Police training should not turn into torture

Complaints about torture in police training camps are not new. Many inhumane and slave-like activities happen in the name of training. The higher-ups only take the words of the training providers for granted. Not only does no one listen to the complaints of the trainees, but the trainees do not even try to complain for fear of further punishment. Most people get a job after waiting for a long time, studying and writing exams. When someone gets a job, it is the family that is depending on them that also gets saved. Many people are ready to endure anything for the sake of their family. However, there is a limit to everything. At least some cannot hold on after that.

The incident of a tribal youth, a police trainee, found hanging in the barracks at the Peroorkada SAP camp should not be dismissed as an isolated incident. Two days ago, the same youth had attempted suicide by cutting his wrist. If senior officials had intervened in the matter at that time, investigated the reasons that had put the youth under mental stress and taken appropriate steps to resolve it, the life of this twenty-four-year-old Anand, a native of Vithura, could have been saved. Not only did that not happen, but Anand was kept without adequate security. Anand's relatives' allegations that he committed suicide due to mental torture by the officials cannot be dismissed. Anand's brother Arvind has filed a complaint with the Peroorkada police raising this issue.

The suicide by hanging occurred when the officer who was in the barracks with Anand, who was undergoing treatment, went out. Anand was found hanging from a fan by those who returned from training at the ground. After his degree, Anand had gone to work as a painter for a long time. He passed the PSC exam and joined the police force in the meantime. His mother is an MGNREGA employee. There are reports that Anand committed suicide due to mental torture by senior officers. An audio recording is also circulating in which an officer in the camp reveals that the havildars behaved rudely with Anand in front of everyone. The truth of all this will only come out through a detailed investigation. There have already been complaints that the police give extremely cruel physical punishments in the camp, even for minor mistakes during the training period.

Trainers should not be given the power to inflict whatever punishment they feel like. Only punishments necessary to maintain discipline should be given. The intervention of senior officials is required in all these matters. It is alleged that after Anand's first suicide attempt, others were forbidden from talking to Anand and that they were instructed to say that this man was mentally ill in case of investigation. If the police are behaving cruelly towards the people, then the roots of it lie in such crude training. The Home Department should be prepared to subject the training given to the police to a timely review. Along with this, a detailed investigation should be conducted into the circumstances that led to the suicide of the tribal youth and the actions of the senior officials who were responsible for it.