Beyond condemnation

Kashmir Times. Dated: 6/26/2017 12:43:11 PM

Concern over Kashmir lynching not enough, pertinent questions need an answer

The lynching of police office, DySP, Mohammad Ayoub Pandith is horrifying and outrightly a barbarous act. It needs to be condemned for its brutal nature. But beyond that, it also invokes pertinent questions that need to be grappled with. One is the selective nature of concern that has been expressed by people who have maintained criminal silence over the lynchings and killings of Muslims and Dalits by Hindutva hooligans almost on a daily basis in various parts of the country as well as over the brutal killings, torture and using pellet-guns on hapless victims in Kashmir. Secondly, the incident itself requires deeper scrutiny. Many questions pertaining to the security lapse remained unanswered. How did it all start? Was he really standing there suspiciously, taking photographs? If the officer was on duty, why was he alone? There are many gaps in the police version of the story. If he had allowed ten cops accompanying him to attend the prayers, why did they not come out to save him when the incident started even though people had already started rushing there. If he was on duty, why did the initial police reports say that none of the cops were missing and could identify him only after hours after his body was recovered. What was the nature of altercation he first had before he opened fire, injuring three people? Was it really in self-defence? The police, rather than, begin a witch hunt with a slew of arrests in a vain bid to dilute the shivers that the incident has engendered within the police force, must engage with these questions dispassionately. The police have accused the three injured persons, one of whom managed to flee, as part of the lynching mob. Clearly, the DySP fired before the lynching. How could people injured by bullets be part of the lynching mob? If the three are accused of entering into an altercation or even slapping the officer in muftis as is being suggested, there is no evidence to the same; much less of being part of the lynching. Criminalising the three persons, without an iota of evidence, is simply an attempt to bury the truth and reminiscent of the manner in which investigating teams rush for scrutinizing meat samples every time there is a beef related lynching in any part of India, rather than gunning for the culprits. Investigations must be fair and impartial.
Rash actions will only further exacerbate the situation. There is already a larger context to the incident. The vitriolic anger, now turning extremely venomous, of the masses against police or anyone looking suspicious, in view of an unaddressed dispute, the suffocating atmosphere engendered by militarisation, repression and gross violation of human rights has already reached a crescendo. No doubt, the culprits need to be traced and booked under law. However, random arrests and victimization of people unrelated with the incident will only widen the gap between the police and the masses and provide more fuel to the vicious cycle of violence. There certainly is need for the authorities in New Delhi to wake up and end this cycle of violence politically and through meaningful confidence building measures, followed by a dialogue process. That, however, does not seem very likely to happen in the near future. At the local level, there is need for larger restraint by the forces and the police. There is also need for a review of the flawed policy of concentrating the police attention to counter insurgency operations at the cost of normal policing. The state government must step in to bring about a shift in this policy from police working against the public to police working in tandem with and for the masses. The police confidence cannot be built by organizing sports activities or providing sops to selected few civilians. It can only be built on grounds of actions that ensure good policing, co-operative and co-ordinating mechanisms with the masses and responsiveness.

 

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