360° View | Manipur, Delhi, Bengal Violence, Why are Police Waiting for Public Wrath to Act on FIRs?

“I have asked the police to do everything to arrest the culprits,” said N Biren Singh, Chief Minister of Manipur, hours after the video of two women being paraded naked went viral and was followed by a public outrage and condemnation. It just took 24 hours for the police to swing into action and arrest the prime accused in the case.

However, the FIR of abduction, molestation and gang-rape was lying idle and unattended for over two months. All it needed was a viral video and a nod from the CM for the police to act in a case of a crime.

In another instance, the BJP in West Bengal brought in a video of a tribal woman getting stripped and beaten by locals in Malda, which also eventually surfaced on social media. Even though the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) leaders called this an attempt by the BJP to control the narrative and fight the public outrage caused by Manipur incidents, West Bengal started a case in connection with the incident.

Following the pre- and post-poll violence in West Bengal, chief minister Mamata Banerjee, while addressing the media, said nearly 20 people were killed during the process for Panchayat polls, and she has given a “free hand” to the police to act against the miscreants.

A month ago, it took India’s champion wrestlers to sit on a Dharna in Delhi and a pan India public anger to get a charge sheet filed against BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, who is accused of sexually harassing the young wrestlers.

Above mentioned are a few incidents, which show how the police administration almost self-censor themselves when there is a crime, which has some connections with the ruling dispensation. They are often seen to sit on FIRs until there is a public wrath triggering nationwide controversy or an order coming from senior political functionaries.

This has become a trend in India, which is not exclusive nor unique to a specific party or a state or a region. It takes days and months for the police to react when an FIR is even remotely connected with the ruling party or its members.

Rape as political tool

The indifference and the politically motivated silence seem particularly menacing in cases of sexual assault against women.

Following the incident of the video of the Manipur women, the Supreme Court observed, “Using women as an instrument in an area of communal strife for inflicting gender violence is deeply, deeply disturbing and simply unacceptable to the court.”

The incidents of upper caste men raping Dalit girls in Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and other states, and the instance of late TMC MP Tapas Pal threatening his political opponents in Nadia district saying he would unleash the cadres to rape the women of the family members — point out how rape has been used as a political tool or an instrument of caste violence for years.

It has been a decade since the Justice Verma Committee submitted its recommendations to bring amendment to the criminal law in case of crime against women. The committee was constituted by former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh following the horrific incident of gang-rape in Delhi, known as ‘Nirbhaya gang-rape’, that shook the nation. Some of the recommendations implemented were zero FIRs to enable the victims to file an FIR irrespective of the jurisdiction of police.

In this context, and following the tragedy of December 2012, the government set up a dedicated fund – Nirbhaya Fund – which can be utilised for projects specifically designed to improve the safety and security of women. It is a non-lapsable corpus fund, being administered by the Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance. As per the guidelines issued by the finance ministry on March, 2015, the Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD) is the nodal ministry to appraise and recommend proposals and schemes to be funded under Nirbhaya Fund.

However, on ground nothing much has changed.

Inaction leads to impunity

The long wait for justice, multiple levels of trials and, at times, even the indifference or delay in initiating investigation in case of crime against women seem to lead to impunity for those who commit such crimes.

Like the recommendations of the Justice Verma committee, the directions of the Supreme Court following the PIL filed by retired IPS officer Prakash Singh, who served as the former DGP of Uttar Pradesh and is known to bring police reforms, have been implemented partially and not by all states.

The primary direction to the states was to ensure that the state government does not exercise unwarranted influence or pressure on the police.