Justifying third degree
THE TORTURE and murder of Thangjam Manorama alias Henthoi, a thirty-two year old woman, by the battalion of the 17th Assam Rifles in Manipur had sent shockwaves across the State. The torture of this young woman drove some elderly women to parade naked sparking of protests all over the State.
Her death forced me to recollect my experience a couple of years ago when I was part of a study aimed at understanding human rights awareness amongst the police in Assam. Interested in seeing if human rights awareness led to using its values everyday, I travelled to the Northeast to meet with a Deputy Superintendent who had been `exposed' to human rights values in the classroom.
The police station was a little way from Guwahati city proper. TC, my travel companion, was reluctant to set off in the gathering gloom but I insisted and we arrived when it was nearly dark. There was no electricity. A few lanterns dimly lit up the station house. Otherwise there wasn't a soul in sight.
I had butterflies in my stomach. Grateful for the support of my companion I entered with what little courage I could muster. We explained: we had come from Delhi; we wanted to put some questions to the `in-charge.' We waited uncertainly for something to happen.
Within moments a white gypsy with the flashing beacon light appeared and the policemen all rushed out to salute, open doors and escort someone in. We too were immediately escorted into a larger room.
A man in full uniform confronted us. His appearance still haunts me. He had a physique and a face that lowered and threatened — well built, a short thick neck and a square face. My companion was reluctant to share the offered tea. I was determined to take the matter forward and explained our mission — to get his views on human rights awareness and torture. I hoped he would fill out our questionnaire — though its concerns seemed surreal in the surroundings. He seemed mildly amused and said courteously that for want of a `few spare minutes' he had not. But looking at it now his opening statement was: he had no option other than to use third degree and he can't do without it.
I have visited different parts of the country and spoken to personnel while conducting training and sensitisation programmes; most of them confide that common types of torture used by the police (but of course not by them) are deprivation of sleep, wall standing, special postures as aeroplane or crouching like a peahen, deprivation of food and water, beatings and use of electric currents, etc. These are not area specific but used countrywide. What we see in Manipur today after Manorama's murder is the furor of women taking to the streets to highlight the systematic excesses by law enforcement agencies on civilians and human rights violations in the name of curbing insurgency through the use of draconian Armed Forces Special Powers Act in force in several Northeastern States. What adds insult to the families of the victims of torture is the complete lack of accountability and transparency on the part of the department that provides impunity to the security forces.
My thoughts return to our policeman in Guwahati. He was a decent man. He had joined the services with great hopes. But all that had changed. At every turn he faces political pressure. He hates the interference. But he feels he can't resist it without losing everything he has built up.
All this, the insurgency, the ever-present danger, the lack of any support from within the service and outside, the corrupt system and his inability to resist its compulsions, he felt, justified his use of third degree methods with all who were brought to the station. His own bitterness and the perceived culpability of his victim had got all mixed up in his mind. Perhaps he sometimes saw the truth but refused to recognise it.
We were guests of the police department that day but looking at the single-minded autocrat of the area I felt I was, for the first time, in the presence of real terror. Even today I shudder to think about the plight of a victim or a criminal in his hands or the hands of many like him.
Over the years I have seen too many people in the service justify cruelty because `there are no other means'; because it is `necessary'; because it is `needed' or `asked for'; or simply because their lives are so full of tension that it can be `justified' by their service conditions. Others in the same service are often stunned by the brutality it generates. Is it one bad apple that spoils the whole bunch or is it just bad apples that now succeed in a rotten system?
How long will we continue to support a system that creates torturers out of good people and allows good people to be tortured? Will we let more dust gather on the National Police Commission recommendations to create mechanisms that protect the police from political interference? Will we never improve the lot of the constabulary? Is there any chance that this time, with this government, we will make at least faint efforts to reform our police? Everyone knows we have the means — just not the political will.
DOEL MUKERJEE
Sr. Project Officer (Police Unit), Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative
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