you are here: Home /
 

Why only Muslims are targeted by police in cases of violence?

By Vibhuti Narayen Rai
Updated Friday, 29 July 2011 21:07:11 - IST (UTC +5:30)

As far as communal violence and police’s partial role in it is concerned it must be admitted that our laws are very good and our police force is capable of bringing riots and violence under control but in spite of all this we have failed in bringing cases like Gujarat riots under control simply because our police officers in spite of being in khaki uniform remain Hindu or Muslim and the men in khaki uniform act with the mentality of ‘we’ and ‘they’. For them Muslims are ‘they’ even now. Police generally think that it is Muslims who start riots and the easy and effective way to control riots is to ‘deal strongly with them’, even in those riots in which Hindus take the initiative police action in most cases is against Muslims. For a common policeman, this thinking is so deep in his mind that generally speaking Muslims are mischief makers and rioters. It is almost impossible for him to believe that any riot can be started by Hindus. To his mind Hindus in general are moderate or non-violent.
I remember that in 1990 when Ram Janmabhoomi movement was very strong, I was posted in Allahabad. I was surprised to see that in police stations secret information against Muslims only were being received at the communal front and news against VHP and such other organisations which were openly spreading communal violence and hatred were very rarely received. I had to take great pains in making my police force understand that under the present circumstances Hindu organisations and not Muslims, should be on our radar. It is not that in India only police is having such mentality, courts too have disappointed us on many occasions. Political leadership has demonstrated lack of that political will which has failed in putting a stop to communalism and communal violence. Those who are well aware of the truth about Indian society agree that riots can erupt anywhere and any time but these can continue for long if the state i.e. ruling class so wants. I strongly believe that if any riot continues for more than 24 hours, enquiry should be made to find out if any wing of the state is complicit in this.
After 1960, in every communal riot police has been accused of partiality and prejudice and those who make such allegations are not Muslims only but people and organisations associated with human rights, independent media, reports of different enquiry commissions etc. If we believe official statistics, in that case also we will find that most of those killed in riots are or were Muslims. To add fuel to fire, police action (arrests etc) is mostly against Muslims i.e. in riots in which Muslims were the biggest sufferers in loss of life and property, mostly Muslims were arrested, maximum searches were made in houses of Muslims. In riots in which among those killed, more than three-fourths were Muslims. In police firings also it is Muslims who are generally killed. That is why Muslims have little faith in police. - Courtcy:The Milli Gazette
(Translated from Rashtriya Sahara Urdu, 30 July 2010, by NA Ansari)
*The writer is Former IG Police (Uttar Pradesh)

Tags: Vibhuti Narayen Rai Only Muslims, targeted by police, cases of violence?

  • MUMBAI: The last time Muslims and Dalits created a joint political platform in Maharashtra was in the 1980s. Led by former smuggler and don Haji Mastan, the Dalit Muslim Suraksha Mahasangh (DMSM)...

    2012-05-07 17:11:22 |
    0 comments
  • MUMBAI: Chemical analysis of a powder-like substance collected from a Byculla apartment where two suspected Pakistani 13/7 bombers stayed has proved that it is the deadly explosive RDX. The...

    2012-05-03 17:34:23 |
    0 comments
  • Srinagar : For Abdul Rashid Khan, it has been a long wait for justice. Twelve years after his father Juma Khan was allegedly picked from his house, killed in a fake encounter and dubbed a foreign...

    2012-05-03 17:30:23 |
    0 comments
  • New Delhi : The Supreme Court gave the Army full “discretion” to choose between a court martial and a criminal trial for seven officers accused of killing five persons in an encounter in...

    2012-05-03 17:27:07 |
    0 comments
  • New Delhi. Syed Ghulam Akber, member Markazi Majlis-e-Shoora (Central Advisory Council) and former Secretary Jamaat-e-Islami Hind breathed his last at Care Hospital in Hyderabad at about 1 p.m....

    2012-04-30 20:38:08 |
    0 comments
  • Government responsible for Communal Violence in Hyderabad city RSS outfits Communalizing the situation and polarizing population by developing Communal Sentiments. Introduce and pass Communal...

    2012-04-25 11:01:25 |
    0 comments
  • Picture: Pakistani scientist Khalil Chisti talking to the media after his release from jail in Ajmer on Wednesday. Ajmer: After spending over 14 months in jail, 80-year-old ailing Pakistani...

    2012-04-11 19:38:23 |
    0 comments
  • New Delhi, The Supreme Court Monday granted bail to Pakistani doctor Mohammad Khalil Chisty, who is undergoing life imprisonment in a jail in Ajmer for involvement in a clash that resulted in the...

    2012-04-09 20:06:17 |
    0 comments
  • Believe me, you don't want the state having the power to strip your clothes off. And yet, it's exactly what is happening. Bagram airbase was used by the US to detain its 'high-value' targets...

    2012-04-09 17:40:46 |
    0 comments
  • Jaipur: The Dara Singh conspiracy did not end with the fake encounter on October 23, 2006, but continued for weeks afterwards, the CBI believes. Sources in the agency said that they had evidence...

    2012-04-07 14:16:24 |
    0 comments
  • It is now official that more than 2500 un-identified bodies are buried in four Northern Districts of Kashmir. It is feared that the numbers may be many fold if un-marked graves are also reported from...

    2011-08-28 16:46:52 |
    0 comments
  • Srinagar : Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said here today that a “Truth and Reconciliation Commission is the only way to find answers” to “who have been buried in these...

    2011-08-24 00:35:02 |
    0 comments
  • Srinagar : For the first time in Jammu and Kashmir, an official inquiry has said that it is “beyond doubt” that there are scores of unidentified bodies in unmarked graves in the Valley — as...

    2011-08-21 18:54:10 |
    0 comments
  • Killing in custody, in fake encounters and in police firing has become a regular feature of Human Rights Violations in the country but no serious effort is in sight to deal the menace. Extra judicial...

    2011-08-21 12:04:58 |
    0 comments
  • KARACHI: The Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) announced its verdict in the Sarfaraz Shah killing case Friday, Geo News reported. According to the verdict, Rangers official Shahid Zafar who shot Sarafaraz...

    2011-08-13 13:02:17 |
    0 comments
  • Islamabad: As many as 168 children have been killed in drone strikes in Pakistan during the past seven years as the CIA has intensified its secret programme against militants along the Afghan...

    2011-08-12 00:09:46 |
    0 comments