http://www.tehelka.com/story_main38.asp?filename=Ws120408discipline_punish.asp
Posted on April 4, 2008 WEB SPECIAL Discipline And Punish Rhetoric is one thing, reality quite another when it comes to dealing with the State's authority at the ground level, writes SHRUTI JOSHI A boy and a girl were at a police station to reclaim their two-wheeler which happened to be towed away from an unauthorised parking lot. What ensued was just a conversation with the officer on duty, not an instance of physical abuse. Yet just a conversation was enough to unearth the malaise that afflicts our police and the bureaucracy---institutions which have failed thus far to rid themselves of 'casteist' and 'male' tags. As they apprised the police inspector of their vehicle that had been towed away, his questions veered into irrelevant details. Family background, parents' profession, community, the questions went deeper. Here was an upper caste inspector questioning a low-caste student whose father happened to be a highly placed bureaucrat. The last piece of information the inspector gathered eventually freed the boy from his clutches. While the girl was asked to stay behind for further questioning, the boy could leave the room. Not a single question till then dwelt on the two-wheeler in his custody, the purpose of the visit. The cop embarked on some moral policing, touching on the implications of a high-caste girl having a low-caste boy as a friend. A Brahmin woman in the company of a low-caste is degrading and embarrassing to her community, opined the inspector. That she was defying the Hindu laws and customs. Meanwhile, her friend kept waiting just outside. It was only after a lecture on good Hindu behavior that the topic of the two-wheeler surfaced. He demanded an explanation on why the two-wheeler was found in an unauthorised parking lot. And the vehicle was handed back to them. For the young male student it was his first brush with the authority that reminded him that his caste mattered to the authorities. However, as he saw it what really saved him at the end of the day (unlike other citizens who could have been humiliated more) was the fact that his father was a high ranking official in the bureaucracy. This speaks of the fact that the state and its agencies protect the high caste and high class. However as is clear from this case, caste is all-pervasive cutting across class and many other equations at work. For the police official it was just one of the many cases in his daily routine. One in which he felt his 'duty to remind' the upper caste female citizen of the 'boundaries she had crossed'. And equally to the lower caste male citizen for the 'boundaries he had crossed, by daring to defy the societal and caste norms.' For the young citizens it was their first introduction into the casteist face of the Indian state in general and the police in specific. What is the cause behind this aggressive, chauvinist and casteist face of the Indian police? To be sure the state and its various agencies are only a reflection of a caste-ridden and gender-biased society. So what happens if the state metes out similar and probably worse treatment to its citizens? Its citizens will only be more apprehensive to approach these agencies as their faith in them and the democratic state declines. They will refuse to visit the police stations and as is happening all around the country, resort to other ways to resolve their day to day crisis. This is in no way a justification of the crisis but only an observation of what is already happening around the country. One can say that there is a disproportionate balance between the psychological powers that these officials think they have as against the actual power granted to them (which is generally lesser). It is this disproportionate balance of power that leads them to commit atrocities and brutalities against its citizens. We as citizens are often taught not to mess with the authority. This has led to a culture of bad behavior among the state agencies towards the citizens going unpunished. This is led to many excesses being committed against the citizens in the name of the supreme law of the land. Punishment and discipline is reserved only for the citizens. Very often we hear that Indian democracy is doing fine even in the face of religious and casteist assaults on its citizens. How does one deal with caste based discrimination by the state agencies which are supposedly sanitized spaces, the zones of non-discrimination? Is there an escape route for the citizens who are harassed daily for reasons of caste, religion and gender? Democracy is one such route and perhaps the safest and surest way to get there - provided of course that this democracy does not remain on paper alone.
