While India is rapidly developing and modernizing, the police force is abusive and failing. Last week, Human Rights Watch released a report that “documents the failings of state police forces that operate outside the law, lack sufficient ethical and professional standards, are overstretched and outmatched by criminal elements and unable to cope with increasing demands and public expectations.”
Even though police officers in India know the boundaries of the law, they often commit human rights violations because they believe “that unlawful methods, including illegal detention and torture, [are] necessary tactics of crime investigation and law enforcement.” Marginalized groups are particularly vulnerable to abuse. In turn, the public’s lack of trust in the police force, limits officers’ ability to investigate major crimes, including terrorism.
India’s newly elected government has promised to enact reforms, but governments have repeatedly failed to hold abusers accountable.
Photo from Getty Images and video from Human Rights Watch.
