News Desk |
A new study, published on Tuesday, which studied 12,000 Indian police personnel across 21 Indian states revealed that its “data indicated a significant bias against Muslims”, and around “half of the police personnel reported that Muslims are likely to be naturally prone towards committing violence.”
The report, titled ‘The Status of Policing in India Report: Police Adequacy and Working Conditions’, revealed that police personnel interviewed across 21 India states reported that Muslims are “naturally prone towards committing crimes”, indicating a caste-based and religious bias in reporting and punishing culprits for crimes.
The research also examined the attitude of the Indian police towards mob violence on suspicions of cow slaughter, kidnapping and other suspicions.
Since Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi assumed his office, international media and human rights organizations have reported an increase in Muslims being targeted by cow vigilantes and Hindu extremist mobs on accusations of slaughtering cows or consuming beef.
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@narendramodi @RahulGandhi @AmitShah @siddaramaiah @MamataOfficial @vijayanpinarayi Modi what’s going on india why can’t take any action against who mob lynching? Why opposition parties are silent??? pic.twitter.com/sAEn3z7u6P
— justice (@Naushad39045466) August 28, 2019
Cow vigilantes have committed heinous crimes under the guise of protecting cows, which are considered sacred in the Hindu religion. Opinion makers accused the Modi-led government for not undertaking substantial measures to eliminate or punish those responsible for mob lynching and harassment incidents targeting Indian Muslims.
https://twitter.com/Sairajatt11/status/1166765941432229889
Bias against Muslims & Religious Minorities
The research concluded that “about half of the police personnel reported that Muslims are likely to be naturally prone towards committing violence.”
It added, “We observed a similar trend in the reverse direction as well, with less number of police personnel likely to report that Muslims are less likely to be naturally prone at committing violence as compared to people from various caste-groups.”
The research concluded that “about half of the police personnel reported that Muslims are likely to be naturally prone towards committing violence.”
The statistics revealed that around 14% of the police personnel interviewed believed that Muslims were “very likely” to commit crimes, while 36% believed that Muslims were “somewhat likely” to be prone to committing crimes.
Highlighting the bias towards Dalit communities, the report stated, “Police personnel from Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh have the highest proportion of those believing that people from Dalit communities are highly likely to be naturally prone towards committing crimes (about one in every five reported ‘very much’).”
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It also commented on the lack of equal treatment for Adivasis exhibited by the Indian police personnel. The report stated, “Rajasthan and Maharashtra had about half of the police personnel reporting that Adivasis are likely to be naturally prone towards committing crimes (‘very much’ and ‘somewhat’ combined).”
The research also examined the attitude of the Indian police towards mob violence on suspicions of cow slaughter, kidnapping and other suspicions. The report stated, “In the recent years, numerous cases of mob violence against individuals (sometimes referred to as ‘mob lynching’)on suspicions of cow-slaughter, kidnapping, etc. have been reported, and the police is known to have played an enabling role for the people engaging in such forms of violence.”
Sharing its results, the report stated that “more than one in every three police personnel believe it to be natural for a mob to punish the alleged culprit in a case of cow-slaughter (‘to a large extent’ and ‘somewhat’ combined)”. It added, “Looking at it the other way, a little less than half believed it to be not natural at all for the mob to punish the culprit in a case of cow-slaughter, while more than half found it to be natural (either ‘to a large extent’ or ‘somewhat’ or ‘rarely’).”
A significant proportion of police force has a casual attitude towards incidents of mob violence, believing it to be natural for the mob to take law into their own hands.
Concluding its findings on the Indian police personnel’s ability to deliver equal justice to people from various caste groups and religious minorities, the report indicated the presence of a significant bias towards Muslims and other religious minorities.
The report stated, “Police as an institution has not managed to provide equal space for the diverse groups and communities that make it what it is. As our findings indicate, a majority of the police personnel did not report the treatment to be completely equal across the lines of caste and religion.”
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It further added that “a significant proportion of police force has a casual attitude towards incidents of mob violence, believing it to be natural for the mob to take law into their own hands.”
Earlier in March, the UN Human Rights Chief had raised concerns over the treatment of religious minorities, particularly Muslims and Dalits, over the rapidly heightening surge of religious violence that continues to soar after Narendra Modi assumed the Prime Ministerial office in 2014.
Michelle Bachelet, in her annual report presented to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva in March 2019, said, “We are receiving reports that indicate increasing harassment and targeting of minorities – in particular, Muslims and people from historically disadvantaged and marginalized groups, such as Dalits and Adivasis.”