Ram Mandir to Maharashtra cop video: IPS officer’s guide to fighting caste & religious bias

A sadhu walks along a road as police and RAF personnel keep vigil, on the anniversary of Babri mosque demolition, in Ayodhya | PTI

The behaviour of lower rank police officers often depends on the attitudes and biases of the higher level IPS officers.

A recent video of a police officer from Maharashtra, Bhagyashree Navtake, boasting about how she files false cases against Dalits and tortures them and Muslims is a crude but true picture of social prejudices in India’s police force.

After all, our police officers hail from a society that is deeply divided on caste, religion and regional lines. And they will carry their biases with them. Rather, in many cases, these deep-seated prejudices become stronger when they occupy positions of power. These biases are not only displayed but also get sharpened in their behaviour toward persons of other castes or communities.

I recall an incident of blatant caste discrimination when I was posted as assistant superintendent of police (ASP) Gorakhpur in 1976 and was in charge of Reserve Police Lines. During my rounds of the police mess on a parade day, I saw some people eating food sitting on the cemented tables and benches, while others were sitting on the ground. It struck me as odd. I called the head constable and enquired about this dining situation. He told me that those sitting on the benches were high caste men and those sitting on the ground were low caste men. I was horrified to see this blatant display of caste discrimination in the Police Lines. On the next occasion, I asked the policemen sitting on the ground to get up and sit on the benches. I had to repeat it once or twice and only then this discriminatory practice of segregated dining ended.

Incidentally, during the same period, I was asked by my boss to submit a report on the observations made by the commission for scheduled castes and scheduled tribes in its report of 1974. The report mentioned the practice of segregated dining in Police Lines of eastern UP and Bihar. I told my boss that I had abolished this practice. He said I should just mention that it is no longer in practice. I don’t know about other districts of eastern UP, but I abolished it in Gorakhpur district.

But the story did not end in the 1970s. It was reported recently that the practice of segregated kitchens, segregated dining and separate barracks for different castes still continue in Bihar Police. It is shocking that an unjust practice that was pointed out way back in 1974 by the commission for scheduled castes and scheduled tribes still continues.

It is only because of India’s reservation policy that some persons belonging to low castes have found a place in the police force, adding diversity and secularising it to some extent. But still, the caste biases run deep, and frequently come to the fore like it did in the case of the Maharashtra police officer Bhagyashree Navtake.

There are frequent complaints of communal bias against the Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) in UP. I found it to be true when I was posted as commandant of 34 Bn PAC Varanasi in 1979. I used to tell my force that religion is your personal affair and when you put on your uniform, you are duty-bound to act according to the law of land. This constant sermonising did produce visible results too. During the 1991 general election, a retired IPS officer, Shri Chand Dixit, was contesting from Varanasi. Some Hindu groups were engineering communal tensions to prevent the Muslims from voting. As a result, curfew was imposed. An article appeared in the newspaper that PAC men had resorted to looting and beating up people in a Muslim locality. When I made enquiries, I was surprised to find that these were not PAC men but Border Security Force (BSF) men who were responsible. It shows that communal biases exist not only in PAC men but even among central paramilitary forces. But no such complaint was received from the locality where men of my battalion were posted.

The behaviour of lower rank police officers often depends on the attitudes and biases of the higher level IPS officers. Communal prejudices are frequently on display if you see the number of false terror cases against Muslims.

As the commandant of 34 Bn PAC, I constantly urged my force to free themselves of caste and religious divisions.

My efforts delivered a very good result during the 1992 Ram Mandir movement. The Bajrang Dal was making plans to have a demonstration at the Hanuman Mandir in Varanasi. The administration had planned to arrest them as soon as they came out of the Mandir gate. The PAC men were to encircle the agitators and put them in buses. Both the superintendent of police and the city magistrate were on the spot. But to their utter shock, the PAC men did not move at all and the Bajrang Dal agitators started moving towards the city. So, some more PAC men had to be rushed to the spot from the city control room to do the task and avert possible disturbance. The members of this additional force were men who belonged to my battalion. The ones who had refused to act belonged to another battalion, which was notorious for indiscipline. The recalcitrant PAC men were removed from duty. The point that I am trying to make is that leadership in a uniformed force makes all the difference.

It is obvious that if officers like Bhagyashree Navtake occupy a position of authority, they are likely to act in a partial manner. A constant watch must be kept on such officers and their postings. It is also necessary to change the composition of police force by actively seeking and recruiting more people from the minorities in order to make it representative and secular. Training programmes for all officers and constables should be organised to sensitise them toward Dalits, minorities and women.

The author is a retired IPS officer.