Skip to main content

Glorification of police 'brutality': Where thin line between real and reel vanishes

By Bilal Shah*
In a largely, emotionally driven country like India, if there are several movies which glorify police brutality without accountability and criticism, then public in India finds not an ounce of trouble in something similar happening for real. The thin line between real and reel vanishes.
And people vouch and expect these 'heroic' acts on ground without even condemning it, leave alone Pointing out the wild and blunt unconstitutionality in it. Uttar Pradesh state alone has recorded more than 1000 encounters in a single year, 2018. under the Yogi Adityanath regime.
This brutal and wild crackdown of the Uttar Pradesh police is pinching democracy, Especially during the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protests, 22 individuals were killed by the Uttar Pradesh police, not a single convict among them; most of them or roughly all of them, belonging to the Muslim community.
Now one may think as to why even extrajudicial killings, custodial tortures, fake encounters fare and pose such serious concern. A reason as basic as 'right to live' will justify my argument. Though we the people of India may not practice it, this statement speaks the ultimate truth: "Innocent until proven guilty".
However, if anything, we actually practice the opposite of the statement. And which is why, exactly, it poses a threat to the social fabric of the nation. As per a Right to Information (RTI) plea filed, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) registered 1,782 fake encounters between 2000 and 2017, almost half of them being From Uttar Pradesh alone.
The police will certainly escape from the law course and its action, citing typical reasons such as 'collateral damage' or 'encounter casualties'. But if the sole breadwinner of the family loses life, the whole family comes at the brink of extinction.
In the Disha rape case of 2019, which took place in Hyderabad, people across the country cheered for the encounter carrier inspector as 'encounter raja', Which is very problematic. What should really worry the poor and common people is, at the behest of the political supremo, business tycoon pressures, emotional reasons, tomorrow a policeman may grab their family member, shoot them and declare them the criminal.
While all know the story was phony, police will cite it as an 'encounter' and get away with it, This has really happened for significant number of times during the past history of India. Jayaraj and Bennicks case, the most recent extrajudicial killings in Tamil Nadu, have once again sparked the row.
Cops appear to think that they are immune to the system of law, and the public of India appear to have time and again proved them right.
---
*Student hailing from Hyderabad, has been blogging on  politics, social needs, social awareness, citizen rights, legal issues etc.

Comments

TRENDING

Tyre cartel's monopoly: Farmers' groups seek legal fight for better price for raw rubber

By Our Representative  The All India Kisan Sabha and the Kerala Karshaka Sangham that represents the largest rubber producing state of Kerala along with rubber farmers have sought intervention against the monopoly tyre companies that have formed a cartel against the interests of consumers and farmers.  Vijoo Krishnan, AIKS General Secretary, Valsan Panoli, Kerala Karshaka Sangham General Secretary, and four farmers representing different rubber growing regions of Kerala have filed an intervention application in the Supreme Court.

Modi win may force Pak to put Kashmir on backburner, resume trade ties with India

By Salman Rafi Sheikh*  When Narendra Modi returned to power for a second term in India with a landslide victory in 2019, his government acted swiftly. Just months after the election, the Modi government abrogated Article 370 of the Constitution of India. In doing so, it stripped the special constitutional status conferred on Jammu and Kashmir, India’s only Muslim-majority state, and downgraded its status from a state with its own elected assembly to a union territory administered by the central government in Delhi. 

'Assault on civic, academic freedom, right to dissent': TISS PhD student's suspension

By Our Representative  The Mumbai-based civil rights group All India Secular Forum (AISF) has said that the suspension of Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) PhD student Ramadas Prini Sivanandan (30) for two years for allegedly indulging in activities which were "not in the interest of the nation" is meant to send out the message that students and educational institutes will be targeted if they don’t align with the agenda and ideology of the ruling regime.  TISS in a notice served to Ramadas has cited that his role in screening the documentary 'Ram Ke Naam' on January 26 as a "mark of dishonour and protest" against the Ram Mandir idol consecration in Ayodhya.  Another incident cited in the notice was Ramadas’ participation in the protest against unfair government policies in Delhi under the banner of the Progressive Students' Forum (PSF)-TISS. TISS alleges the institute's name was "misused", which wrongfully created an impression that

A Hindu alternative to Valentine's Day? 'Shiv-Parvati was first love marriage in Universe'

By Rajiv Shah*   The other day, I was searching on Google a quote on Maha Shivratri which I wanted to send to someone, a confirmed Shiv Bhakt, quite close to me -- with an underlying message to act positively instead of being negative. On top of the search, I chanced upon an article in, imagine!, a Nashik Corporation site which offered me something very unusual. 

Magnetic, stunning, Protima Bedi 'exposed' malice of sexual repression in society

By Harsh Thakor*  Protima Bedi was born to a baniya businessman and a Bengali mother as Protima Gupta in Delhi in 1949. Her father was a small-time trader, who was thrown out of his family for marrying a dark Bengali women. The theme of her early life was to rebel against traditional bondage. It was extraordinary how Protima underwent a metamorphosis from a conventional convent-educated girl into a freak. On October 12th was her 75th birthday; earlier this year, on August 18th it was her 25th death anniversary.

Why it's only Modi ki guarantee, not BJP's, and how Varanasi has seen it up-close

"Development" along Ganga By Rosamma Thomas*  I was in Varanasi in this April, days before polling began for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. There are huge billboards advertising the Member of Parliament from Varanasi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The only image on all these large hoardings is of the PM, against a saffron background. It is as if the very person of Modi is what his party wishes to showcase.

Joblessness, saffronisation, corporatisation of education: BJP 'squarely responsible'

Counterview Desk  In an open appeal to youth and students across India, several student and youth organizations from across India have said that the ruling party is squarely accountable for the issues concerning the students and the youth, including expensive education and extensive joblessness.

Following the 3000-year old Pharaoh legacy? Poll-eve Surya tilak on Ram Lalla statue

By Sukla Sen  Located at a site called Abu Simbel in Nubia, Upper Egypt, the eponymous rock temples were created in 1244 BCE, under the orders of Pharaoh Ramesses II (1303-1213 BC)... Ramesses II was fond of showcasing his achievements. It was this desire to brag about his victory that led to the planning and eventual construction of the temples (interestingly, historians say that the Battle of Qadesh actually ended in a draw based on the depicted story -- not quite the definitive victory Ramesses II was making it out to be).

India's "welcome" proposal to impose sin tax on aerated drinks is part of to fight growing sugar consumption

By Amit Srivastava* A proposal to tax sugar sweetened beverages like tobacco in India has been welcomed by public health advocates. The proposal to increase sin taxes on aerated drinks is part of the recommendations made by India’s Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian on the upcoming Goods and Services Tax (GST) bill in the parliament of India.

Poll promises: Political parties 'playing down' need to retrieve and restore adivasi land

By Palla Trinadha Rao*  The Scheduled Tribes population of 10.43 crore constitutes 8.6% of the population in the country inhabiting 26 States and 6 Union Territories. Parliament elections along with Assembly elections in some states have been notified this year.