Muslims and police

Commissions of inquiry have sometimes exposed shocking details of communal bias in the functioning of the institutions of law enforcement. Yet, little notice is taken of them.

On September 26, 2012, a Bench of the Supreme Court, comprising Justices H.L. Dattu and C.K. Dattu, acquitted 11 Muslims convicted under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act, or TADA, and warned the Inspector-Generals of Police (IGPs) and Superintendents of Police (SPs) against its abuse. They must “ensure that no innocent person has the feeling of suffering only because ‘My name is Khan’, but I am not a terrorist’” (The Hindu, September 27, 2012).

The Bombay High Court had occasion to remark, on July 31, 2014, that the victims of custodial deaths in Maharashtra appeared to be only those from the minority community (read Muslims) and Dalits. Justices V.M. Kanade and P.D. Kode said this after appointing Yug Chaudhry as amicus curiae. He said, “I have done my research and it shows that the cases are mostly of Muslims and Dalits. The court asked why such cases happen in Maharashtra. The case before it was not reported as a custodial death but a natural death. Therefore the actual number of custodial death cases may be unknown” (The Times of India, August 1, 2014).

A police force which itself marginalises Muslims in its composition fosters prejudice institutionally. The Sachar Committee Report submitted in 2006 pointed to the poor representation of Muslims in the police force. The situation did not improve. It got worse, as Zeeshar Sheikh reported (Indian Express, August 6, 2013). Of the 3.26 lakh policemen added to the police force across all the States in the five years between 2007 and 2012, only 7,132, or 2.18 per cent, were Muslims.

According to the Chairman of the Uttar Pradesh Minorities Commission, Ahmed Hasan, most of the 1,200 people detained in the State under TADA during the 17-month Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) regime were Muslims and Sikhs.

“Police officers and men, particularly at the junior level, appeared to have an in-built bias against the Muslims which was evident in their treatment of the suspected Muslims and Muslim victims of riots. The treatment given was harsh and brutal and, on occasions, bordering on inhuman, hardly doing credit to the police. The bias of policemen was seen in the active connivance of police constables with the rioting Hindu mobs on occasions, with their adopting the role of passive onlookers on occasions, and finally, in their lack of enthusiasm in registering offences against Hindus even when the accused were clearly identified. …

A thousand lives were lost; 900 of them were Muslims. Justices Sinha and Shamsul Hasan record: “It is evident from the evidence that whenever a village was attacked and Muslims were subjected to attack and brutality by the mob consisting of thousands, though in some cases firing was resorted to, not a single person was killed or arrested except in one case of Dumrama.

Note a refreshing contrast. West Bengal was once rocked by communal riots. They vanished once Jyoti Basu became Chief Minister in 1977. The police take the cue from the politicians in office. A brave and upright Chief Justice of India Justice V.N. Khare’s judgment in the Best Bakery case, arising out of the Gujarat pogrom, is a landmark. It was delivered on April 12, 2004 (Zahira Habibullah H. Sheikh vs State of Gujarat and Ors. (2004) 4 SCC 158). The implications of the court’s observations were so far-reaching that the Gujarat government applied for their expunction and failed. This is what the court said:

“The role of the State government also leaves much to be desired. One gets a feeling that there was really no seriousness in the State’s approach in assailing the trial court’s judgment. …

“Those who are responsible for protecting life and properties and ensuring that investigation is fair and proper seem to have shown no real anxiety. Large number of people had lost their lives. … The modern-day ‘Neros’ were looking elsewhere when Best Bakery and innocent children and helpless women were burning, and were probably deliberating how the perpetrators of the crime can be saved or protected. Law and justice become flies in the hands of these ‘wanton boys’. When fences start to swallow the crops, no scope will be left for survival of law and order or truth and justice.”

No prizes for guessing the identity of that Nero. The application for expunction revealed an awareness that the cap fitted him disturbingly well. During the hearings, the Chief Justice of India, Justice V.N. Khare said, “I have no faith left in the Gujarat government.”