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Since people are talking about racism in US police, here is a thread on the deeply ingrained communalism & anti-Muslim violence of the Indian police.
As many as 50% policemen consider Muslims more likely to commit crimes, according to a large survey. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.livemint.com/news/india/police-prejudices-what-the-data-says/amp-11580808263948.html
As many as 50% policemen consider Muslims more likely to commit crimes, according to a large survey. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.livemint.com/news/india/police-prejudices-what-the-data-says/amp-11580808263948.html
This communalism of the Indian police force shows up most starkly in riots. In virtually every riot, policemen have been accused of either indifferent or joining the Hindu side.
The former IPS officer VN Rai who wrote a book on the role or police in riots, found the following.
The former IPS officer VN Rai who wrote a book on the role or police in riots, found the following.
1) The police do not act as a neutral law enforcement agency but a 'Hindu force'
2) in riots, Hindus view the police force as their friend & protector, Muslims view policemen as their enemies
Source: Political violence and the police in India, KS Subramaniam, 2018 (pgs 49 & 50)
2) in riots, Hindus view the police force as their friend & protector, Muslims view policemen as their enemies
Source: Political violence and the police in India, KS Subramaniam, 2018 (pgs 49 & 50)
"Shiv Sainiks and Hindu rioters had acted with the collusion and participation of officers in the Bomabay and the state police. This included police murders of Muslims."
SriKrishna Commission report on Bomaby riots.
SriKrishna Commission report on Bomaby riots.
“One should also say that the police force behaved no better than armed Hindus. They were part of the killing & looting. It was no different from what Meerut in 1987, perhaps a degree worse”
Grim Tragedy of Bhagalpur Riots: Role of Police-Criminal Nexus
Asghar Ali Engineer, EPW
Grim Tragedy of Bhagalpur Riots: Role of Police-Criminal Nexus
Asghar Ali Engineer, EPW
"As Babu Bajrangi said, they (the police) 'shut their eyes and their mouths'"
"Anil Patel, another state VHP leader, claimed that not only cartridges, but weapons were provided to them by the (Gujarat) police."
Source: Gujarat 2002, What justice for the victims? Jaffrelot
"Anil Patel, another state VHP leader, claimed that not only cartridges, but weapons were provided to them by the (Gujarat) police."
Source: Gujarat 2002, What justice for the victims? Jaffrelot
"The police let the violence run its course...This gave the title of the famous report (by Human Rights Watch) 'We have no order to save you'"
"The police was easily neutralized becuase it had already been communalised"
Source: Gujarat 2002, Jaffrelot
"The police was easily neutralized becuase it had already been communalised"
Source: Gujarat 2002, Jaffrelot
"The UP PAC was implicated in horrors across UP in the 1970s and ‘80s ranging from Firozabad (1972), Muzaffarnagar (1975), Sultanpur (1976), Sambhal (1978), Aligarh (1978 and 1980), Moradabad (1980)....
......Meerut (1982, 1986 and 1987), Bahraich (1983), Mau (1983), Pilibhit (1986), Bara Banki (1986) and Allahabad (1986)."
I wrote on the history of the UP police violence on Muslims when the latest iteration of the saga happened earlier this year. https://theprint.in/opinion/up-police-didnt-become-anti-muslim-under-yogi-look-at-congress-regimes/354705/
I wrote on the history of the UP police violence on Muslims when the latest iteration of the saga happened earlier this year. https://theprint.in/opinion/up-police-didnt-become-anti-muslim-under-yogi-look-at-congress-regimes/354705/
The anti Muslim bias shows up most violently during riots, but it shows up in other areas as well. Muslims form 20% of the undertrials of the country, 6% percent more than their population, at least partly due to anti-Muslim prejudice the police. https://www.huffingtonpost.in/2016/11/01/over-55-of-undertrials-in-indian-prisons-are-muslims-dalits-an_a_21595971/
So when we see the communal role played by the police in the Delhi riots. Or the arbitrary arrests following the riots, overwhelmingly of Muslims, and to the exclusion of Hindu rioters and leaders, this is more of a continuation of a pattern rather than a new thing. -End.
