Team Herald
PANJIM: It is well-established that when it comes to any human rights violations, especially by those in positions of power, of any sort, be it government or otherwise, the voice of the victim has to be heard and taken cognizance of.
And when a protesting farmer is visibly and brutally hurt, a casual comment that he fell down, isn’t enough. Victim Hanumant Parab has described how he was hit by both the police officers, he has filed an official complaint. He is crying for justice because he decided to fight for his people. And what is his fight? To get loads of mud on his fields to be removed even as mining transportation has started. The mud is destroying fields which is their livelihood.
Does he deserve to be beaten so badly that something even worse than injury could have happened to him? That too in a police station?
And while there are courts that will finally deliver justice according to the law, you cannot take away from the fact that the ordinary people and crusaders who deal with the law-and-order machinery, deal with the police who come across more often as foes than friends. And they believe strongly that the police is a force against ordinary people.
Safety in people’s daily lives is important and in a democracy the right to protest democratically and peacefully is fundamental
Beating up individual protestors critically will never kill protests or protestors’ rights. If at all, they will ignite the fires for more protests within the rightful democratic framework the law allows. And if the line is crossed, there are laws to deal with those. But assaulting a protestor and inflicting serious injuries is not permitted in any of such laws.
Inquiry ordered against the reported assault on Hanumanth Parab, but no word on medical reports and CCTV footage
The biggest factor in any such inquiry involving members of the public is confidence. And that happens when you give basic information and assurances that the inquiry is being conducted seriously. Till today a proper medical examination on Parab has not been conducted. No one is aware of whether there was CCTV footage available from the room and outside the room of the PI where the assault allegedly took place.
Since time is of the essence, an examination of witnesses and recording of statements should have been done by now. Moreover, the inquiry officer appointed (North Goa SP) had left Goa for a family emergency before the incident. Hence shouldn’t it have been given to a senior available officer?
One of the reasons why these questions are coming up is because absolutely no information is being shared even at a basic level. An inquiry is a fundamental acceptance that there could be foul play on the part of the police that needs to be investigated. If that is the premise, then every effort should be made to ascertain that foul play has happened or the officers should be cleared of any wrongdoing. The cause of justice, on either side, is belied by these silences and lack of any movement, that inspires confidence.
The new govt should bring being humanity back to policing, then people will never leave them
When the police are not used as an armed force to protect political interests and a support system of the powerful and become a force to protect and support ordinary Goans, a true people’s government will be established.
For starters, the inquiry into the assault on Parab must be completed and if found guilty the officers could even be removed from their positions and jobs. And during the pendency of the inquiry, they should not hold their current positions or be in-service.
Across the world, the majority of police stations are happy, comfortable, and most importantly safe places. Those in distress are offered water and coffee. They are heard patiently and at times even escorted back to their homes. And if there is a rare instance of any misdemeanor against the public on any account, the concerned police officers must pay heavily.
9 Austin, Texas police officers have been criminally charged for misconduct during 2020’s Black Lives Matter protests, believed to be the largest single act of police discipline to result from the summer of unrest. Derek Chauvin the main rogue cop was charged for the murder of George Floyd, a crime linked to race.
All this happened mainly because the adherence to the fundamental principles of law and human rights is ingrained in a professional force. The Goa police sadly is a political force which obeys only political orders, not the police rule book.
The new government has a chance to change all that. If the police system is taken out of the control of the political leadership and kept in the hands of the professional police who will post officers according to the needs of duty and merit and not based on the officers closeness to a minister or MLA, a government which does that will get the peoples support not for these five years but the next five and more.
