Coming on the heels of the murder of a scribe from Ghaziabad – who was shot by goons for complaining to the police about harassment of his niece – another journalist has been beaten, stabbed and crushed to death under a vehicle at Niwari in Madhya Pradesh. In fact, 30-year-old Sunil Tiwari had posted a video on Facebook two months ago, saying he feared for his life but the local police were not taking him seriously. He had reportedly submitted a police complaint but no FIR had been lodged. In the Facebook video he had even named the people he thought posed a threat to him. His fears clearly were not unfounded.

Both the Niwari and Ghaziabad cases highlight a culture of impunity and lack of accountability within police forces across states. If journalists, who are knowledgeable about administrative processes due to their line of work, can’t get the police to take their complaints seriously, who other than VIPs can hope to get any security? This is precisely why the vast majority of Indians hesitate to file police complaints or even step into a police station.

At the root of the problem is the police-criminal-politician nexus. How else does one explain now dead gangster Vikas Dubey being out on parole when he massacred eight policemen despite undergoing life imprisonment in a case? While calls for police reforms have been made many times over the years, there is little movement on this precisely because it suits the nexus. Plus, there is a thinking in states like UP that impunity for the police will help control crime. This is flawed logic. It’s only accountability that can make the police perform their duty efficiently. A serious overhaul of police functioning along with strictly holding erring officers to account is the only way public confidence in the police can improve.

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This piece appeared as an editorial opinion in the print edition of The Times of India.

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