Whenever a common man faces injustice at the hands of the system, the root cause for that is the fault with politically controlled police, politicians who are in cahoots with criminals and, of course, the people who are tilting towards mobocracy.
The latest incident of Bangalore violence shows the country in a very bad light, where a house of an MLA and a police station were reduced to ashes by an uncontrollable mob provoked by a social media post. How can a common man be assured of a well-maintained law and order and an atmosphere of peace in a state?
The country is staring at this harsh but real fact, which becomes harsher with the world’s largest democracy witnessing several incidents of severe mob violence in different states over the last few months.
In this time of uncontrolled and unrestricted social media, when the communication is spreading with the blink of an eye and so do the fake news, misinformation and hate messages.
The state government needs to make a strict mechanism backed by a strict law to control such sudden violent mobs. In the past also the Yogi government had acted brilliantly through Uttar Pradesh Recovery of Damage to Public & Private Property Ordinance 2020 for recovery of damage to public and private property in any violent protest or demonstration by miscreants. But all is not well with the political system of the country, with the reason being the presence of criminals in politics and the nexus between these tainted politicians with the bureaucrats.
Since Independence, there have been major flaws in the political system as the constitution lacks any provision to restrict criminalisation and illiteracy in the political system. A primary school dropout MLA gives orders and instructions to an IAS on how to run the administration in a district.
A local goon from a particular dominant community becomes a powerful politician and protects people of his caste from police or legal action in case of any crime.
However, the Yogi government has instilled fear in criminals’ minds, and criminals are surrendering as they are afraid of being killed in an encounter. According to the official record, as many as 1160 encounters have taken place after March 20, 2017 in Uttar Pradesh.
The National Security Act (NSA) has also been slapped against more than 175 ‘criminals’ in the state. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had launched ‘Operation Clean’ in the state having given police full freedom to deal with crime.
The government had warned criminals to either surrender or leave the state. But still, the common man finds himself helpless when he faces such challenges. During the tenure of previous governments, the police personnel were of a particular caste only and in case of any complaint the local police were reluctant to lodge any FIR against the people of that particular caste. This kind of political stream is not good for democracy.
The apex court had instructed political parties to publish the criminal history of its candidates who are contesting Lok Sabha and Assembly elections. These instructions had come in view of the alarming increase in number of criminals in politics.
The apex court had further instructed to put records of such candidates online. The Hon’ble Supreme Court had shown its anguish over the forced quarantine of a Bihar cadre IPS officer by Mumbai Police in course of the investigation in the death mystery of actor Sushant Singh Rajput.
It went on to show that in such a high profile case the Mumbai police were completely controlled by the ruling party of Maharashtra, and if an IPS officer had to face such a situation what about a common man. Can he or she even think about a fair and unbiased treatment by the local police?
All these instances of corruption and malpractice are actually striking at the roots of democracy. Article 102 of constitution needs to be amended at earliest along with the provisions of Representation of People’s Act which can help in stopping criminalisation of the political system. What is also the need of hour is implementation of Police Reforms as elucidated by Hon’ble Apex Court in the landmark judgement of Prakash Singh, instructing the central and state governments to comply with a set of seven directions for police reforms for functional autonomy to police. At present, there is no stringent law in the country that requires political parties to revoke the membership of its tainted candidates and officebearers. Presently, more than 46 % of Members of Parliament (MPs) have criminal records and approximately 33 percent of the legislators in India’s Parliament and state assemblies, have criminal cases pending against them.
Over 20 percent of the new MPs are facing serious charges such as attempted murder, assaulting public officials, and theft. The analysis was based on affidavits submitted by legislators. Out of a total of 4,896 MPs and MLAs in the country, the study analyzed affidavits of 4,845 of them, including 768 of 776 affidavits of MPs, and 4,077 of 4,120 MLAs.
The criminal-politician nexus has been taken very seriously by the Hon’ble Supreme Court which ordered the Parliament to “cure the malignancy” of criminalization of politics by making a law to ensure that persons facing serious criminal cases do not enter the political arena. It also advised that the “polluted stream of politics” be cleansed. This is reflective of real life where social divisions driven by caste/religion run deep due to governance and administrative missteps since independence
Another reason why criminality thrives in the political arena, say analysts, is because of prolonged trials in court and lower conviction rates. How people can have access to better services and an equitable justice delivery system is a big issue which needs a practical approach to be dealt with, as then only our country can truly achieve financial and all-around development. As a common man alone is struggling for decriminalization of politics at every level of government, else, India’s claim to be the world’s largest democracy will become hollow.
The writer is an Advocate in the Supreme Court.