SR Darapuri, IPS (Retd)
THE recent suicide by Y Puran Kumar, a Dalit IPS officer of Haryana, has once again given rise to the question about caste discrimination within the police organisation itself. I served in the police department for 32 years in Uttar Pradesh and found that police are not only casteist but communal also. These biases operate not only while dealing with the public but also within the organisation itself.
Let me tell you about my experience within the organisation.
Sometime back a video of a police officer from Beed in Maharashtra, Bhagyashree Navtake, had gone viral wherein she is seen bragging about how she files false cases against Dalits and Muslims and tortures them. It represents a crude but true picture of social prejudices in the country’s police force.
It is a fact that after all our policemen come from society, hence the police organisation is its true replica. It is well known that our society is divided on caste, religion, communal and regional lines. Therefore, when people from society enter the police organisation they carry all their biases and prejudices with them. Rather they become stronger when such persons come to occupy positions of power. Their personal likes and dislikes, caste and communal prejudices influence their actions very strongly. These biases are often displayed in their behaviour and actions in situations where persons of other castes or communities are involved.
A situation of blatant caste discrimination came to my notice when I was posted as Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Gorakhpur in 1976. As ASP I was in charge of Reserve Police Lines. One Tuesday, which was a Parade Day, while taking a round of the police mess I found that some persons were taking food sat on cemented tables and benches as others sat on the ground. It struck me as odd. I called a head constable and enquired about this dining arrangement. He told me that those sitting on the benches are high caste men and those on the ground are from low castes. I was flabbergasted at thsi blatant display of caste discrimination in the Police Lines. I decided to end this discriminatory practice. Hence the next time I noticed the same situation I asked the policeman sitting on the ground to get up and sit on the benches. I had to repeat it once or twice and was able to discontinue this discriminatory practice of segregated dining. Incidentally during that very period I was asked by my boss to give a report on the observations made by the Commissioner for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes which in its report of 1974 had mentioned that there was a practice of segregated messing in Police Lines of eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. I told my boss that it was true and I had abolished this practice only recently. He told me that I should just mention that it is not there now. I don’t know about other districts of eastern Uttar Pradesh but it was abolished by me in Gorakhpur district.
Recent reports reveal that the practice of segregated mess continues in Bihar Police. Here there is not only segregated dining but there are separate barracks for high and low caste men. It is shocking that it continues even today whereas Commissioner for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes had pointed out this discriminatory practice as back as 1974. Actually, due to its composition, the police force is dominated by high caste men and such discriminatory practices continue unabated. It is only due to reservation policy that some persons belonging to low castes especially Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (SCs and STs) have found a place in the police force which has made the force more secular and representative. However, minorities are still very poorly represented. But still the caste, communal and gender biases are quite strong in policemen. This discrimination is also reflected in the treatment and posting of officers and employees of this category.
There have been frequent complaints of communal bias against Provincial Armed Constabulary in Uttar Pradesh. I found it to be true when I was posted as Commandant of 34 Bn PAC Varanasi in 1979. On noticing it I had to make a lot of efforts to secularise my men. I always made it a point to lecture them to be above caste and communal biases. I used to tell them that religion is their personal affair and they are only policemen when they put on their uniform and were duty bound to act according to law. My constant briefing and debriefing had a very salutary effect on them and I was able to secularise most of my men. It was apparent in 1991 during a communal riot situation in Varanasi. The occasion was the general election of 1991. One retired IPS officer Shri Chand Dixit was contesting election from Varanasi city as a Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) candidate. As usual, the VHP engineered a communal riot to keep Muslims away from voting booths. As a result, curfew was imposed. News reports emerged that PAC men had resorted to looting and beating up in a Muslim locality. I immediately started making an inquiry. To my surprise I found that these were not PAC men but Border Security Force (BSF) personnel who had resorted to looting, destroying property and beating up old men and women in the Muslim area. It shows that communal biases exist not only in PAC but even among Central paramilitary forces. No such complaint was received from the locality where men of my battalion were posted.
I have experienced that the behaviour of lower ranks of police mainly depends on the attitude of higher officers. If latter have caste and communal bias they are likely to accentuate the same among those under them. I have personally seen many top-ranking police officers openly displaying their caste and communal biases. What to talk of lower ranks, even many IPS officers do not show any change in their attitudes towards lower castes and other communities after such a rigorous training. Changing the attitude of a person is the most difficult thing because it requires a lot of effort to relieve one’s ingrained prejudices and biases. Communal biases are so often displayed in so-called terror cases that there are a lot of complaints of false implications of Muslims.
It is also my experience that role models of higher officers play a very important role in changing the attitudes and behaviour of lower ranks. As mentioned earlier, as Commandant of 34 Bn PAC I continuously briefed my men to be secular and free of caste and communal prejudices. My efforts gave a very good result during 1992 when the Ram Mandir movement was in full swing. One day Bajrang Dal people had planned to have a demonstration. They were to gather in the premises of the famous Hanuman Mandir of Varanasi city. The administration had planned to arrest them as soon as they came out of mandir gate. It put PAC men to surround the agitators and force them into buses. SP City and City Magistrate were on the spot. When the agitators came out of the gate the officers on duty ordered the PAC men to surround them and put them in the buses. But to their utter shock PAC men did not move at all and the agitators started moving towards the city. Then more PAC men had to be rushed to the spot from the control room. As soon as they arrived, they surrounded the agitators and put them in the buses. Thus, a possible disturbance in the city could be avoided due to the prompt action of these PAC men. Happily, these PAC men belonged to my battalion. The other PAC personnel who had refused to act belonged to another battalion which was notorious for indiscipline. This prompt action by my men was appreciated by district administration and the recalcitrant PAC men were removed from duty. The point I am trying to make is that leadership in a uniform force makes a lot of difference.
As seen from the video of Beed IPS officer Bhagyashree Navtake, it is obvious that if officers like her occupy a position of authority they are likely to act in a partial, prejudiced manner. A constant watch needs to be kept on such officers. They should not be put on such duties where they can display their prejudices. It is also necessary to change the composition of the police force by recruiting more men from minorities to make it representative and secular. Training programmes for both officers and men should be organised to sensitise them about SC/ST, minorities and women issues. In practice, the greatest influence on police behaviour is exerted by those in power, as the police are often considered the stick of those in power. If the government’s agenda is caste and communal oppression, what can be expected from the police?
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SR Darapuri is a social activist, a retired IPS officer (1972 batch) and national president of All India Peoples Front. Views expressed here are the author’s own and Clarion India does not necessarily subscribe to them.
