<< Prev Page    |    1    |    2    |    3    |    4    |    5    |    6    |    7    |    8    |    9    |    10    |    Next Page >> 8 Role of the police / government officials Laxity of the police and inefficient handling of situations According to people, even during the 1988 riots in Hubli, the police could have easily prevented the tragic incidents. They had allowed the procession to deviate from the pre fixed route. When the stone throwing and looting started, the police became silent spectators. The lax nature of the police is very evident in their attitude in most of the riots, even places which were badly affected. In 1990, in Hubli, for instance, in a case of stabbing that took place in broad daylight in front of the traffic island, close to this station, the assailant was not traced. They were seen to be mute witnesses to violence in many of the riot struck cities. In Bangalore, there were many complains of the police letting miscreants setting homes afire, and only beating up the innocent returning home from work, whom they probably saw as an easy target. This indifferent behavoiur of the police can also be seen as linked to their need to protect the upper class or the politically strong class. (See below, under support of the Upper Class) The police’s failure in taking precautions in sensitive areas is evident in Hubli, in 2001 when the birthday celebrations of Mr. Ashok Singhal, Chairman of the VHP, was held at Idgah Maidan. Riots were sparked of and violence erupted following Mr. Singhals visit, because the police had failed to control the processions taken out by the VHP and the Bajrang Dal activists. The involvement of the police in the Idgah Maidan controversy, starting from 1992 is noteworthy. According to the Hindu, 23 September 2001, “he hoisting of the National Flag on the Idgah Maidan by the BJP in 1992 would have gone unnoticed if police stayed away from lowering the flag. They continued the folly during every national festival that followed, and told the Government that hoisting the National flag on the Maidan would lead to communal riots. The BJP politicized the issue and raked up the controversy during five national festivals in a row. The standoff resulted in opening of fire by police, killing six persons, on Independence Day in 1994.” The main reason for such inefficiency was seen as the absence of clear-cut directions from top hampered policing. The negative attitude of the police who had been posted in the city for long periods of time, because of their political links, and lack of organized approach were also to be blamed. Untimely action During the 1986 riots in Mysore the police were very slow to react to the riots that followed the article “Mohammed the Idiot” article in Deccan Herald. After the 1988 Bidar riots, the police came in for criticism by all, for untimely action. Tensions between the students and the local population had been on the increase for quite some time. The rise of the Hindu communal groups, their connivance with the local gangsters, and their open display of communally surcharged emotions, like the events preceding the Ganesh Chathurti festival- all these were apparently allowed a free rein inspite of warnings sounded by some citizens. Even when the violence started on 14th September night, the police acted in a lackadaisical manner. Police high handedness In the 1986 riots in Mysore, the police overreacted by flushing out people seeking refuge in bungalows and even poorer homes of innocent people. Muslim leaders there accused the lower level police officials to have been the ones who unleashed a reign of terror. According to the fact finding report on the 1988 riots in Hubli, people had complained that the Superintendent of Police, Mr. Dharmapala Negi had himself drove the jeep into the mosque compound and started beating the Muslims and had also taken some of them into custody. This incident had very badly injured the feelings of the Muslims and it was reflected in attacking Mr. Vani the Dy. S.P. Police-Officers and constables returned to their sense of duty only after the higher officers visited Kolar. The police in their bid to contain violence in many instances exceeded their limits. Particularly in Chitradurga in 1992, where the orders given to the police were to ‘fire to kill’, acclaimed by the D.G. of police and the Chief Minister, there was indiscriminate shooting of innocent people. Elementary measures like warning the crowd over the public address system to be followed by firing tear gas shells and then charging with batons and shooting only below the knees were all ignored. Boys as young as 12 to 14 who threw stones were shot and killed. In Bangalore in 1992, many cases of violence turned out to be a confrontation between the police and the protestors, more than just communal violence, Of the 78 dead, in the riots, 33 were shot dead by the police. During the 1993 riots in Bhatkal, the policemen entered the mosque in Chinnada Palli wearing shoes, thereby hurting the sentiments of Muslims and angering them further. In Hubli, in 1994, when riots broke out on August 15, following the BJP’s attempts to hoist the flag, the police entered streets without prior notice and firing without provocation on innocent civilians. There were five deaths on the 15th due to police firing and one on the 19th when the driver of a police van fired at a group of people killing an innocent woman. Illegal entry In 1993 in Bhatkal, the police began searching houses to identify the rioters apparently without obtaining Magistrate’s permission. The police has been accused of having broken open the doors and windows of many houses. Partisan police The police have been accused of partisanship on many counts; their indifference in the face of many of the riots is evident in places where they accused the innocent, letting the guilty go free. Some policemen came down heavily on the victims themselves. (The Mutavalli of Yarabnagar mosque in Banashankari, Bangalore described how he sheltered non- Muslim women and children, during the tension in December 1992, in the mosque when they felt insecure in their own home. But the police descended on this place, beat up the Mutavalli on charges of violating the curfew). In places where curfew was declared, the police continued their autocratic behaviour. In Mysore, the curfew that was imposed affected the local newspapers, and some of its employees, including those with valid curfew passes, complained of being caned on the way to work False cases had been filed against many of them by planting weapons in the homes of the accused. Even the relations of the victims of stabbing who had rushed the latter to police stations or hospitals were arrested and charged with ‘rioting’. The majority of those arrested were undoubtedly innocent and false cases had been foisted on them. Further, the police refused to register complaints, specifically those that came from the poor like auto drivers, mechanics and petty businessmen.    << Prev Page    |    1    |    2    |    3    |    4    |    5    |    6    |    7    |    8    |    9    |    10    |    Next Page >>