Satyamev Jayate 2: Aamir highlights the plight of Indian cops

Aamir Khan’s Satyamev Jayate is back to awaken us and show us the harsh realities of our society every Sunday morning. Here’s what it had in store for us in the second episode of the second season. Unlike the first episode, the second one didn’t make the audiences nor Aamir cry as the episode merely enlightened the viewers with the plight of our nation's police system and the need to bring a change in it. Aamir invited a few renowned personalities from the field, who shared few jaw dropping facts of our police system and also shared few changes which audiences should make in order to bring a change for the betterment. The show started with the clippings of a few brutal acts performed by police officers towards the masses which shocked the viewers when they saw such acts of cruelty. Here are a few highlights of the episode for those who missed Satyamev Jayate today. Have a look.

No proper resources: Be it a National holiday, a National festival or any national crisis, the only body that works 24*7 is the police and army but many a times we encounter bad experiences with them. Abhinav Kumar, DIG (Uttarkhand), was the first guest on Satyamev Jayate. He is serving in the system since the last 17 years. He shared why a majority of police officers fail to perform their duties. He said, “The first problem that each and every police officer faces is their non realistic working conditions. There are no proper sitting arrangements, no hygienic facilities, sometimes no toilet facilities, low salary, no man power, no stationary, no electricity, no proper funding to pay the bills, limited resources like diesel and petrol and we expect them to work and give good results in these bad conditions.” On which Aamir also shared an incident which took place during the shoot of Sarfarosh where a police officer said a murder for them is a loss to them. Let’s move to the next step where Aamir spoke to Shri Prakash Singh who went to the root of all these problems and called for a change.

A Supreme Court law to set up a system that will allow the police system to perform differently: Shri Prakash Singh, who is an IPS retired officer said that today’s police are not people’s police, it is the police of those who govern, those who are in power and they use them according to their benefits. Thus, police officers have to deal with postings, promotions, transfers, charge sheets depending on how harmful or safe that particular officer is for the person in power. Studying the whole plight of police officers, Shri Prakash appealed for a different set up of police system which will not be under the people in power but will function differently.

Plight of constables: 92% of the population in the police system comprises of constables. Constables in India are as equal to any labour class in India said Shri Sanjay Pandey- an IPS officer. Majority of trainee constables are kept under bad conditions and are mostly asked to do the work which is not at all related to their training. Work such as farming, taking children of their Sr. officers’ to school and household work. In return they are kept under bad conditions. This is the major reason behind the death of many trainee and former constables. That was not all. What came as a shocker was when DGP of Jharkhand-Shivaji Caire revealed that about 10 battalions of trainee constables were found missing from the training and there are no records of them at all. He is sure those trainee constables might be doing some orderly work from their seniors. Shri Sanjay Pandey also shared the logic behind taking bribe which actually gets distributed between their seniors and also to the person in power in that particular area.

Danda-Investigation in India and the difference between the army and the police system: While we have shows on investigations on the small screen, the police system actually is far from investigating a case. Forensic investigations are not actually used in our country as majority of the cases are solved by the so called danda investigation. S.R.Darapuri, IPS officer says, “Danda investigation is all about investigation done by the torture. Though torture is illegal it is used in order to make confessions by the witness and the suspects. India is criticized due to such practice.” On the other hand V.P Gopal Krishnan, an IPS officer spoke about the army and the police system which are different indeed but are treated one and the same. In actual, the police system is the one who protects the public and takes action in favour of them; the police system is made for the people while the army acts according to their seniors’ order. However, unfortunately, the police system is performing the army police’s responsibilities which restricts them from being the people’s police.

Jan Maitri initiative: It is a fact that today's generation doesn’t like the police and anything that relates to them, they feel they won’t get any help but in return might get edby them. Thus, an initiative called Jan Maitri has been carried out in Kerala in order to build a friendly rapport between the police and the lay man as people need to know that law is made to protect them. The reason behind this initiative was that people don’t trust and like the police, so no one steps out to help them in order to solve any case and honest people are afraid of approaching the police. But we need to know that change is possible in the police system only if people are friendly to the cops. This initiative asks the public to file an FIR as soon as the crime takes place and make sure that their complaint is filed. Jan Maitri has brought a few changes in the system in Kerala where they have set up 8 hours of working, a lady constable in each and every police station and a camera in each lock up to ensure safety and avoid torture. All in all today’s episode of Satyamev Jayate spoke about a change in our police system and promoted the need of people’s police in our country