My Opinion Published in The Hindu

If only we had a responsive police force, there would have been no need for two young men to take the law into their own hands — which provided the spark for the communal riots. The police show no empathy for victims of sexual harassment. It is this indifference that makes people think they themselves should “teach a lesson” to the culprits. Had the police been sensitive, the two young men would not have killed the man who harassed the sister of one of them, they wouldn’t have died themselves, and there wouldn’t have been any riots. The incident was not the result of any Hindu-Muslim rivalry. It was later given a communal colour by vested interests for political gains. And the way the issue has developed has shifted our focus from the main issue — security for women.

Link to online Article - http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/letters/a-shame/article5113417.ece

Snippet from the Newspaper on 11th September 2013.

Could the Muzaffarnagar Riots have been prevented ?

Sometimes, the biggest of the problems, have the easiest solutions. Let’s look at a turn of events, which led to Riots in Muzaffarnagar. A Hindu girl was harassed by two Muslim youths. Upon which, the brothers of the Hindu girl, beat the Muslim guy to death. This infuriated the members of Muslim Community, who in turn killed the Hindu Brothers. And the cops reportedly registered an FIR against the girl’s parents. Now, was this a matter of Hindu Muslim divide? I don’t think so. I think the Brothers could have reacted in pretty much a similar manner if the alleged harassers were not Muslim.

How could the government have stopped the riot?

I believe, that in first place, if our Police was pro-active in protecting our citizens, there would not have been any need for the brothers to take law in their own hands. We have repeatedly seen in Delhi over last few months (and it happens all over India) that Police shows no empathy, whatsoever towards rape victims, and out rightly refuses to register FIRs. Almost every week, an AAP candidate is beaten up, trying to get the Cops to register FIRs against the Rapists. But, if this is the response of our Police in Rape cases, just imagine what would they do in cases of harassment?

There have been cases, where victims have given the photos of harassers to the Police, yet our Police have not been able to take any action against them. And it is this failure of our Police, which led the brothers to teach a lesson to the harasser themselves. Had there been an active Police, the brothers would not have killed the harasser, they wouldn’t have died themselves, and there wouldn’t have been any Riots.

A careful examination of the incidence shows that this was not initially a Hindu-Muslim rivalry. Some people later converted it into one, for their political gains. And the development of this issue has totally shifted our focus from solving the root cause of this riot, i.e. "Providing security to our women from unwanted harassment".

Improving the PDS Delivery

The amount of Money Central Govt. loses annually due to Pilferage of PDS = 24,000 Crore Rupees.
Annual Budget of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (RTE) = Rs. 21,000 Crore.
If our government had cared to fix the PDS Distribution before passing the Food Security Bill, they could have doubled the spending on Primary Education.

But can the PDS Distribution be really made leak-proof ? If yes then to what extent ?
We believe, that it is very much possible to make our PDS System 100% Leak Proof, but it cannot be achieved without strong will of Administration.

And here is our solution to the Problem  Leak Proof PDS.pptx
 

ToI still stands by their Story

ToI Still stands by its story. Profiling on Eid indeed took place at Ahmedabad Mall.

They will obviously stand by their story. Because, nobody can prove that the Mall owners charged Non-Muslims also for the entry. Just because I was there, and I myself saw many Non-Muslims including me pay up for the coupon, and I also saw a lot of them get it encashed while shopping, I can definitely say, that this was totally irresponsible journalism from ToI.

They go on to say that "Those dressed in traditional Eid attire or exhibiting other obvious symbols of their faith, like skull caps, were being asked to pay the 20-rupee charge, while others were being politely requested to leave the queue and get free passage."

Being there, I saw that ~95% population there was dressed in a traditional Eid attire. So, when every one was asked to pay, it included them also.
But ToI also says "others were being politely requested to leave the queue and get free passage." - which is totally wrong, because I was in a casual T-shirt and jeans and no way could they have mistaken me as a Muslim. Yet I was asked to pay up. And it was not only me. I saw many other Non-Muslims purchasing entry coupons too.

They further say, "Like any exercise in profiling, this could not have been foolproof. It is, therefore, possible that some non-Muslims may also have paid up the entry fee and some Muslims males were spared because, in the eyes of those screening visitors, they didn't appear Muslim."

So According to ToI, Non-Muslims were asked to pay if they looked like Muslims, and Muslims were spared if they did not appear Muslim. This is where they have stooped to the lowest level of Journalism.
Since, ~95% visitors were muslims. Let's say of the remaining 5% Non-Muslims, 1%  were let go without purchasing coupons. (Also I believe some people might have not been asked to buy entry coupons if they had movie tickets.) So, instead of interpreting that 1% people were let go by mistake, ToI interprets that 4% Non-Muslims were charged by mistake.

ToI futher adds "Women — burqa-clad or otherwise — were being directed towards the green channel."
Now, if the Mall was really against Muslims, would not they have charged muslim women also ? It is after all easier to recognize burqa-clad women.

So I can definitely say, that ToI unnecessarily made it a Hindu/Muslim Issue.

Also read the tweet by Rajdeep Sardesai - Our reporter Megdhoot Sharon tells us Hindus and Muslims were both charged on Eid at Ahmd mall. Wish natl newspapers would be more careful.

While ToI still stands by its story, I still stand with my belief - ToI is actually Toilet Paper of India.

The True Face of Times of India

Today I happened to read an Article on Times of India Website - On Eid, Ahmedabad mall charges entry fee from Muslims - The Times of India.

This is most pathetic Journalism from ToI. 

Yesterday, even I had gone to Himalaya Mall, and even I was charged 20 rupees. And No. I am not a Muslim. So the Headline is completely wrong factually and also misleading.

Moreover the journalist should understand. That 20 rupee coupon was useable for anything you purchase. And if nothing, one could eat an Ice-Cream with that coupon.

Also, this was totally a decision of Mall Administration. And I feel to a point it was correct on Mall administration part. Because when I was in the lift and the lift was full to its capacity, the lift man told the people to wait as it could not accommodate more people, but as soon as the door would close these people would push the lift button and run away, thus not letting the lift to operate. They were also banging the lift doors.
So the decision to charge a token entry fee was to keep this kind of miscreants away. The Mall was not a very big one, and they did not have the capacity to handle a crowd of 30,000 people so they took this decision.

But why does ToI have to sensationalize every news and make the Muslim community feel unwanted in this country ? The coupon was being given to everyone - be it Hindu or Muslim, except for ladies and senior citizens. Why then, does the Reporter mention that mall charged fee from "Muslims" ?

Moreover, During summers, When I was in Bangalore, the security stopped 2 kids from entering Mantri Mall. Why ? Because they looked Poor, and the guard did not let them in, because he knew they would not buy anything. 
Now does this make, Congress CM Siddaramaiah Anti-Poor ? NO.

But here, the reporter goes on to write that it was "discrimination for many Muslims in Narendra Modi's Gujarat".

This is nothing but a cheap publicity stunt by ToI to incite Communal conflict.

The Need to Reform Indian Police System

Once again, the horrific incident of the brutal rape of a 5 year old is in news. But was even more horrifying was the way, our police handled the case. When the girl was missing, her parents went to the police station to file an FIR. But the police simply refused to do so. After 6 long hours of waiting in the police station, they finally registered a complaint. But what did they do after that ? The law says that once an FIR is registered, the police must go to the site of incidence and collect evidences and statement of witness/possible witnesses. Instead, our efficient Delhi Police, came back and said the door was locked. Are you kidding us ? If the door is locked, you won't do anything ? They did not even care to ask the neighbours, and record their statements. Finally, when the girl was found, raped and brutally tortured, police told the parents to be glad that she survived. Has rape become such a common thing that the police does not even care to register an FIR, and if the victim does not succumb to death, it's a victory for the victim ? But the story does not end here. Instead of catching the perpetrators of such an act, the police offered 2,000 rupees to the family, to forget about the incident and not involve Media and activists. The victim was admitted in a hospital which did not have adequate facilities to cater to her, so the activists reached the venue and demanded to shift her to a better hospital like AIIMS. And here, the police crossed all the limits and the ACP slapped a girl activist so tightly that her ear began to bleed.

After the Nirbhaya incident, amidst huge protest by the public, the government passed Strong(?) Anti-Rape Law. But did it serve the purpose. Clearly NOT. What we need now is a strong Reform in the Indian Police System. I am not saying, that it will stop rape. But a better police, who catches the perpetrators, does not blame the victim, acts swiftly, and ensures that justice is meted out, will definitely help in reducing the crime and better rehabilitation of the victim.

But what is the point of mere ranting on Blogs or Facebook ? Well what else can we do ? The government does not care about peaceful protests and we cannot resort to violent measures. Putting a black dot as our Facebook profile will definitely not serve the purpose. But what we can do is we can push for reforms in the Indian Police System. Not just for the cases of women safety, but in general.

Here is a presentation that I had prepared on the problems currently persisting in the system and the reforms needed. And I think its time now, that we all push for stronger reforms in the Police System.

  Reforms in Indian Police System

Here is a text summary of the above presentation
1.     Transparency in Selection, Promotion and Transfer
India has one of the finest selection processes for IPS officer which is backed by excellent training at the National Police Academy in Hyderabad. Unfortunately the same cannot be said of the selection system at the state level where officers below the ranks of DSPs are recruited.
Nearly 90 per cent of the police force in the country is comprised of the constabulary. This precious resource will have to be protected. This is not possible under the existing state of affairs, where obedience and servility to the senior officers and the political masters are the main criteria for advancement and placement in meaningful jobs within the police. If professional excellence has to be nurtured, we owe them the right working conditions in which they can give of their best. Such an ambience cannot come about without implementing the most crucial National Police Commission recommendations that are gathering dust in North Block and in State Secretariats. Hence, the recommendations made by the National Police Commission in 1979, aimed at insulating the police from illegitimate outside control, pressure and interference must be implemented.

2.     Freeing the Police from Politics
Since the police is answerable to the politicians, they tend to wield their power over the policemen. Hence, there is an immediate need to make the police body, free from the shackles of the politicians.

3.     Training & Sensitization
Crime by police officials and in police stations has been increasing with cases about custodial deaths and rape of women detainees making headlines.  Often victims of crime, especially rape are treated with utter contempt as if they deserved what they had undergone. The police have also been very insensitive in handling the peaceful protests, as seen during the recent protests in Delhi. This is mainly due to the lack of awareness of human rights among policemen. Even during their basic training, policemen need to be sensitized about human rights and how to handle sensitive cases. They must also be trained in crowd management, to avoid cases like Kumbh Stampede.

4.     Induction of more women in Police
At present, women comprise just 3.98 per cent of the country's total police force. The creation of women police stations will be a positive development since women police by their nature are better equipped to take a sympathetic approach in issues like rape, domestic violence, dowry harassment and child abuse.
In the recent budget, the finance minister announced a budget of Rs. 1,000 Crore for Nirbhaya fund. This fund should rather be used to induct and equip more women police officers to prevent such incidences from happening, rather than providing monetary assistance after the incident.
5.     Increase the manpower of police
ost state police departments are woefully understaffed with a large number of vacancies. Fresh departments for anti-terrorism cell, VIP security, cyber-crime and human rights are created but are not manned by the right people. According to a recent article in Times of India, Indian Police needs 5 Lakh more policemen.

6.     Training for better interpretation of laws

Indian police system, especially when it concerns those like Sub-inspectors and constable, are very weak at interpreting the law. In the recent controversy where two girls were arrested by the Maharashtra Police over a Facebook status, the Court rebuked the police officers for their poor interpretation of Section 66 of the IT Act. In the name of moral policing even law abiding citizens are made to appear like criminals by some overzealous cops. Hence, there is a need for constant up gradation of knowledge and skills.

7.     Modernization of Police Force

Indian police remains one of the most ill equipped in the world in spite of our country among the worst to suffer due to terrorism. Our police needs fast vehicles, communication equipment and even proper weapons. They appear like comical figures carrying their outdated .303 rifles whereas their adversaries are armed with AK 47s.

India was the first country in the world to have a finger print forensic laboratory in 1897. But today there are only 23 labs in the country compared to 203 in the US.  Currently there are only three Central Detective Training Schools in India. The low number of schools causes a problem to ensure continuous training for the Indian police force. Greater resources need to be allocated towards enhancing the capacity of forensic laboratories.

8.     Reduction of Policemen for VIP/VVIP Security

In India, we have three cops for a VIP compared to one cop for 761 ordinary citizens, while this ratio is 200 in countries like South Africa and UK. More Policemen should be employed for the citizens of this country, rather than the VIP’s who can even afford private guards.

9.     Judicial backing to the Police

We need forceful laws to back our policemen. Outdated laws, judicial loopholes and adequate legal safeguards for witnesses have resulted in many a confirmed criminal walking free without conviction. In the famous Jessica Lal case, the eye witnesses turned hostile due to which the police were unable to prove his guilt. We need to have strong laws against perjury, as in Britain, which would make witnesses think twice before retracting their statements.

Many of our laws drafted to fight crime also need to be modified keeping in mind, the changed conditions of the society and modern techniques of the criminal. For instance, the juvenile law could be modified to remove a hard line of 18 years of age, and the punishment should be decided based on the crime committed.

10.  Grievance Redressal

In a study on the "Image of Police in India”, (The National Police Commission, Government of India, Fourth Report, June 1980, p.1) over 50% of the respondents mentioned 'non registration of complaint' as a pervasive malpractice in police stations. To tackle this problem -

·        A Toll Free Number should be made available to all the people to complaint against the police officers.

·        The call should be recorded, a complaint registered, and a notice should be sent to the concerned police officer to explain his inaction to file FIR within the next 24 hours.

·        Failing to reply to the notice, they should be fined/ suspended based on their record.

·       A local police ombudsman, i.e., an Independent oversight body that will have jurisdiction over complaints of obstruction of justice and abuse of authority by the police, needs to be set up. 

To substantially improve the functioning of Indian police force and enhance its public accountability there should be a three way division of functions into:

• ™ an independent crime investigation mechanism,
• ™ maintenance of law and order and
• ™ local police force (district level) units.

The prescription for carrying out police reforms already exists in the form of findings of various police commissions, judicial pronouncements and advice of retired police officers. What we need is the political will to implement them.

Use or misuse of laws to curb the opinion of people in a Democracy called India

For most of our history the idea of democracy would have been viewed as absurd.

Government of the people, by the people, for the people - Though the idea is inspiring and revolutionary, but the reality is often ugly and manipulative. Instead of political equality and people empowerment, in India today, democracy has become a game dominated by the power of elites and dominant classes. Rule by the people has become largely a symbolic sideshow, while the real exercise of political power is happening behind the scenes.

The history of democracy in India, which is considered to be the largest democracy in the world, is indeed, particularly peculiar, as it was almost thrust upon the people. When the new Constitution was implemented, it was an unprecedented model of democracy from above which enjoyed the support of the people from below. This was made possible because the leaders of our freedom struggle, by leading the national movement, earned the faith of people and established a kind of political hegemony over the people.

But as demonstrated by the unveiling of a new scam almost every week, in India, the current ruling party, with its influence, has robbed the people of any effective role in the democratic process. This has brought back the importance of participation and deliberations of common people in public affairs.

The civil society of India launched a campaign to curb corruption, which gave voices to the common people of this country. With the rise of social media and public platforms like Facebook and Twitter, the “Aam Aadmi” was empowered to share his views on a public forum and gather support from like minded individuals.

When some people used this freedom to openly express their views against the ruling or powerful people, the government tried to curb their opinion by abusing the powers vested in it by the people. As a result, we have seen people being imprisoned because of their views and opinions expressed through social media websites.

Although the mass media in India enjoys a degree of freedom that would be the envy of several countries, there can be no denying that this freedom is occasionally curtailed by questionable action of our government. One need not go very far to trace examples of the obscurities of these laws and procedures. In the recent past, we have seen numerous cases, where the government has misused the law to arrest and harass those people who raise their voice against the ruling and powerful people, especially on the Social Networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

Recently, the Government of India misused the sedition law, section 124A of the Penal Code, to imprison a young cartoonist – Aseem Trivedi, who was arrested for criticising the corrupt state of affairs in the country. The sedition law was also misapplied to convict civil rights activist Binayak Sen and register a case against writer Arundhati Roy and others for speeches they made on Kashmir. The Sedition law prohibits any words either spoken or written, or any signs or visible representation that can cause “hatred or contempt, or excites or attempts to excite disaffection,” toward the government. But this law was made by the British, during colonial times, and has been applied to great leaders like Mahatma Gandhi and Bal Gangadhar Tilak, who

raised a voice against them. In a democracy like India, there is absolutely no need for such a law to exist.

In another case, Shaheen Dhada, a 21 year old girl from Maharashtra was arrested for a comment posted on Facebook and her friend Renu Srinivas was arrested for ‘liking’ the comment after the police received a complaint about it from a political leader. This was another example of abuse of power by the government and police. The helpless girls were arrested under Section 505(2) (statements creating or promoting enmity, hatred or ill-will between classes), by the police, which acted under pressure from various political groups.

The government has also misused its position to violently counter the peaceful mass protests carried against them. While last year, the Delhi Police blew lathis on thousands of peaceful protestors at midnight, protesting at Ramlila Ground against the issue of corruption, this year again, the government resorted to similar tactic to disperse the crowd that had gathered on India Gate to demand justice for a gang rape victim and tougher laws for security of women in the country.

Another law, which the government has been misusing to its advantage, is Section 66A of the Information Technology Act which calls for Punishment for sending offensive messages through communication service, etc. This non-bailable section offers a maximum of three years of prison to anyone who sends "offensive" messages. Under this section, anyone causing even "annoyance or inconvenience" can also be labeled a violator. Some critics feel that the section goes against the freedom of speech guaranteed under the Constitution.

This section has repeatedly been used to suppress dissent since its passage, beginning with a Jadavpur University professor who was arrested for allegedly circulating a caricature of Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Bannerjee, which was then spread around on Facebook. Earlier this year, it was again cited as a reason to arrest an industrialist for tweeting that Karti Chidambaram (son of Mr. P. Chidambaram) had amassed more wealth than Robert Vadra.

The speed at which information can spread via electronic medium can sometime prove to be very dangerous, as we saw when thousands of citizens from the North East living in other parts of the country started heading home because of fears that arose from rumors of imminent violence. The movie Innocence of Muslims that was uploaded on YouTube hurt religious sentiments and led to protests on a massive scale that also claimed many lives.

This law, which was created to prevent such incidents from happening, was instead misused by the powerful to curb any voice raised against them, and it happened because there is no clear definition about the IT rules. Everyone has his own interpretation and such ambiguity leads to confusion.

As is evident from the incidences mentioned above, there could be different views, and this is a requirement of democracy. But just because someone’s opinion differs from that of common opinion of the society, is no justification for its curtailment. If the government is authorized to censor anything and everything, the society would be reduced to an oppressive, dictatorial regime where any right to freedom of expression is virtually redundant. I think it is time, the government of India rethinks its strategies and be more tolerant towards

some criticism from its people and uses the law to make this country a safer and happier place to live.