Prashant's Death

My mother-in-law called, early evening, on January 6th, to inform us about the death of one of my husband’s cousin. It turns out that, my husband’s cousin, Prashant, who was working in Bombay, went out to seek medicine for his headache in the early morning hours. He took an auto and on his way back home got into an argument with the driver over the fare. The argument was over Rs 50,the fare, the driver wanted. A inebriated constable, patrolling the area, saw this and came towards them. As the story goes, for no reason, he started kicking Prashant. Prashant managed to escape, but the constable wouldn’t give up. He cornered him and kicked him again and again and again. When prashant was taken to the hospital, he was pronounced dead. Apparently, Prashant was dead long before he was brought to the hospital.Full Story

I sometimes wonder, what killed Prashant? The inebriated constable or the Rs 50. Would he have been spared, if he had paid the driver the fare he asked? Was Rs 50 the cost of his life? Maybe. But, considering the fact that the constable was drunk, he may have done the same, for the deceased, was on the streets, when rest of the world was sleeping. Would he have acted any different,if he was not under the influence of alcohol? After reading through the 3 articles below,your answer would be "Probably Not".
1. Police Brutality in Khanpur
2. Police Assault in Surat
3. Police Assault in Thrissur

We have already, established that police on duty, intoxicated, are extremely dangerous. I’m sure there are laws for this. But the question is,” How strictly is it enforced?” Well, if it were enforced strictly, Prashant would be alive today.

So, one can come to a conclusion, that, drunk or not, police have been consistently showing violent behavior and as a result, harm the very people, they are suppose to protect. I’m not sure what action has been taken against these people, as they seem to grow in numbers.

It is quite hard, to get rid of a government employee like this constable, unless they kill somebody. Please do read this article, as to how much of a battle this is. The circumstances are totally different. But it does give an insight.

UPDATE :
Amit varma of mumbai has blogged about this issue,in the post Guardian of the law.

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