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A Tyrannical State comes closer home…

by · January 15, 2013

Like most of my FTI colleagues, I have been reading news of arrest of Loknath Bharti (brother of Somnath Bharti, FTI member and friend) with mixed feelings of shock and horror..  Somnath is hardly a “Lightweight”. Besides being a successful lawyer, he is the current president of the IIT Delhi Alumni Association and legal advisor to Aam Aadmi Party. He is also fighting several legal cases involving corruption, loot and misdeeds of the current regime, including a case against the Delhi Police “…in Constable Subhash Singh Tomar’s death saying they have the wrong men.”  The over-riding thought was, if it can happen to a kin of Somnath, is anyone safe? There has been some mainstream media coverage of this incident (some links below) but the implications are deeply worrying.. As friend Sanjeev Sabhlok mentioned,

India is no longer a safe place, and its biggest enemy is its government. Tyranny, not democracy.

I cannot agree more. I join Sanjeev and others in condemning the manner in which a citizen was arrested without charges and beaten up in police custody. Simply unbelievable – except this is for real.

A tyrannical state is coming closer home…Here are some details on this, first from NavBharat Times,

दिल्ली गैंग रेप मामले में दिल्ली पुलिस को चुनौती देने वाले ऐडवोकेट सोमनाथ भारती के भाई को पुलिस ने गैरकानूनी तरीके से गिरफ्तार करके पीटा है। आरोप है कि सोमनाथ भारती के भाई लोकनाथ भारती को शनिवार रात बेंगलुरु पुलिस ने झूठे केस में गिरफ्तार किया और लॉकअप में बुरी तरह पीटा। लोकनाथ भारती की जमानत याचिका पर मंगलवार को सुनवाई होगी। इसी दिन गैंग रेप केस की भी सुनवाई होनी है। पुलिस की इस कार्रवाई पर आम आदमी पार्टी और अरविंद केजरीवाल ने ने सवाल उठाए और इसकी निंदा की है। गौरतलब है कि ऐडवोकेट सोमनाथ भारती ने दिल्ली गैंग रेप केस के खिलाफ इंडिया गेट पर हुए हिंसक प्रदर्शन में कॉन्सटेबल सुभाष तोमर की मौत मामले में दिल्ली पुलिस को चुनौती दी थी। दिल्ली पुलिस ने इस मामले में 8 युवकों को आरोपी बनाया था।

लोकनाथ भारती को शनिवार रात में गिरफ्तार किया गया, लॉकअप में उनकी पिटाई भी की गई और बाद में उन्हें जूडिशल रिमांड में भेजा गया। यह सारी कार्रवाई शनिवार रात करीब 11 बजे की गई। आधी रात के समय की गई पुलिस की कार्रवाई को लेकर सवाल खड़े किए जा रहे हैं। यह महज संयोग है या पुलिस की इसके पीछे कोई और मंशा है, इसे लेकर इसलिए भी सवाल उठ रहे हैं क्योंकि पुलिस ने जिस तरह से भारती को अरेस्ट किया है, उससे पुलिस की नीयत पर शक होता है। भारती को अरेस्ट करने से पहले न तो उन पर लगाए गए चार्ज के बारे में बताया और न ही यह बताया गया कि उन पर लगाया गया चार्ज जमानती है।

Somnath’s brother Loknath Bharti is a software engineer and stays in a PG accommodation in HSR Layout here. Photographs released by the brothers to the media show Loknath having swollen red bruises on his hip, hands, legs, face and back.

The city police neither confirmed nor denied the alleged torture.

“Action will be taken after conducting an inquiry against the accused four HSR Layout police station police personnel,” said additional commissioner of police (law and order) T Suneel Kumar.

Loknath was picked up by HSR Layout police on Saturday. The complainants said Loknath was not informed about the charges under which he was booked. Police said Loknath was arrested based on a complaint filed by his landlord, Rajinder Aneja, who alleged that Loknath threatened his cook, Govind, with a knife on January 7. Aneja requested police to evict Loknath from the premises which he had rented out since November 1, 2012.

…The victim told reporters that the beatings began after he asked two policemen the reason for his arrest.

“They then dragged me to one of the cells and handcuffed me to the bars of the lockup. Three policemen hit me on my genitals with sticks and when I shouted for help they shoved a sock in my mouth,” he said.

Image: Screenshot of The Hindu’s report on the incident

Somewhat Related Posts: Remembering Emergency and Was the Emergency for Real?

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B Shantanu

Political Activist, Blogger, Advisor to start-ups, Seed investor. One time VC and ex-Diplomat. Failed mushroom farmer; ex Radio Jockey. Currently involved in Reclaiming India - One Step at a Time.

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6 Responses

  1. B Shantanu says:
    January 16, 2013 at 1:03 am

    As if on cue (Hat Tip: Abhishek):

    One set of figures illustrates the impunity with which civil servants can break the law. According to the National Crime Records Bureau’s annual report Crime in India 2007, between 2003 and 2007 citizens filed 282, 384 complaints of human rights abuses against the police. Of these only 79,000 were investigated; only 1,070 policemen were brought to trial and only 264 — less than one in a thousand — were convicted. All but a handful stayed on at their posts, free to wreak vengeance on those who had dared to complain against them. It is therefore a safe bet that the actual number of such abuses is at least 10 times the number reported. It helps to explain why a girl who filed a complaint of rape with the police in Lucknow about two months ago was raped by the Station House Officer, then repeatedly by the investigating officer, but could not muster the courage to get the latter caught, and report the former till she felt empowered by the protests in Delhi.
    From Overcome by a sense of betrayal by Prem Shankar Jha

  2. Dr. O. P. Sudrania says:
    January 16, 2013 at 8:58 pm

    Shantanu,

    Please excuse me to post here something which is both relevant as well as irrelevant, depends on how we look at it. I was trying to post my comment about Macaulay on your desicritic blogpost but failed for reasons beyond my idea. Hence I thought that I might post it here for your kind perusal, with no malice, but respect:

    Shantanu,

    I have been getting your Satyameva Jayate links and have been reading them as and when it interests me. I gather that you are also a member of Mr Sabhlok’s FTI, who also had published a similar article, to my consternation. I was amazed as I am now.

    Please keep your mind open before you read my comment, which I try to keep very brief. In fact I have been myself doing a lot of research on this quote for last about five years, ever since it appeared in “Freedom Express” in 2007. I was flabbergasted in the first instance but held on to myself before reacting. Your and Mr Sabhlok’s reactions are typical (excuse me) of what people often refer to Macaulayism. Both of you are highly educated (in western terms), yet you fail to examine it critically. Remember that it was in 1835 when the British had a tyrant (Viceroy) ruling your nation where everything was opaque. His decisions could not be challenged until it affected its Masters.

    This quote is neither proved nor disproved. My own work has convinced me that it is just possible that Macaulay may have said it verbally in the closed doors of the Governor General and it was never recorded or later erased for its sensitivities. Who knows? Again remember, the Hansard method of recording was not existent and that too could not have been expected in a slave nation where the concern for the indigenous people was secondary and of little value.

    Now I think I should put my own work on this so called “spurious” quote. So far I had resigned on it thinking it a burried story. But it keeps haunting from time to time. Very unfortunate. I also recommend a post by Late Sita Ram Goel:

    http://bharatabharati.wordpress.com/2013/01/13/the-problem-of-macaulayism-sita-ram-goel/

    His original essay on: http://www.voiceofdharma.org/books/hsus/ch4.htm

    Please forgive me to dissent here absolutely and I would hope that one day, we shall be able to break out of this “ism”. Let me also apprise you that such quotes are many which are hard to prove but their veracity has been difficult (equally) to deny too. You cannot always prove directly due to multitudes of difficulties, there is something called indirect evidence, that is equally valid to draw your conclusions. Literature in politics, sociology, history is rife on this account but depends upon how hard we try? You are free to delete it if you consider it inappropriate.

  3. Dr. O. P. Sudrania says:
    January 16, 2013 at 9:01 pm

    Shantanu,

    Your lament about the police behavior is nothing but the extended Macaulayism. You wouldn’t expect it in Europe with their own people. You must have lived abroad and watched it. I have scrutinised it very closely. Thanks.

  4. Dr. O. P. Sudrania says:
    January 16, 2013 at 9:12 pm

    I pick up a quote from your above post and copy paste here: “India is no longer a safe place, and its biggest enemy is its government. Tyranny, not democracy”

    There is a proverb, “You get what you deserve”. And to get what you deserve, you have to assert yourself. Recently you may have noticed Anna saying the real fight for true independence. I felt that this man barely literate was, but, better educated than many or so many in true sense. Today we are reduced to copycats of Western module. Unless the Western masters approve ‘it’, our stamp of acceptance is inadequate.

    I had read your this post earlier but failed to react, as it is nothing new. In fact it is a day to day reality, because we keep worshipping the old ghosts, believing it true, instead of looking into the realities of our present situation.

  5. Armchair Guy says:
    January 17, 2013 at 9:14 pm

    I feel that a very large number of problems in India can be attributed to the lack of respect for individual rights. In this list of problems I include the rapes and gang rapes that occur with shocking regularity. I want to be very clear that I’m not trivializing the rape or claiming this is the main reason for the rape. However, I do think the fact that people in a position of power can physically traumatize another individual (via imprisonment, physical assault, rape, or murder) and get away with it is one of the core issues.

  6. LK Kandpal says:
    January 20, 2013 at 9:55 am

    One of the serious threats we face today is that from the monster and predator state. State, which is there to protect our liberties, has become a man eater, eating in to the vitals of democratic institutions. Let’s all rise and face this leviathan head-on. Now or never!
    India, where are you? If you do not shout now, when will you?
    ‘As flies are to wanton boys, so are we to gods(state agencies),
    They kill us for their sports!