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Indian Police & Prison System - barbaric Prisoner
composition: mostly lower castes & tribals, and Maoist areas Field research was conducted in 19 police stations in Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh, and the capital, Delhi. The documents a range of human rights violations committed by police, including arbitrary arrest and detention, torture and extrajudicial killings. The report is based on interviews with more than 80 police officers of varying ranks, 60 victims of police abuses, and numerous discussions with experts and civil society activists. It documents the failings of state police forces that operate outside the law, lack sufficient ethical and professional standards, are overstretched and outmatched by criminal elements, and unable to cope with increasing demands and public expectations. A fruit vendor in
Varanasi described how police tortured him to extract confessions to
multiple, unrelated false charges: Several police officers admitted to Human Rights Watch that they routinely committed abuses. One officer said that he had been ordered to commit an "encounter killing," as the practice of taking into custody and extra-judicially executing an individual is commonly known. "I am looking for my target," the officer said. "I will eliminate him. ... I fear being put in jail, but if I don't do it, I'll lose my position." The Indian government elected in May has promised to pursue police reforms actively. Human Rights Watch said that a critical step is to ensure that police officers who commit human rights violations, regardless of rank, will face appropriate punishment. Almost every police officer interviewed by Human Rights Watch was aware of the boundaries of the law, but many believed that unlawful methods, including illegal detention and torture, were necessary tactics of crime investigation and law enforcement. Human Rights Watch also said that while not excusing abuses, abysmal conditions for police officers contribute to violations. Low-ranking officers often work in difficult conditions. They are required to be on-call 24 hours a day, every day. Instead of shifts, many work long hours, sometimes living in tents or filthy barracks at the police station. Many are separated from their families for long stretches of time. They often lack necessary equipment, including vehicles, mobile phones, investigative tools and even paper on which to record complaints and make notes. Police officers told Human Rights Watch that they used "short-cuts" to cope with overwhelming workloads and insufficient resources. For instance, they described how they or others cut caseloads by refusing to register crime complaints. Many officers described facing unrealistic pressure from their superiors to solve cases quickly. Receiving little or no encouragement to collect forensic evidence and witness statements, tactics considered time-consuming, they instead held suspects illegally and coerced them to confess, frequently using torture and ill-treatment. "Conditions and incentives for police officers need to change," Adams said. "Officers should not be put into a position where they think they have to turn to abuse to meet superiors' demands, or obey orders to abuse. Instead they should be given the resources, training, equipment, and encouragement to act professionally and ethically." "Broken System" also documents the particular vulnerability to police abuse of traditionally marginalized groups in India. They include the poor, women, Dalits (so-called "untouchables"), and religious and sexual minorities. Police often fail to investigate crimes against them because of discrimination, the victims' inability to pay bribes, or their lack of social status or political connections. Members of these groups are also more vulnerable to arbitrary arrest and torture, especially meted out by police as punishment for alleged crimes. Colonial-era police laws enable state and local politicians to interfere routinely in police operations, sometimes directing police officers to drop investigations against people with political connections, including known criminals, and to harass or file false charges against political opponents. These practices corrode public confidence. In 2006, a landmark Supreme Court judgment mandated reform of police laws. But the central government and most state governments have either significantly or completely failed to implement the court's order, suggesting that officials have yet to accept the urgency of comprehensive police reform, including the need to hold police accountable for human rights violations. Said Adams. "It's a
vicious cycle. Indians avoid contact with the police out of fear. So
crimes go unreported and unpunished, and the police can't get the
cooperation they need from the public to prevent and solve crimes." * Require the police
to read suspects their rights upon arrest or any detention, which will
increase institutional acceptance of these safeguards; Selected Accounts
from 'Broken System' "We have no time to
think, no time to sleep. I tell my men that a victim will only come to the
police station because we can give him justice, so we should not beat him
with a stick. But often the men are tired and irritable and mistakes take
place." "They say,
'investigate within 24 hours,' but don’t care about how I will do [that];
what are the resources. ... There is use of force in sensational cases
because we are not equipped with scientific methods. What remains with us?
A sense of panic surrounds our mind that if we don't come to a conclusion
we will be suspended or face punishment. We are bound to fulfill the case,
we must cover the facts in any way." "Often, it is our
superiors who ask us to do wrong things. It is hard for us to resist. I
remember, one time, my officer had asked me to beat up someone. I said
that the man would be refused bail and would rot in jail and that was
enough punishment. But that made my officer angry." "With all the
mental stress, the 24-hour law-and-order duty, the political pressure, a
person may turn to violence. How much can a person take? ... We have to
keep watch on an accused person, their human rights, but what about us?
Living like this 24 hours. We are not claiming that our power makes us
born to work all the times. Sometimes we beat or detain illegally, because
our working conditions, our facilities are bad. So we are contributing to
creating criminals, militants."
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