Some more profiling

A few examples of Indian religious profiling Religious Profiling

[JOHN DAYAL’S NOTE: The good thing is that the racial profiling of Sikhs in the US, or rather the `patting search’ of turbans – something similar was done in India in the aftermath of Indira Gandhi’s assassination by her Sikh bodyguards Satwant Singh and Beant Singh – has triggered a lively debate in India. The bad news is that Indian state governments and their police forces, brutal as a norm, continue to indulge in a spot of religious and racial profiling themselves. These two incidences, in the BJP ruled Gujarat where chief minister Narendra Modi still holds power, and Bihar, ruled by socialist Nitish Kumar in a coalition with the BJP, share one thing in common, apart from the inhuman policemen. In both cases, the victims were Muslim youth, one a thief, the other just another common man.]


And a few more cases from India of the result of Religious Profiling

BPO man, a Muslim, thrashed for Modi convoy intrusion
By Deepal Trevedie
Ahmedabad, August 29, 2007 [Asian Age] : A 22-year-old BPO employee was mercilessly thrashed by the city police and "taught a lesson" for daring to disrupt Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi’s convoy.
Mr. Modi was passing by on Ashram Road after inaugurating a function when Hussain Tahir Marketwala tried to cross the road. A convoy vehicle had to apply its brakes.
Mr. Modi’s personal commando asked for his car to be stopped near Hussain. He got down to have a word with Hussain, who was the only "civilian" on the road, but Mr. Modi gestured to the commando to get back in the car and get going.
However, soon after Mr. Modi’s vehicle passed, about half a dozen local policemen took hold of Hussain. He was asked for his name, and "once it was clear that he was a Muslim he was beaten up mercilessly," a policeman told this newspaper. "The police thrashed him on the road itself... They said it was necessary to teach him a lesson to dare to come in front of the chief minister’s convoy."
The policeman acknowledged that the man was beaten severely once it became evident from this name that he was a Muslim. "After the Godhra riots, all the terrorists who have come to kill Mr. Modi have been Muslims. Muslims cannot be trusted in Gujarat. They might have an agenda to damage the chief minister. We cannot take things lightly. If something happens to Mr. Modi, it would be said that the police did not do anything. This Muslim had to be taught a lesson to respect the chief minister," a policeman said.
He said the policemen who thrashed Hussain were not from any particular police station but were deployed on special security duty. Worse, while Hussain was being beaten up on the road after the convoy had passed, some bystanders tried to cheer the police and exhorted them to teach a lesson to the "anti-national Muslim."
Later, Hussain was taken to the Navrangpura police station and interrogated for two hours. After his family arrived there and the police was convinced that Hussain was innocent, he was allowed to go.
Hussain sustained serious injuries and had to seek medical help. In fact, his ear injury is quite major and may even lead to a hearing impairment.
However, Hussain and his family not only deny this but have refused to criticise the police or the public beating. Sources said the family was petrified and had decided that they could not afford to take a stand against the police.
"Muslims in Gujarat live under constant fear. Even if they are right, they do not want to prove the administration or the government wrong. They feel that if they do so, they will be further targeted and harassed," a Muslim schoolteacher who sought anonymity said.
"We live like second-class citizens. But we lack courage to stand up because in doing so there is more danger to us," he said.
Najma Marketwala, Hussain’s sister, told this newspaper: "It is just hype. My brother has been beaten up. But the cops have been very cooperative. In fact, we are big fans of Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi. We have no complaints against the police or anyone else."
Hussain Marketwala himself said later: "I had no clue that the road was closed and the CM was travelling. I committed a very serious mistake. I had to be punished. The police has done nothing wrong in beating me up in public."
A policeman said: "It seems the Marketwala family is scared to come out in the open against the government. This is the general psyche of Muslims in Gujarat today."
Hemant Patel, a businessman, who was on Ashram Road at the time of the incident, said: "The police has done nothing wrong. Everyone knows that Modi is a Hindu Hriday Samrat. The police cannot take chances. After all, Muslims cannot be trusted. Hussain should have been jailed. You never know, this could have been a mock exercise sponsored by some Islamic group. It cannot be taken lightly."

II


The Telegraph, Calcutta, Wednesday, August 29, 2007

‘Thief’ dragged behind police bike

GAUTAM SARKAR AND SANTOSH SINGH
Aug. 28: An alleged thief was tied to a police motorcycle and dragged 500 yards before a cheering crowd yesterday in a Bihar district that has been a byword for police cruelty.
Aurangzeb (22), cried in pain and pleaded for mercy but the roadside mob kicked him repeatedly as the shirtless man was dragged on his stomach and chest along a street in Nathnagar, 8km from Bhagalpur district headquarters.
TV pictures showed how the mob had earlier tied the young rickshaw-puller’s hands behind his back and kicked and punched him as he writhed on the ground, soaked in sweat and mud, his trousers unbuttoned.
Aurangzeb was waiting for customers before a temple in the afternoon when a woman accused him of having snatched her gold chain. The chain was allegedly found on Aurangzeb. The young man lay in the Bhagalpur jail hospital today — with no clear word on his condition — a short distance from the areas where the police had blinded 30-odd under trials in 1981 by pouring acid into their eyes.
The infamous “Bhagalpur blindings” had found some popular support but this evening, in the communally sensitive town, an armed crowd of 2,000 had gathered near the Nathnagar police station.
“The situation is charged,” said the deputy inspector-general of police (Bhagalpur range), Girijanandan Sharma, blaming the tensions on “rumours” of Aurangzeb’s death.
Earlier, as news channels beamed yesterday’s incident across the nation, the state administration suspended assistant sub-inspector Ram Balak Singh and constable Ramchandar Rai and ordered an inquiry. The two had reached the spot while the mob was beating Aurangzeb. They tied one of his feet to their motorbike and Singh rode it to the police station. By then Aurangzeb had “lost consciousness”. Said state home secretary Afzal Amanullah.
The young man, his body covered in cuts and bruises, was put on a cart and taken to a town hospital and then shifted to the jail.
“He is an orphan and I brought him up. I fear they (the police) will kill him,” said a sobbing Bibi Sabra, Aurangzeb’s grandmother, at their home in Hasanabad on the outskirts of Nathnagar. Aurangzeb’s sister Anjuman, 14, said their parents had died many years ago.
District magistrate Vipin Kumar was non-committal when asked about Aurangzeb’s condition.
RJD chief Lalu Prasad said: “This is how a person from the minority community is treated under (chief minister) Nitish Kumar’s rule.”
“Action has been taken. Police brutality will not be tolerated,” Kumar said.
Amanullah promised that the police would “find out the members of the public who beat up Aurangzeb”.
DIG Sharma had earlier denied police cruelty, saying his men had “done a good job in rescuing the thief from the crowd”.
“Aurangzeb was tied to the motorcycle to prevent him from escaping, but he fell on the bumpy road accidentally and got dragged for a short distance,” he claimed.
He also said the accused had a criminal history and had recently been let out of jail. The officer in charge of Nathnagar police station, Jawed Mahmood, backed him but failed to provide the case details.
“The police yesterday repeated the Raj’s brutality. On January 13, 1785, Tilka Manjhi, the Paharia freedom fighter, was tied to a horse and dragged around Bhagalpur before he was hanged,” a local teacher said.