Seventeen of Arjun’s friends (name changed), all doctors by profession, were celebrating Tihar at a restaurant near Koteswor. There was some loud music and dancing, while another group was “playing deusi” for fun and making most of the noise in the next stall.
Arjun’s group asked for the bill around 9, and five friends left. The others settled the bill and were about to leave when a group of policemen showed up and asked them if they were playing deusi. They replied that they were not, and that they were on their way out, at around 9:15 pm. The police started shouting obscenities (that are not worthy of publication) and asked then what time the restaurant closes.
The owner had told them that they could stay till 10, but they had already paid and were about to leave. The police continued to hurl severe obscenities at the group though, which a couple of people in the group, admittedly drunk, could not tolerate. They responded to them in kind, and threatened that they knew people in high places. If the group made any mistake that night, this was it.
The policeman in charge ordered his subordinates to arrest the entire group. Of the twelve people left, five somehow evaded the cops while the other seven were taken into custody and driven to the police station. Remarkably, the other, noisy group were not even interrogated, as the police engaged only with the first group that they saw.
When cops regularly abuse their authority simply to stoke their egos, the state continues to remain an enemy, rather than a friend, for the people.
The police confiscated mobile phones from all the doctors and switched them off. When they asked why they were arrested and what would happen next, they were simply manhandled and beaten for their troubles. They were not even allowed to go to the toilet.
After a while, they were taken to a hospital for a medical check up, before being transferred to another prison in Tinkune. Into the night, some of them requested for blankets to keep warm but were summarily dismissed. For most of the night, they were not even allowed to drink water. The barrage of extremely unsuitable foul language continued. Their vulgarity went beyond foul words to also illustrate their politically incorrect views. A policeman once shouted, “Shut up you *****, you even look like a damaai *****!”
The group was released the next day when one of the doctors who had escaped the previous night brought a policeman associated with their hospital to the station and he vouched for them.
GOOD COP (?)
Before laying the blame for some serious transgressions, the police must be acknowledged for the things they got right, even if by a stretch. First, they responded to loud noises that might have been disturbing to the neighbors. Second, they were found to be enforcing the law for a change (apparently during the festival season, restaurants were expected to close at 9 pm); whether that law is sensible is another matter altogether. Third, they were not immediately influenced by lofty claims of connections with senior officials. There the sensibilities end.
BAD COP
If there is a law (or perhaps a presidential ordinance?) that decrees all eateries to close at 9 pm, most Nepalis do not know about it. Enforcement mechanisms should target restaurant owners rather than customers in such cases anyway.
If the state wants to curb dangerous activities at night, they would do well to first target “massage parlors” and “dance bars” to rescue and rehabilitate minors forced into the (sex) industry. A bunch of friends harmlessly unwinding during the festival season should hardly be the focus of scarce police resources.
The punishment should also fit the crime. It is not even clear what that crime was, but if it was being noisy, they were on their way out, so a slap in the wrist would have been more than sufficient.
If they were arrested for using foul language, those policemen that initiated the onslaught that provoked this reaction should be arrested too. Besides, enforcement of such a law would require an overhaul of the already crowded prison system.
When arrested, they should not be beaten for having the audacity to ask the reason of their arrest. When they are being kept overnight, and especially when they pose no real threat to society otherwise, they must be allowed to call to inform their families. Failure to allow this victimizes not just the alleged offenders but their families as well, torturing them to a night of painful uncertainty.
While in prison, they should not have to lose all sense of dignity and humanity. Their requests for drinking water and access to toilets should not be denied. They should also not have to face prejudiced slurs, particularly based on class, caste, and/or ethnicity.
Alternately, their release should not be as nonchalant. They should either be prosecuted for whatever crime they allegedly committed or, as is appropriate in this case, receive an apology for their wrongful arrest. That they happen to know a policeman, however, should not be their “get out of jail free” card.
WIDER IMPLICATIONS
This piece is not only about my friend’s arrest, although I am certainly not pleased about that. It is an attempt to highlight some police practices that affect the populace. If educated, often articulate and well connected doctors can be subjected to such treatment for no apparent reason, it is not difficult to imagine the disdain with which they treat uneducated, inarticulate and disenfranchised people.
During Tihar, for instance, policemen routinely went around “confiscating” flowers from flower sellers in New Road. Many of these sellers woke up at 3 am and walked over three hours from the outskirts of Kathmandu to earn some money to celebrate the festival. These sellers reported that the cops unabashedly discussed how some of them needed more flowers this year, and then went around picking the ones they liked from these poor people. Their pretext of enforcing rules governing pavement sales is beyond vulgar.
Reports of cops rounding up and abusing late night vendors, particularly outside hospitals, have become all too common, and the trend continued during Tihar. Targeting people who are staying awake at 2 am on a cold night during the festival season to make a few more rupees hardly seems necessary or appropriate. There must be more pressing issues to which we can put our resources.
WHOSE STATE?
The most basic definitions of the state distinguish it from other institutions through their alleged monopoly over violence. The unregulated, unjustified, and impractical use of that violence, whether physically or structurally, not only erodes the legitimacy of the state but also leads to further challenges against that monopoly.
The state should thus devise and raise awareness about a clear guideline for how arrests are made, what rights citizens and cops enjoy in these instances, and how citizens can seek redress should they face persecution and abuse.
As things stand, even though all policemen are obviously not irritant nuisances, when cops regularly abuse their authority simply to stoke their egos, the state continues to remain an enemy, rather than a friend, for the people.
shrochis@gmail.com
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