Social Discrimination and Police Brutality
- Istela Jameel
- July 12, 2020
Content :
When the protectors who should shield against anarchy become lawless themselves, then who protects us from these protectors? In a society intensely fragmented on caste, class and communal lines, upholding the Rule of Law is a herculean task. The aforementioned duty of maintaining law and order in society is vested in the hands of the police. However, in recent times these people in khaki have acted as enablers of discrimination rather than stalwarts of law enforcement. Abuse of authority and excessive use of force by the police has made society vulnerable to social discrimination. The alarming rise in instances of police brutality makes one apprehensive about the efficacy of the legal system. In order to address this rising disorder in the functioning of a civilian society it is imperative to unravel its various layers. In the course of this article, the socio-legal dimensions of Police brutality have been deliberated upon. With the assistance of history, legal provisions and jurisprudence, commission reports and contemporary academic articles, an attempt has been made to gain an intersectional understanding of rising social discrimination and police brutality. The conclusion drawn, inter alia, is that obsolete and anachronistic black letter laws have made the shortcomings of our legal system glaringly ominous in the face of rising police-endorsed discrimination.
