Coronavirus

Lathis in the time of Lockdown: Police excess rears its head across south India

Amongst those attacked this week, was a 30-year-old doctor in Telangana who was abused and harassed while on her way to the hospital.

Written by : Priyanka Thirumurthy

It was exactly a day after the nation was called to its balconies, front doors and windows to clap in appreciation of essential workers across the country who were putting themselves at risk to fight the coronavirus outbreak in India. Dr Hima Bindu, a 30-year-old doctor in Telangana was riding her two-wheeler along with a colleague and was headed towards a private hospital where she worked. It was around 7.55 pm.

She was in Khammam in Telangana and the state had declared a lockdown, allowing only essential services to continue. So she wasn't surprised when a police officer forced her to halt and demanded to see her identification.

“I showed it to him and told him that I got an urgent call and have to be at the hospital by 8 pm,” she tells TNM. "But suddenly, he accused me of lying, grabbed my phone, ID card and began to abuse me. I immediately spoke back, reiterating that I was a doctor and that he cannot stop me, especially when there was no woman cop with him. That is when he slapped me," she recounts.

What happened next, was partially caught on video and the horror was shared for the world to see. Dr Hima was dragged away from her bike, assaulted and allegedly even groped by three policemen present there. The whole time she can be heard insisting that she has to attend to her duty and questioning why she had been slapped.

“Finally, a senior official who was patrolling the area spotted us and when he realised what was happening, he immediately apologised and asked me to leave,” says Dr Hima. “I couldn't understand why I was harassed. When I asked the senior official, he claimed that it was because the policemen were overworked and stressed,” she explains, incredulous.

Dr Hima is not alone in this struggle to fight the pandemic or the quest to avoid abuse by the police. Across the southern states, this pattern of violence and harassment from men in khaki has become commonplace ever since states began imposing curfews in line with the nationwide lockdown.

There have been many instances of police forces across all the five states behaving in an exemplary manner, helping citizens, controlling crowds and providing them food and shelter. But the occurrences of police excess blemishes the good work done by the rest of the force.

Telangana

In Telangana alone, health professionals and journalists—  enlisted under 'essential services' by the government— have been forced to deal with physical blows for doing their jobs. Even those who are attempting to help the community have not been spared.

On Wednesday, Syed Bilal, a human rights activist from the Human Rights Forum, was physically assaulted by the police at Tolichowki in Hyderabad when he was on his way to collect donations. Bilal provides food for the patients and visitors at Osmania General Hospital and Modern Maternity Hospital in Puranapool, Hyderabad.

“A friend told me that he would donate Rs 2,000 as charity for the purpose. When I was on my way, the police stopped my vehicle and without asking any questions, indiscriminately attacked me. They did not let me speak. I tried telling them that I was going to feed the poor, but they never gave me the opportunity to speak,” Bilal recalls.

Bilal suffered severe injuries to his hand, back and legs.

The violence was so widespread that Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao was forced to intervene and issue instructions to the Director General of Police.

However, in the neighbouring state of Andhra Pradesh, police brutality was unchecked.

Andhra Pradesh

In one instance, journalists were attacked in Krishna district, when they went to report about a checkpost that was causing problems to villagers. Close to 10 reporters were lathi charged despite producing accreditation cards. 

Read: Journos attacked by police during lockdown in Andhra, stage protest

Incidents of violence against civilians who flouted the lockdown were reported in Machilipatnam and Guntur districts. Men in khakhi armed with lathis swayed them with abandon, unconcerned about even being caught in the act by cameras surrounding them.

In Tamil Nadu, meanwhile, even the validity of your need to step out - for essential services and goods, have made no difference in the manner in which police have treated civilians.

Tamil Nadu

30-year-old Ramu*, who is originally from Odisha, has been working in Chennai for over a decade now. He had left his home on Wednesday to go to Kodambakkam bridge area to buy fish from a market he visited regularly.

“The police stopped my bike and asked for my driver's license. When they saw that I was from another state, they refused to let me go initially. But my friend, who was in the area, managed to help me convince them,” he says. “We were both buying vegetables and fish from the market when they suddenly came again and began lathi-charging us. They said we can't buy anything and forced us to leave. They are not even allowing us to buy food. I came back home empty-handed, injured and afraid,” he says.

53-year-old James, the President Tamil Nadu Association of Cottage and Micro Enterprises (TACT) in Coimbatore, tells TNM that he stepped out on Wednesday to withdraw money from the bank to pay an advance to five workers in his spare parts factory.

“We have closed industries here to support the lockdown but labourers, who depend on daily wages, are suffering. So I decided to withdraw money from a bank 500 metres from my house in Venkatapuram and give them some cash,” he narrates. “But the police stopped me before I could even get there. A constable began to abuse me terribly. I can't even repeat the words. Just because a few people are violating the lockdown for no reason, they are treating us all like criminals,” he laments.

Across the state, including Chennai, people have complained of police harassing them for buying groceries, shutting down shops selling essentials and even extorting money from those who come out for supplies. Even migrant workers who came out in search of food and shelter were lathi charged in Coimbatore.

Kerala

Even the state of Kerala, which has been hailed on social media for the manner in which it is dealing with this health crisis, has come under the scanner for police excess.

On March 25, the first day of the all India lockdown, 28-year-old Nishal, a dialysis patient in Kannur’s Thalassery was lathi charged by the police, on his way back from a dialysis unit.

“I was returning from the dialysis unit, my two-wheeler was stopped by the police near Koduvalli. They asked me where I went. I said I was returning from the dialysis unit. They asked me to leave. Another policeman beat me on my hand. Before I could explain anything to him, I got beaten. I asked him not to beat me. Even before listening to me, he beat me again, on my back with his lathi. After that, he asked where I went. I showed him the permission letter from the police station. I showed him the details of the dialysis center as well.” Nishal said.

Kerala police has also come under criticism as a section of police officers were reported as behaving rudely and even beat up people coming out to the streets during the lockdown in some parts of the state.

Reports have emerged of a Kozhikode man, who was on his way to a mosque for prayers, being beaten up by police officials on Thursday. The video of the incident has been circulating on social media.

Meanwhile, taking into consideration reports of police misconduct, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Thursday warned the police. The Chief Minister said that there have been criticisms even from health workers that they had been blocked by the police.

“If there are any behaviours on the part of any police official, which taints the worthiness of the state's name, that should be stopped,” Pinarayi Vijayan said.

Following the Chief Minister’s warning, Kerala Police Chief Loknath Behera in a statement said that action will be taken even against senior police officials, if found behaving rudely to people.

“It has been noted that milk distributors, vehicles supplying medicines and fish, were blocked forcefully by the police in some places. It has also been noted that some officials have behaved inappropriately with people. Police should behave kindly, yet sternly with the public during this lockdown,” stated a release by the state police chief.

But despite this, a day later, Kannur SP Yatish Chandra IPS was seen making people do squats.

Karnataka

In Karnataka, following the announcement of a lockdown in the state on Monday, multiple District Superintendents of Police warned citizens against disobeying the lockdown order saying that they will be arrested without bail under Section 270 of the Indian Penal Code.

One of the main reasons for incidents of police brutality in Karnataka was the decision to close down grocery stores, despite the government notification over the lockdown exempting them from being closed.

Videos emerged from Mysuru on Tuesday, showing police assaulting people on the streets with lathis. In Belagavi, a healthcare worker, Suprit Haladankar, alleged that he was beaten by police officials despite wearing his ID card.

In Bengaluru's Sanjaynagar, a man was arrested for assaulting a police officer. However, videos showed that the police hit the men first. Residents in the area told TNM that the altercation started over the fact that police officials closed down grocery stores.

The next day, he was shot in the leg when he allegedly attempted to escape the police and injured a police personnel.

'Is police brutality new?'

Human rights activists and advocates are not surprised by the violence being exhibited.

“Police brutality has always existed. They see the common man as their enemy and as a trouble mongerer,” says human rights lawyer Sudha Ramalinagam. “You have these extremes where on one end, a policeman is crying and begging and on the other, he is mercilessly beating up people. But you don't need to do either of these, in an ideal situation,” she points out.

The advocate states that Human Rights Commissions should take serious note of any violence and offences at a time like this, while rewarding police who behave professionally.

Senior police officials who spoke to TNM pointed out that men on the field are often underpaid, overworked and putting themselves at risk as well.

“This is a grey area,” says an official from Tamil Nadu. “I agree that violence is uncalled for and that there is a gap in communication. But officials are getting frustrated and stressed because they need to deal with such a huge population and ensure that crowds don't gather,” he says.

Victims of police brutality, however, are unconvinced by this explanation.

“I have a 10 month-old-daughter in Hyderabad whom I cannot visit because I am afraid I may carry infections,” says Dr Hima. “Everyday, I attend to patients, with no proper protective gear, afraid of getting the virus myself. And even on the day I got assaulted, I went back to the hospital to finish my duty hours. We have chosen this profession to help people, not harm them,” says the doctor.

(With inputs from Balakrishna Ganeshan, Neethu Joseph and Prajwal Bhat)

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