Cops think it’s a crime to be poor: Activists

Activists and lawyers say cases of police brutality are not a new phenomenon in the city.
After 16-year-old Kalyan Salve was allegedly picked up and thrashed by the police on the streets of Vidyavihar on Sunday night, activists are up in arms over the teenager’s death on Monday.

Advocate Shakil Ahmed, also a human rights activist, said this is not an aberration, but a norm.

"The police behave badly, especially with women and children. Torture and beatings are normal in slum areas," said Ahmed. "Legally, they should send minors to a children’s home after doing a medical test, but that’s not done."

Ahmed said that the police deliberately declare minors as majors and illegally detain them for three or four days before producing them in court. "There’s no fear as the state is lenient with the police," he said.

Reiterating this view, PA Sebastian of the Committee of Protection of Democratic Rights, said the police don’t expect any government action against them as "ministers openly say that it will demoralise the force".

Such brutalities, said Sebastian, are also rampant in the Northeast, and tribal belts of Chhattisgarh and Kashmir.

"That these people are poor is enough for the police to consider them criminals as they feel only the poor are capable of crimes," said Sebastian.

Exemplifying this, Abhishek Bharadwaj of Alternative Realities, a non-profit organisation working with the homeless and slum dwellers, recalled how the police picked up a girl on a local train where someone’s purse was stolen.

"There was no proof against her, but she was taken into custody as she was badly dressed," said Bharadwaj, adding that shabby attire and their inability to converse in a sophisticated manner makes them easy targets for the police.