The following story is a good example of why we warn at the top of this page that "links to outside sources below are offered for information's sake." As valuable, if unsurprising, as the documentation in the report by Human Rights Watch described below is, we want to dissociate ourselves categorically from its political conclusions. In reality, by brutally enforcing class and caste oppression Indian cops are simply doing their jobs as agents of the capitalist state. This role does not "undermine" but epitomizes Indian "democracy." The working masses of India don't need police "reform"—they need their own state.
India's police undermine democracy, human rights - Human Rights Watch (Reuters)
"India's police discriminate against people on the basis of caste and financial status and consider themselves above the law, undermining the country's democratic ideals, a leading human rights group said on Tuesday.
"The New York-based Human Rights Watch said in a report that Indian police also stood accused of illegally detaining crime suspects, torturing them and even carrying out extra-judicial killings in custody with impunity.
[...]
"Official figures showed 23 policemen were charged with atrocities since 2005, but none has been convicted.
"[The Asia Director of Human Rights Watch] said Indians avoided contact with police out of fear because they perceived them as discriminating on the basis of caste and financial and social status."
See also:
Broken System: Dysfunction, Abuse, and Impunity in the Indian Police (Human Rights Watch, August 4, 2009)
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