India: Between the rock and a hard place

India: Between the rock and a hard place <

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The incident reported from Kerala state about the attack upon a college professor by a gang of eight persons on 4 July in Moovatupuzha, is yet another wakeup call for India. A criminal gang attacked Professor T. J. Joseph, a teacher at the Newman College in Thodupuzha, when he was returning home from church. Since last year Professor Joseph is placed under suspension following accusations concerning a question paper he had prepared in which he had allegedly drafted questions, which according to some religious fundamentalists could be interpreted as defamatory of Prophet Muhammad. The assailants attacked the professor in front of his family severing off his left palm.

Political parties of all colours in Kerala are literally celebrating the entire sequence of events, wasting no opportunity to cash in, aiming at a few votes. They have shifted and swayed wild in their opinions. When the question paper was the subject matter of dispute, they shouted slogans against the professor and the college management accusing him and the institution as Christian fundamentalists. Typical of the Christian management institutions in the country, the college recommended the professor's suspension. In the meanwhile political parties competed in organising protests against the professor and the college, of which many turned violent in Thodupuzha town forcing the professor to stay in hiding concerned about his safety and that of his family.

Political parties then shifted their attention to the state police and accused them of failing to arrest the professor. The state police thus registered a case against the professor and soon detained and brutally tortured his son to force the professor to surrender, which he did. Upon arrest, the police paraded the teacher in public as if he is a hardened criminal, captured by the police after strenuous efforts. The complaint filed by the professor's son against the police officers who illegally detained and tortured him in custody is yet to be investigated or the criminals punished. In fact it will never happen since torture is not criminalised in India.

After the 4 July incident, political parties realised that the event has turned public sentiment in favour of the professor. Then they started shouting against Muslims in the country. For many of them, like the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), every non-Hindu, especially the Muslims, are terrorists. The BJP now says that the incident is a reminder to everyone who does not treat a Muslim with suspicion. Cascading support for the Christians in Kerala, they want the Christian community to rally behind the BJP, to seek revenge against the Muslims, who according to the BJP, is behind the incident.

The Congress accused the ruling Communists as responsible for the incident, claiming that the Home Minister has connived with the criminals operating in the state. The Communists have accused the Congress for doing the same; through they are not in power. Not to be left alone in the brawl, the church has also thrown their cap on the table by issuing a statement demanding the immediate arrest of the culprits and promising all support to the professor and his family since the injured is a Christian and his family.

National media have joined the bandwagon hosting discussion forums about the incident. For some of the country's elitist brains and self-proclaimed intellectuals, the 4 July incident is one more event that showcases issues concerning the minorities in the country and a natural result of minority oppression. The state government has ordered an investigation into the incident and the police have apprehended some suspects and have started a state-wide search and arrest mission. The police and the government claim that they have recovered country bombs, anti-India literature, computers with incriminating evidence and evidence suggesting the possibility of a large terrorist cell.

What is intentionally missed out in the entire foray of this verbal rhetoric and the sheer opportunistic reactions is the question, what make such things possible in India.

Brutal acts of crime committed in full public view are not news in India and Kerala is no exception. Political parties compete to injure and murder rivals and ensure that they do it in the presence of the public so that the fear spreads. In Kerala itself such incidents are plenty. In December 1999, members of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI (M)) led by one of its leaders, Mr. Acharambath Pradeepan, murdered a schoolteacher of Mokeri East Upper Primary School, Mr. K.T. Jayakrishnan, in front of his nine-year-old students inside the classroom.

The police and other law enforcement agencies engage in brutal forms of violence, often at the behest of the ruling political regime, irrespective of its colour. The practice of torture is so rampant in India and there is still no functioning legal framework to prevent it or at least to punish criminal officers. The state police is used by the ruling elite to impart fear upon the people.

In states like Manipur, on an average an estimated 1500 to 2000 murders are committed by state police officers each year, and most of these cases are either covered up as encounter killings or murder by unknown persons. Every state is provided with 'secret funds' by the central government to cover expenses relating to counter terrorism and insurgency. The state administration mostly uses this to reward murderer or otherwise corrupt police officers. Each police officer who kills a person and claims that the victim is an armed militant or a Naxalite or a terrorist killed in encounter is given a cash award ranging from Rs. 50,000 to 100,000.

This state fund is not audited and is left at the complete disposal of the state home minister. The higher the claim of alleged threat, the larger the amount the state government can siphon off from the central government pretending to quell it. By rewarding police officers who engage in crimes political parties ruling each state keep the state police at their beck and command and use them to settle political rivalry and silence opposition.

The calculated use of violence or the threat of violence against civilians in order to attain goals that are political or religious or ideological in nature by intimidation or coercion or instilling fear is considered to be the most accepted definition of terrorism. If the acts of the police or political parties in India are analysed in the backdrop of the above explanation, it is hard to exempt both these entities from the category of terror groups. On that count, the CPI (M) ruling Kerala, the Congress and its allies, the BJP, and the Popular Front, the organisation that is under investigation following the 4 July incident for running suspected terror cells in the state are all birds of the same feather.

As noted by everyone who have studied India's criminal justice institutions, the orchestrated failure of the police in crime investigations and their sheer incapacity to have a professional and scientific approach to the job results in an estimated 96 percent acquittals in criminal cases. The fact that the country's prosecution system is inept to the core and as an institution is a mere slave of the ruling political elite contributes further to the merry of those who have plentifully exploited India's failed justice institutions.

In the pretext of improving the legal framework for the law enforcement agencies to operate in an increasingly deteriorating security scenario, the government is attempting to award arbitrary powers to the police. The Kerala Police Bill, 2010 currently under the consideration of the state legislature is an example. While the state governments are encouraged to enact authoritarian laws, shoddy attempts like the Draft Bill against Torture, 2008 proposed by the Government of India is a sham. This law, if enacted will become a completely useless piece of legislation.

The government attacks human rights organisations that oppose the legislation of draconian laws like the Kerala Police Bill, 2010. A recent statement issued by the Home Minister of Kerala accusing human rights organisations in the state taking up these issues as entities having interests against the country indicates nothing other than the preparedness the political parties have against anyone daring to blow a warning whistle.

In the orgy of complete institutional misuse, political parties, the rich and the religious leaders of the country take part and apportion exploits of their choice. It is no surprise that some of them could prompt a gang of criminals to chop the palm off a teacher.

The July 4th incident is yet one more confirmation to the fact that Kerala, like the rest of India is no exception to the possibilities open for the criminals who brutally exploit a corrupt and inept administration. These incidents showcase the fact that India's democratic experiments have failed due to unwarranted interruption of the politicians and the powerful with India's justice institutions.

Those who lament against the misbehaviour of a police officer or other brutalities committed by criminals fail to admit that India's police, as an institution requires complete overhaul. They refuse to accept that crime control is impossible in a democratic framework without modernising an important crime prevention tool - the police. They often condone torture unless it is meted out against one of their own. Many believe that a country like India cannot be ruled without the use of torture.

Today, the deterrence for a crime in India is indirectly proportional to the political and religious clout one possesses. Those who chopped the palm off Professor Joseph and those who plan to engage in similar or even brutal acts know that the possibility of punishment for a criminal act can be eliminated by their political, financial and religious influences.

The police in the country can be bought cheap and the prosecutors are useless. The ordinary people have no trust in the police and the common citizen is mortally scared of officers in uniform to such extent that none will approach the police to seek or offer help. Officers investigating a crime can be bribed to threaten any witness and burry evidence. In these conditions the country's courts are also of relatively no use since they can do nothing without a proper police case and a good prosecutor.

The average Indian today lives between the rock and a hard place. Political parties, criminal and extremist gangs, the police and religious fundamentalists define the norms of life in India today. None will dare to venture to challenge this unacceptable status quo. For those who doubt there are Professor Joseph or Jayakrishnan and many more.

(For further information concerning the draconian police law in the making in Kerala, please read: INDIA: Brown Sahibs need torture to rule)

bout AHRC: The Asian Human Rights Commission is a regional non-governmental organisation monitoring and lobbying human rights issues in Asia. The Hong Kong-based group was founded in 1984.

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