Gun rule or rule of law?
From Gujarat 2002 to
Nandigram 2007, concern is mounting over incidents of police firing on
citizens. But where does accountability lie? A competition launched by
ActionAid and Gujarat National Law University is seeking answers.
The ‘Manthan 2007’
competition invites law students to undertake legal research on police
firing and state accountability.
In the firing line
In India, famously
described by UN diplomat Shashi Tharoor as land of a “million mutinies”,
competing political, social and economic interests are often at
loggerheads.
India may be shining
for some, with both ideas and opportunities, but putting profits before
people is increasingly pushing India’s poorest to the margins.
Free market policies
have also made blue collar workers in both organized and un-organized
sectors more vulnerable to the muscle of management.
As they demand their
rights and a place in the economy, the most marginalised – dalits,
tribals, agricultural labourers and women workers – end up in the firing
line.
Politics thriving on
hate and ‘othering’ of communities both deflects attention from wider
social ills and creates further targets.
“In 2002, the police were hand in glove with the right-wing mob that
attacked Muslims in Gujarat,”
says Javed Ameer,
project coordinator for ActionAid.
“In Tonk in Rajasthan, a farmers’ rally became the target. In Kalingar
Nagar it was tribals. What is state accountability in the event of
police firing?”
he asks.
Should the police fire at all?
The National Human
Rights Commission has guidelines for what are known as ‘encounter
killings’ and ‘custodial rape and custodial murder’. The question is
whether there is any legal justification for police firing at all,
especially on peaceful protest marches or sit-ins.
Why legal research?
The question demands
attention and offers legal minds opportunity for closer and
comprehensive scrutiny of the killing of a human being by the police.
Under the microscope
will be:
-
The right of
individuals and communities to assemble as enshrined in Article 19
of the Constitution of India
-
The right to
protest, or even to gather and rally around each other for self
defence
-
And the
fundamental right to life, protected in Article 21 of the
Constitution.
“Police do have the power to use force even to shoot, but only in extreme circumstances
and while maintaining public order. Legal research can help to draw the
line between ensuring the ‘due
process’ of law and observance of respect for right to life and
deprivation of life by state agencies with decision to shoot,”
says Professor Krisna Deva Rao of Gujarat National Law University.
Research papers from
law students taking part in the competition will help evolve guidelines
to objectively ascertain if police firing is necessary and proportional.
Click here for
competition entry rules.
