Why did policemen tackling unarmed farmers on e-way save on tear gas & rubber bullets and pull out live cartridges in a Jiffy?
Why did policemen tackling unarmed farmers on e-way save on tear gas & rubber bullets and pull out live cartridges in a Jiffy?
The Standard Operating Procedure to be followed in a mob situation, found in the police manual, states that the cops should warn the protestors, use a water cannon, lathi charge below the waist, fire tear gas shells and then use rubber bullets in extreme situations to disperse a gathering.
Cops shoot at protesting farmers on Tuesday. Pic/Navnath kaple
These should be done progressively if, and as, the situation worsens.
If and only if things go completely out of hand, it states, should the police resort to firing live rounds below the waist.
Damning numbers related to the handling of Tuesday's farmers' protest at the Mumbai-Pune Expressway released by the department itself however, tell a sordid tale of how trigger-happy cops may have caused the deaths of the three farmers and led to 12 others being severely injured.
Sample this: 21 tear gas shells and 34 rubber bullets both precautionary measures were fired by cops during the protest. The number of live rounds fired which can maim or kill: 59.
This means that the police fired more than twice the number of live rounds than it did tear gas shells and more than one-third the number of rubber bullets. In fact, the number of live rounds fired even exceeds the number of tear gas shells and rubber bullets combined.
A question begs to be asked: Was dispersing the crowd the motive or was it more sinister?
And there's more. While the police manual clearly states that the police should fire below the waist, all the three dead farmers and all 12 injured have, without exception, sustained firearm injuries over the waist area.
Sp IG of Police (Kolhapur Range) Tukaram Chavan said, "Preliminary inquires have revealed that the police fired 21 rounds of tear gas shells, 34 rounds of rubber bullets, 51 rounds of live cartridges from service revolvers/pistols and 8 rounds from Self-Loading Rifles, when they felt that the mob, which was leaderless, was getting out of control."
Autopsy reports issued by forensics experts from Sasoon hospital have confirmed that all three deaths were due to firearm injuries. Chavan, however, said "We are awaiting the experts' reports to confirm whether live cartridges or rubber bullets had caused the deceased's death."
In defence
Sandeep Karnik, SP, Pune (Rural), added, "The agitators have been protesting for the last three years and the local police know most of the agitators personally.
Never before have they created a law-and-order problem and, when they gathered on Tuesday, we felt they would disperse after shouting slogans. We had no hint that the situation would get so bad."
"Over 1,200 local farmers and villagers had gathered around the Mumbai-Pune Express Highway. Around 100 policemen, including a platoon of the SRP, had been deployed to man the crowd," he added.
Both Chavan and Karnik denied that they had given the order to open fire. Chavan clarified that the policemen present at the spot had decided to open fire when they realised that the mob was getting unruly and had cause enough mayhem on the entire express highway. He claimed that they had fired in the air before aiming at the villagers.
The police are looking for video footage to present their side. To prove that the protestors were unruly, cops said over 250 private and police vehicles were damaged by the mob and more than 50 policemen sustained serious injuries to the head and fractured limbs.
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Chavan has now appealed to private vehicle owners to come forward and register a complaint against the unruly mob.
Lawyers say
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Legal eagles, like lawyer Y P Singh, have expressed outrage at the police's handling of the incident.
"This is a clear case of local intelligence failure and it is very evident from the episode that it was a case of unrestrained firing by the police, with an aim to kill rather than deter the protestors.
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If the situation was getting difficult for the 100 cops to manage, they could have called for back-up from Mumbai and Pune," said Singh.
Comparing the Pune episode with the London riots, he said, "If they can refrain from using excessive force on the unruly, rioting mob for a few days, the rural police could have at least averted the bloody situation by trying to control the mob using alternate methods for a few hours."
Precautions
As a precaution, the police have detained over 50 people from Talegaon and have registered three separate cases of rioting, attempt to murder, endangering the life of people, preventing government servants from doing their duty and damaging public property etc against the villagers.
However, no case has been registered against the policemen who opened fire on the mob and nor has any policeman been suspended.
"The collector (Pune) has already announced a magisterial inquiry into the police firing and the situation will be clear only after that," said Chavan.
The state government has, however, decided to ask a retired High Court judge to carry out the probe. If that happens, the magisterial inquiry would be set aside.
Meanwhile, adequate police bandobast has been made at 19 locations between Lonavla and to Diu to avert any untoward incident in the wake of the firing.
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The state government is also yet to make any announcement about whether or not it will compensate the families of those killed and hurt in the incident.
By the rulebook
The police manual, which is compulsory reading for every police officer and is also taught from extensively during initial training, states: The police should give a warning stating that the gathering is illegal and should order the people to disperse.
If the mob does not disperse, the police should warn (using a public address system) before restoring to the use of water cannons.
If the mob still does not disperse, the police should warn and then resort to a lathi charge in which protestors should be hit below the waist.
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If the crowd still stands firm, the police can use tear gas (either by throwing gas grenades, firing gas shells or using the indigenous vajra) And the last resort is to open fire but only after receiving specific instruction from officer of a superior rank.
However CrPC gives power to any police officer (sub inspector and above) to take a decision on firing according to the mob situation. The police can also resort to such an action in self defence and to save public life and property.
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