue to use their old methods: abuse and threats. It’s time for the government to…fix the system,” said Brad Adams of Human Rights Watch. He also added, “Police who commit or order torture and other abuses need to be treated as the criminals they are. There shouldn’t be one standard for police who violate the law and another for average citizens.”
(Source: AP)
Often, religious and sexual minorities, women, and lower-caste Indians are the victims of police abuse because they lack money and political connections. Many Indians also avoid contact with the police out of fear.
A Supreme Court decision in 2006 mandated police law reforms, but the Indian government has failed to implement the court order. The government elected in May has promised to actively pursue police reforms.
For more information, please see:
AFP – Indian police culture breeds brutality: report – 4 August 2009
BBC – Indian police accused of abuses – 4 August 2009
Human Rights Watch – India: Overhaul Abusive, Failing Police System – 4 August 2009
Reuters – India’s police undermine democracy, human rights – HRW – 4 August 2009
