Why the issue of police brutality still exists in our society?

When the same people who took oath to serve you, starts attacking and harming you, then the system cannot be more broken.

Police brutality is not a new phenomenon. It has been an unfortunate reality of our society and the way our criminal justice system functions. Police going overboard to secure a confession is the top most reason for such assaults. Police over the years have become an integrated cartel and operates a well-oiled network, this helps them sidestepping any accountability even when an alleged criminal die during interrogation or detention. The rare times that they are held accountable, judiciary have made stinging remarks about the need for reform.

In a recent incidence a father and son duo were arrested in Tamil Nadu when they were found to have not shut their shop at the designated closing time due to coronavirus pandemic regulations put in place by the authorities. 'P Jeyaraj' -58 and his son 'Fenix' -38 were arrested and kept in police custody an entire night. Two days later they both died within hours of each other. People who know both of them have alleged police brutality and torture in custody. This has led to widespread outrage with people demanding action. Opposition lawmakers have taken to streets in protest, while a local court has taken up the issue for hearing. The policemen who arrested the father sun duo have been transferred and a compensation of INR 1 million is being given to their families.

Indian media has not been very vocal with the news but the outrage on social media is evident. Angry netizens have been calling this incident our own George Floyd moment, but there have been no street protests to that extent yet. The excesses of police increase when the state takes control during any disaster. Human rights and laws temporarily get suspended or cut back. Authority and Bureaucracy takes over and runs the country according to their whims and fancies while people suffer. While it is pretty evident that India's coronavirus strategy and lockdown have been a colossal failure, it has jeopardized millions of lives, starting from the migrant labours to professionals. 

Indian police have been in the storm since quite some time, they have been accused for being mute spectators while a group of hooligans entered and beat up students and faculty in JNU. The police were further accused to not taking the inquiry to its logical conclusion while all evidence lingered in the public domain. Police brutality was seen in its full force in the Jamia Millia Islamia university campus inside the library when the police threw tear gas shells inside the library before entering and thrashing the students with brute force. This case also did not reach its logical conclusion while the police has been accused of dilly dallying. The biggest shame of it all was seen during the Delhi riots, where the police was caught on camera breaking CCTV cameras and throwing stones with a particular group of people and not acting to stop the riots while the mob carried on rioting. These incidences have already marred the reputation of the police force with negativity, so the public outrage upon the killing of father son duo is understandable and is justified.

Police brutality is not an India specific malaise. It has been witnessed in other parts of the world from time to time. Recent cases of police brutality could be found during Hong Kong pro-democracy protests and police excess combined with racial discrimination led to the choking of George Floyd by a white policeman in Minneapolis. We are not even getting into the innumerable cases of police going overboard with innocent citizen during the full blown COVID-19 lockdown across the globe.

There is an overwhelming need for administrations to work closely with the police force to bring about the necessary procedural changes for them to be more empathetic to the very citizen they are meant to serve. In developing countries like India which still follows the police procedures and policies from British colonial era needs to be completely reformed. Police must understand they are a part of the society they are trying to 'free of crime' so, if they themselves start behaving like goons, what hope would the society have?

Conclusion:

There is an unprecedented public anger against the administrations and police in general, throughout the world. While countries like India deal with their unique police brutality issues, more developed countries deal with deeper discrimination and political authoritarian issues, causing common citizen coming into the cross hairs of the police. Never before there has been a universal need of empathy and healing touch imparted into the police forces. They must learn to serve the people while being firm but not resort to becoming goons to control goons. Police manuals needs to be rewritten keeping empathy and service of people in mind because police can only serve when they respect society.