Police brutality?

Even when the police are to be held responsible for any death in the lockup, a young man was recently found hanging in a police lockup at Tando Aallahyar. The DIG Hyderabad has admitted that the dead man was wrongly arrested for selling a banned tobacco substance. Initial investigation has revealed that the police handled the matter with sheer neglect. A case has been registered under sections 302 and 34 of PPC against eight policemen. This case of alleged police brutality has raised questions about the quality of training of police personnel in Sindh and also about the implementation of the law known as the Sindh Repeal of the Police Act of 1861 and Revival of Police Order (Amendment) Act, 2019. This law prescribes that the police personnel are to be sensitised on human rights issues and shall behave humanely towards the people.

Some recent unfortunate incidents indicate that the legislation is not being implemented in letter and spirit, and something is amiss in the training of cops. Reports claim that proper attention is not being paid to the training of police officials; that at training institutes cops bunk classes and the institutes suffer from other drawbacks, and all this prevents officers from working there. In the present case, the young man was arrested on a false charge of selling the banned substance. The police had demanded money from the poor man’s family threatening that they would register an FIR if the family did not pay them the bribe.

The IG has ordered an inquiry into the custodial death. The inquiry will make it clear whether the case was of suicide or murder. The committee is entirely composed of police officials. Under the 2019 law, police complaints commissions at the district and provincial levels are to be set up. One-third members of these bodies are to be independent. These members should be part of inquiries against cops to ensure impartiality of investigations. The people are against police brutality, not against the police.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 28^th, 2021.

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