People's Democracy

MEMO TO LT GOVERNOR

Delhi Police Resorts to Sexist Gestures, Helps Communal Forces

ON February 14, 2013, a group of university teachers, parents and students, along with some leaders of the All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA), met Shri Tejinder Khanna, (lieutenant governor of Delhi) at New Delhi. Neeraj Kumar, the police commissioner of Delhi, was also present at the meeting, along with other senior officials.

The aim of the meeting was to highlight the filing of false cases, sexual abuse and the use of excessive force in the lathicharge and water cannoning by Delhi Police (in tacit association with some supporters of Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi) on students and teachers who were protesting peacefully outside Shri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC) on February 6, 2013 against the invitation to and the address by Narendra Modi. The group demanded immediate withdrawal of the FIR filed against the protestors; strong and deterrent action against the responsible officers including those in command and a transparent public inquiry by officers who may inspire public confidence.

The lieutenant governor gave a very patient hearing to the group and said he did not doubt the veracity of their account of the incident. On the issue of dropping of the charges and the withdrawal of the FIR, he assured the group that it would be looked into immediately and sympathetically. He also said that sexual harassment by the police or any other group at the demonstration was unacceptable and that, given his government’s zero tolerance policy for crimes against women, no errant police personnel would be spared.

The group included Sehba Farooqui (All India Democratic Women’s Association), Prof Jayati Ghosh (JNU), Prof Abha Dev Habib (member, Executive Committee, Delhi University), Prof Sashwati Mazumdar (DTF), Kopal Pokal (SFI, Delhi), Ms Arundhati Das (parent), Ms Smita Gupta (parent) and others.

INTIMIDATING

& VINDICTIVE

The memorandum given to the lieutenant governor on this occasion referred to the vindictive manner in which the police acted against the protesting students and teachers. Moreover, instead of acting against the errant police personnel and others who were involved in harassing and beating up the protesting students, the police filed rioting and other criminal cases on February 7, 2013, against the protestors and victims of sexual harassment who went to file an FIR against harassment by the police and others.  The memorandum said the police FIR is clearly meant to intimidate the students and frighten them into silence so that they do not file any further complaints against the criminal conduct of the police and Modi’s supporters. With the threat of criminal charges over their heads, if they so much as admit to being present at the protest to exercise their democratic rights, even if they are not guilty of any wrongdoing, it is clear that students will feel scared to complain against the ghastly sexual harassment.

Expressing outrage over the sexually abusive and violent behaviour by the men in uniform, the memorandum said this kind of behaviour has no place in discharge of the ‘law and order’ duties of the police. This behaviour is unacceptable, especially coming from those entrusted with the task of protecting the citizenry, and is compounded manifold by the police actually aiding lumpen elements in sexual harassment of young women. Coming in the wake of the recent horrific gang rape in Delhi, this raises questions and concerns about the safety of women in Delhi. The memorandum asked: “How can young students ever have the confidence to approach the police to register complaints about sexual violence when policemen themselves indulge in this kind of sexual abuse and permit sexual intimidation in their very presence?” This, the memorandum said, is an extremely grave and worrisome reflection on the administration of police force that nothing seems to have changed on the ground, even after tens of thousands protested on the streets of Delhi barely a month ago.

The memorandum demanded the following as immediate steps:

1) Immediate withdrawal of the vindictive and intimidatory police FIR which would deter a student from coming forward to complain against sexual harassment; and

2) Suspension of errant officers --- the concerned SHOs, the ACP and the DCP --- pending a transparent, and public, inquiry by officers who may inspire public confidence.

Saying that only prompt and strict action would end this impunity, the memorandum asked the state and central governments to demonstrate their intent and sincerity to make Delhi a safe place. 

OPEN LETTER

TO AUTHORITIES

The memorandum was submitted to the lieutenant governor along with a copy of the open letter to the authorities on the same issue. It was signed by more than a hundred leading women of the country including Professor Malini Bhattacharya, former chairperson of the National Commission for Women (NCW), and Brinda Karat, a member of the CPI(M) Polit Bureau.

The open letter, among other things, recalled the sequence of events that took place On February 6. On that day, there was a large protest outside the SRCC, in Delhi University area, against the invitation to and talk by the Gujarat chief minister by the SRCC Students Union. The protest was organised by various students’ groups and individuals. The road in front of the SRCC had three rows of barricades on each side, some of which were subsequently broken. Not only was the Delhi Police extremely vicious in its handling of the situation, its actions were also highly sexist and communal. The policemen passed lewd remarks about women standing near the barricade. Some made kissing gestures and noises, and asked women to come closer and talk to them. They also very openly stared and laughed at women in a way that was clearly sexist and disgusting, whistling and winking at and even groping the female students and beating them up (and the boys) sadistically with lathis. In addition, water cannons were also used against them. They used the choicest abuses, with kutia (bitch) being among the mildest words. When a woman student demanded that women police officers be present at the barricade as well to confront women students, she was told ‘aap aurat kahaan se hain’ (in what way are you a woman?). Women were also told repeatedly to give up as they were too weak to break the barricades.

In all this episode, the police seemed to be in connivance with the students supporting Modi, and were together amusing themselves in their harassment of the female protestors. Some students (apparently from the pro-BJP ABVP) seemed to have the approval and indulgence of the police. They were allowed to be on the other side of the barricade. A few even climbed on to the police water cannons and danced on them when these were aimed at the protestors. Some openly threatened female students with Gujarat like consequences: "Jo Gujarat mein huya vaise tujh me ghusa doonga" (will thrust into you, as was done in Gujarat), while brandishing lathis and similar objects. But picked up or detained none of these students. Instead, after lathicharging the protesting students and ridiculing them, policemen picked up some of them (including young women) and pushed them towards a crowd of pro-Modi youth who then beat them up in full view of the police. Some anti-Modi protestors were picked up and taken to the police station, and beaten up on the way with lathis (including on the head and groin). These included some students who had not crossed any barricades and were only shouting slogans and then protesting at the police behaviour. At the police station, women students who had come to enquire about those picked up by the police were groped and felt up by policemen.

The open letter was accompanied by the accounts of a few eyewitness.   

RETROGRADE

MINDSET

Expressing outrage over the sexually abusive and violent behaviour by policemen, the open letter said that, coming in the wake of the recent horrific gang rape in Delhi, this episode raises serious questions and concerns about the safety of women in Delhi. It asked: How can students ever have the confidence to approach the police to register complaints about sexual violence when policemen themselves indulge in this kind of sexual abuse and permit sexual intimidation in their very presence?

Moreover, when some of the signatories, after they learnt these details, called up Ms Sindhu Pillai, DCP North, and spoke to her on the phone in the evening, she was in complete denial, extremely hostile and blamed the students themselves. The concerns expressed were simply dismissed, and the officer came out in justification of the police actions. Nay, in the light of some subsequent events, one may say that possibly the real intent behind her advice to file a complaint was to identify more protestors, so that the police could file criminal cases against them. The letter asked: Whom should victims of sexual violence by the police turn to when even senior women officers of DCP rank harbour notions that girls should be “controlled” and should not be out protesting on the streets? What is it if not a reflection of the mindset that girls invite trouble upon themselves by being out?

The open letter said it is an extremely grave and worrisome reflection on the police force that nothing seems to have changed on the ground, even after tens of thousands protested on the streets of Delhi barely a month ago. It asked: How many more crimes will it take, how many more women will have to suffer harassment and violence, and die gruesome deaths, before the police reforms itself, and imbibes gender sensitivity, discipline and a sense of duty and responsibility towards the common citizens of this country? How can we ensure that the police force just does its job?

The letter stressed that lack of accountability of the police is one of the significant reasons for the rampant sexual violence in the city and country.

Copies of the open letter were also sent to Sushil Kumar Shinde (the home minister of India who is directly responsible for Delhi Police), Tejinder Khanna (lieutenant governor of Delhi), Neeraj Kumar (police commissioner of Delhi), Smt Sheila Dikshit (chief minister of Delhi), Justice K G Balakrishnan (chairperson, National Human Rights Commission), Smt Mamta Sharma (chairperson, National Commission for Women), Ms Sindhu Pillai (DCP, North) and Smt Barkha Shukla Singh (chairperson, Delhi Commission for Women)