No Police Mock Drills Depicting Members Of A Particular Community As Terrorists: Bombay High Court

A Public Interest Litigation filed before the Aurangabad bench of the Bombay High Court seeks guidelines for police mock drills citing three mock drills where a police constable playing the role of a terrorist was dressed as a Muslim and was shouting “Nara-E-Takbeer, Allah-u-Akbar” after being arrested during the drill.“The petitioner submits that the conduct of aforesaid mock drills wherein a Muslim community is deliberately shown as ‘terrorist’ by the police authorities and the State clearly shows their bias against Muslim community and sends a message that terrorists have a particular religion and this act of the police amounts to defaming the Muslim community,” alleges the PIL filed by one Sayed Usama.Hearing the PIL on February 3, 2022, a division bench of Justices Mangesh Patil and S G Chapalgaonkar, has directed that no mock drills be conducted depicting persons of a particular community as terrorists till the next date of the hearing, which is February 10. The bench has also directed the Public Prosecutor to take instructions and inform the court if there are any guidelines for holding of the mock drills. The PIL has named State’s Home Minister, Home Secretary, State Director General of Police, Additional General of Police, Superintendent of Police, Ahmednagar and Superintendent of Police, Chandrapur as respondents in the case. The PIL cites three incidences of police mock drills – one each at Ahmednagar, Chandrapur and Aurangbad – where a policeman played the role of a ‘terrorist’ who was “conspicuously dressed in attire most prominently wore by the men of the Muslim community.” It further alleges, “As the drill progressed and when the police authorities nabbed the said terrorist, he was seen to be shouting “Nara-E-Takbeer, Allah-u-Akbar” thereby depicting that the said terrorist is a Muslim.” This, according to then PIL, shows a strong bias within the police force against the community and is a violation of constitutional guaranteed rights to every person residing in this country – the right to live with dignity, the right not to be discriminated against by the State only on the grounds of religion and race as provided under Article 14, 15 and 21 of the Constitution of India. The petition also says that the script of all the aforementioned mock drills is confirmed by the respective heads of the police authorities at the District/City level – Superintendent of Police and/or the Commissioner of Police. “To give their assent to enact a play on a script involving serious and sensitive issue of terrorism by portraying a person from particular community as a ‘terrorist’ reeks of bias against the said community and speaks volumes about the competency, credibility, suitability and otherwise of the person officiating on that post as to whether the said high ranking police official is worthy of being continued on the said post,” the PIL reads. It adds that all the police officials involved in the enactment and animation of the aforesaid plays of mock drills suffer from the vice of communalism and do not have their beliefs and ethos embedded in the constitutional principles of secularism and pluralism rendering them ineligible and unfit for discharging services as policemen, and it also erodes the faith and trust of Muslim community in them. It further alleges that such mock drills defames a particular community and depicts all the members of said community as ‘terrorist’, which is bound to create resentment and unrest amongst the targeted community. The PIL prays that the court hold and declare that the incidence of portraying terrorist as belonging to a particular community in mock drills held by the police officials violates dignity, liberty and freedom of that particular community and it poses threat to the fraternity, integrity and unity of the nation. It also seeks that the concerned authorities frame guidelines pertaining to carrying out of anti-terrorist mock-drills within the State of Maharashtra until the State legislates on this subject either by framing rules, guidelines, etc. to prevent any incident of portraying one particular community as ‘terrorist’ in the future in furtherance of Section 16 and 23 of Bombay Police Act, 1951. The PIL seeks appropriate departmental/criminal action against the police officials responsible for the illegal acts described in the Petition as well. Click Here To Read/Download Order

No Police Mock Drills Depicting Members Of A Particular Community As Terrorists: Bombay High Court

Sharmeen Hakim

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