Condemning the Uttar Pradesh Police for failing to act and prevent the Muzaffarnagar riots, former IPS officer Kiran Bedi said policemen should resist political pressure.
"Policemen should strongly oppose political pressure while handling any crime. All top police officials should strongly refuse to accept wrong orders," she said.
Bedi was speaking on Wednesday at a conference on police reforms, organised by some social groups and non-governmental organisations.
Reacting to a sting operation in which a police officer confessed that eight people detained for fomenting communal violence in Muzaffarnagar were released ostensibly on orders from a minister, Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative director Maya Daruwala said it is high time police functioning is separated from political control.
"The violence in Muzaffarnagar is a complete replica of so many riots like the Delhi riots of 1984 and the Gujarat riots of 2002 that are destroying our centuries-old social fabric. The same old excuses are given. This has to stop," Daruwala said.
"The relationship between the police and politician cannot be allowed to continue. In 2006, the Supreme Court of India directed all the states to put in place systems that would make police operation responsible, insulated from wrongful interference and orders, well managed, and publicly accountable," said Kamal Kant Jaswal, director of Common Cause (NGO).
The communal violence in Muzaffarnagar claimed over 40 lives and injured scores while displacing thousands.
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