Opinion Rule of the lathi

Various student bodies and associations protest against the suicide of Research scholar Rohit Vemula outside the MHRD ministry in New Delhi on January 18. (Express Photo by Tashi Tobgyal)

The brutality of the police action on students who gathered outside the RSS headquarters in New Delhi to protest Rohith Vemula’s death on January 30 raises questions about the manner in which public protests are dealt with by law enforcers. A video of the agitation — instrumental in the incident receiving widespread attention — shows lathi-wielding policemen raining blows on unarmed students. Some civilians — Delhi Police has clarified they were not policemen in plain clothes — too joined the policemen in beating up the students. In a statement, the police has said that the action became necessary after
the protesters crossed the barricades. That violence of this kind is sought to be described as standard procedure in dealing with unarmed protesters, however, should disturb us all.

The rule is that minimum force must be used to disperse a crowd. This calls for skillful leadership and a force trained to be discreet about the use of violence. By all accounts, that’s rarely the case in India, across states and political dispensations. Irrespective of the nature of the protest, or the profile of the protestors, stories abound of the police using indiscriminate force. This is a legacy of the colonial state, which saw public protest as a political and ideological challenge to its very claim to rule. A democratic government cannot deploy the same logic, however, and wield instruments of violence against its own citizens. In fact, the dependence on violence to enforce public order deligitimises a government’s fundamental claim to be representative. A democracy needs a police force that acknowledges — and makes space for — public dissent.

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There is also a need to relook at the instruments police personnel use to control mobs. Modern riot-control equipment like water cannons, tasers and pepper guns have to become the standard gear so that the police can enforce order without inflicting serious physical violence on the agitators. Police action should also be videographed so that mischief-makers within the force and in the crowd can be identified and proceeded against. This may act as a deterrent against protests turning violent or the police using excessive force. The right to dissent and protest peacefully are as legitimate as the need to maintain public order.