Living under police lathis and guns : Defining police brutality
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: May 21 2015 -

Police brutality. Which department they belong to does not matter ultimately.

So whether they are policemen, meaning the regular police force or whether they are Manipur Rifles personnel or Indian Reserve Battalion men and even Village Defence Force personnel, all seem to be walking the extra mile to fit into this not so pleasing description.

Just a few days after the security escort of the Speaker of the State Legislative Assembly brutally assaulted a man (another policeman) for not giving them the right of way, came the news of the police shooting to death one youth and injuring another.

The blockade imposed on the Imphal-Ukhrul road at Khurai and the adjoining areas should explain the angst and frustration of the common people.

The media has been given to understand that the policemen opened fire when the deceased youth and his friends refused to stop when asked to do so.

Whether this is true or not is another matter, but the more important point is to question how the police have come under the impression that they are authorised to open fire if anyone refuse to see their waving arms or turn a deaf ear to their barking orders to stop.

This is not counter-insurgency operation by any stretch of the imagination.

Any policeman, properly trained and fit to be engaged in counter-insurgency operation, should have been able to stop the youth and his friends without firing a shot.

This is where all talks of training police personnel in counter-insurgency operations fall flat and seem like a big joke.

What happened a few days back and resulted in the death of a youth as well as the blockade on the Imphal-Ukhrul road was a script which could have been penned only by a police force bred on a dose of immunity and impunity.

The demand to revoke the Armed Forces Special Powers Act from Manipur falls flat in the face of such incidents.

Killing force. An art perfected by the State police and this is a matter of concern and shame.

Tough to say when such a culture took root, but it is there today for one and all to see.

De facto immunity. The signs of things to come are visible in the day to day existence of everyone.

Haughtiness and the license to do as they please have been the hallmarks of the State police for ages.

What happened some days back was a fruition of police excesses and brutality baring its ugliest side.

Yes guns are not fired everyday, but it is not an uncommon sight to see policemen launching physical attacks at the slightest pretext.

Verbal attacks too are common and so is psychological intimidation.

One youth has been killed and another one injured.

Nothing much to suggest that the State Government has woken up to the gravity of the situation.

Not surprising given the fact that this is the same Government which oversaw the cold blooded killing at BT Road on July 23, 2009.