Here is a news item sure to boil your blood. This is an example (horrifying pictures in the article, not for the squeamish) of why it’s become so easy to hate people with authority :
“BHAJANPURA, AN obscure village of Forbesganj town in Araria, one of the most backward districts of Bihar, has unwittingly become the epicentre of communal politics. On 3 June, police bullets and atrocities took four lives, including an seven-month-old baby, a pregnant woman and an injured man, who was heinously stomped to death. In a statement that makes a mockery of the irrefutable evidence against them, the police are justifying the killings as an act of “self-defence”. The silence of the Nitish Kumar government is also raising several uncomfortable questions especially since all four people killed in the firing on 3 June belong to a minority community.
The residents of Bhajanpura could never have imagined their demand for a road could take such a tragic turn. The brutality of the police emerged in a blood-curdling video of a cop, Sunil Kumar Yadav, literally jumping on a prostrate and injured man, pummelling him to death. This two-minute long video footage is so disturbing that one shudders to think of those who saw it with their own eyes. Fatkan Ansari, father of the deceased Mustafa, breaks down while talking to TEHELKA. “Who killed him? Why was he killed? How was he killed? What do I tell you? This will not bring back my son,” is all he can mutter, before lapsing into silence.”
And yes. There was a video. And yes the police man actually jumped on an injured man’s face killing him. And yes, the jumping and kicking lasted for 2 minutes. Not sure why the police had this need to pummel another human being to death. I think the police faced some amount of resistance (in the form of uppity language from the villagers or something to that affect) had to come back with “who’s the boss now” attitude which somehow culminated with them stomping another human being to death.
Why?
Is power so intoxicating that people will use it to justify any illegal activity by those in power? I guess so. This was demonstrated during the G20 summit here in Toronto where the police, normally a highly regarded law enforcement agency, went ape shit for a period of 4 days when they were given unprecedented power to arrest whomsoever they felt like in the name of security.
This case is disturbing mostly because there is an element of communal violence by police against minorities who also happened to be poor opposing the rich politicians. And then the public has the temerity to ask why is there terrorism in India.
Add to the fact that there is video evidence you have to wonder how many such cases have escaped scrutiny because there was no evidence? This is India we are talking about. The police there, with blessings from the politicians, have and will go to depths of in-humanity again and again. I can only hope the fucking mainstream media pays some attention to this problem.
Desi In Toronto 