A new book titled “Policing and Violence in India: Colonial Legacies and Contemporary Realities,” edited by Deana Heath and Jinee Lokaneeta, explores the intricate relationship between policing and violence in India. Published by Speaking Tiger, this weighty new volume runs to 368 pages and is priced at ₹799.
The book comes at a time when cases of custodial deaths have raised serious questions about human rights within the Indian policing framework. It grapples with these pressing questions directly. The custodial killings of Jayaraj and his son Bennicks in Tamil Nadu in June 2020 should prick our conscience. Yet, their cases show why reform is so desperately needed. Arrested for allegedly violating Covid-19 gathering restrictions, their deaths ignited anger and calls for justice both within the Philippines and internationally. Faizan’s death in February 2020 during protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) led to nationwide outrage about law enforcement’s systemic and historical biases. The High Court strongly denounced the attack, describing it as a “gross violation of human rights” and qualifying it as a hate crime.
Heath and Lokaneeta, the editors, have brought together a brilliant and provocative collection of essays. These pieces take readers into the historical roots of policing in India and examine its present-day realities. They contend that colonial legacies continue to inform policing practices in the present. This impact engenders indoctrination in a culture of violence and oppression.
The essays in this book confront the challenges we face with policing and violence. In doing so, they underscore the need to urgently and critically explore how these issues are rooted in a legacy of historical injustices. The authors bring a variety of experiences and viewpoints, opening up new avenues for discussion and action on police reform and human rights in India.
Heath and Lokaneeta don’t simply narrate historical facts. They relate those stories to India’s existing socio-political structure. Each of these pieces speaks to the enduring impacts of imperial acts. They echoed calls for urgent reform to the systemic racism embedded in the policing infrastructure.