We have come across many atrocities of the police in the newspapers. Sometimes it's the false cases foisted on unaware Muslims in terror plots and other times the sexual assault or to be more exact, pure torture on people with alleged Maoist links. Let me be frank here.. I knew and understood that these practices were wrong. But somewhere in my subconscious, they did not register any perceptible impact. It could be because i couldn't put myself in the VICTIM'S (of the police atrocities) shoes. There's a shit load of difference between empathy and sympathy, and that matters.
It is then that i came across a recent mishap in my school-friends circle. A few of them had gone to a pub in a Indian Metro on New Year's Eve and had a blast. Somewhere in between, one of them had left. The rest did not miss him and later left for home. However, later in the night they got a call from police saying that the friend who left early had met with an accident. They rushed to the hospital and on arrival were arrested for murder. Apparently the friend had been found stabbed outside the hotel and succumbed to his injuries.
These guys were then subjected to THIRD DEGREE TORTURE and kept under illegal custody of the police for over a week. They were not produced before a magistrate nor were they released. They were frequently threatened that they had evidence of their involvement in the murder without any actual evidence to show. Lawyers were consulted and their intervention was of little help. Finally, it dawns on them that the police were expecting money under the table for this illegal arrest.
Of course the case would not stand to judicial scrutiny. But would a student, IT professional or any one who has something to lose accept to be charged for murder and subjected to the hassles of Indian Judiciary. In the end, a huge amount had to be settled for their release.
Sad is the state of Law and Order in this country. It made me fume with anger. This time i could identify myself with the VICTIMS. It could have happened to me. I wondered about the people who could not have paid the money. How their dreams would have been crushed by the greed of the policemen. The policemen did not understand that they were playing with fire. Cruelty to the innocent is like playing with fire. You have no control over the outcome. I tried putting a reasonable poor educated man in the situation. (since a reasonable man is the often used test in Courts of Law) An FIR would crush and spoil all his dreams for the future.
There are three possibles outcomes.
1. He would have resigned to his fate and tried to move on with his life after the incident.
2. He would have come out a stronger person and used all the proper modes of protest to bring about positive changes so that it does not happen to others.
3. He would become an extremist and his wrath more cruel than the cruelty subjected to him. So that Policemen of later generations fear and shit in their pants before they think of terrorizing an innocent.
--> It needs a person of extra ordinary optimistic outlook in life to not succumb to the atrocities and follow the Option 1. They are always a rare breed to find.
--> Knowing Indian Bureaucratic setup, the most plausible outcome would be a two step one. First Option 2 and the failure of which would lead him to Option 3.
We already know from various literature available on how extremists are product of our systems. I now truly understand their genesis. Would the various approaches by the government eradicate/convert them? Maybe yes. But would the genesis stop? I do not think so. The flaw is endemic to our System and only an overhaul of it would bring a stop to this genesis. Otherwise, whatever methods, whether violent or non-violent, used by the govt would be of little significance.
The system crushes so many dreams that the people manning the system should not forget that a man with nothing to lose is more dangerous than any other adversary.
"To be or not to be" is an oft repeated literary term and this time it entirely lies in Government Machinery's hands.
It is then that i came across a recent mishap in my school-friends circle. A few of them had gone to a pub in a Indian Metro on New Year's Eve and had a blast. Somewhere in between, one of them had left. The rest did not miss him and later left for home. However, later in the night they got a call from police saying that the friend who left early had met with an accident. They rushed to the hospital and on arrival were arrested for murder. Apparently the friend had been found stabbed outside the hotel and succumbed to his injuries.
These guys were then subjected to THIRD DEGREE TORTURE and kept under illegal custody of the police for over a week. They were not produced before a magistrate nor were they released. They were frequently threatened that they had evidence of their involvement in the murder without any actual evidence to show. Lawyers were consulted and their intervention was of little help. Finally, it dawns on them that the police were expecting money under the table for this illegal arrest.
Of course the case would not stand to judicial scrutiny. But would a student, IT professional or any one who has something to lose accept to be charged for murder and subjected to the hassles of Indian Judiciary. In the end, a huge amount had to be settled for their release.
Sad is the state of Law and Order in this country. It made me fume with anger. This time i could identify myself with the VICTIMS. It could have happened to me. I wondered about the people who could not have paid the money. How their dreams would have been crushed by the greed of the policemen. The policemen did not understand that they were playing with fire. Cruelty to the innocent is like playing with fire. You have no control over the outcome. I tried putting a reasonable poor educated man in the situation. (since a reasonable man is the often used test in Courts of Law) An FIR would crush and spoil all his dreams for the future.
There are three possibles outcomes.
1. He would have resigned to his fate and tried to move on with his life after the incident.
2. He would have come out a stronger person and used all the proper modes of protest to bring about positive changes so that it does not happen to others.
3. He would become an extremist and his wrath more cruel than the cruelty subjected to him. So that Policemen of later generations fear and shit in their pants before they think of terrorizing an innocent.
--> It needs a person of extra ordinary optimistic outlook in life to not succumb to the atrocities and follow the Option 1. They are always a rare breed to find.
--> Knowing Indian Bureaucratic setup, the most plausible outcome would be a two step one. First Option 2 and the failure of which would lead him to Option 3.
We already know from various literature available on how extremists are product of our systems. I now truly understand their genesis. Would the various approaches by the government eradicate/convert them? Maybe yes. But would the genesis stop? I do not think so. The flaw is endemic to our System and only an overhaul of it would bring a stop to this genesis. Otherwise, whatever methods, whether violent or non-violent, used by the govt would be of little significance.
The system crushes so many dreams that the people manning the system should not forget that a man with nothing to lose is more dangerous than any other adversary.
"To be or not to be" is an oft repeated literary term and this time it entirely lies in Government Machinery's hands.
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