India farmer protests put police brutality and use of ‘lathis’ under spotlight

Delhi police have denied carrying metal batons during protests by farmers, but the use of lathis (sticks) in law enforcement is under renewed scrutiny

Police have also come under fire for the deaths of people during the coronavirus lockdown and bowing to political pressure from Narendra Modi’s government

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An Indian policeman wields a lathi (stick) in a clash with protesting farmers outside Delhi. The use of these batons has been criticised as brutal. Photo: Reuters

Published: 10:00am, 11 Feb 2021Updated: 10:39am, 11 Feb 2021

Images of khaki-clad Indian police beating back protesting farmers with sticks on the outskirts of New Delhi two weeks ago have cast a spotlight on a crowd-control technique that has been used for decades and is seen as a symbol of power but has been criticised as brutal in nature and largely unregulated, with one police expert calling for them to be banned.

In India, constables tasked with maintaining law and order on the streets largely carry lathis – either five-foot stout bamboo sticks or three-foot polycarbonate pipes. Such sticks were historically used by ordinary citizens for their own safety or as weapons, but once the British colonised the country, they utilised them to quell dissent by teaching police to jab protesters in the gut or hit them on the neck or head, and the practice has remained.

“There is a perception among a section of policemen that the lathi they carry gives them the right to do anything they want,” said Abhishek Pallava, the superintendent of police in Dantewada in conflict-ridden Chhattisgarh. “But they don’t have the awareness about the responsibility that comes with the right to wield a lathi.” And they often forget it should only be used to disperse a crowd and not to injure anyone, Pallava said.

Recently, constables from the Delhi Police, a force governed by the Narendra Modi-led Indian government, were seen carrying metal pipes with forearm guards after some of their colleagues were injured during clashes with protesting farmers carrying swords.

These were considered illegal, but Delhi Police spokesperson Chinmoy Biswal insisted police did not use “metallic equipment” against the protesting farmers.

“Police only have polycarbonate [pipes] and bamboo sticks for maintaining law and order,” Biswal told This Week in Asia.

Former chief of Uttar Pradesh police, Prakash Singh, said that in a lathi charge, constables are supposed to move in a formation, hit and withdraw.

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