Hacker News Reader

Comment by zapdrive | Hacker News Reader

Punjab (the state I'm in atm) Police is handing out light punishment to anyone found flouting the rules of the curfew (Punjab is one of the states which have imposed full blown curfew instead of the lockdown).

Punishments include doing situps, holding ears, rolling around in the dirt, making lines in the dirt with your nose, and light beating with batons.

While some may consider it a human rights violation, I think it's much better than burdening the poor with criminal cases. In fact, in most of the cases people prefer to get this light punishment instead of getting charged with a crime.

View on HN

I feel that isn't really humane. The people found violating curfew could just be educated on why restriction is necessary and what their rights are in present situation, whom they can appeal to if they are not satisfied with the explanation.

Instead, they are subjected to humiliating corporal punishment. This can't be good advertisement for the country.

I take it you've never been to India. In many parts criminal punishment is still dealt out by a mob literally beating the guilty party.

I've been to India, but I never had the "pleasure" of encountering anything like what you describe. Is that mob beating a kind of sentence (i.e. legally commissioned) or is it something one may face anywhere else with people taking justice in their own hands?

It's the later. Heck, if you crash into someone's car, police might not arrive at the place and the guy whoes new car got fucked, might destroy your face.

There's a huge difference between mob justice and a policy set by the state directly.

> The people found violating curfew could just be educated on why restriction is necessary and what their rights are in present situation, whom they can appeal to if they are not satisfied with the explanation.

Unfortunately, that's not likely to work in all parts of India. We cannot expect all first-world practices to work in developing countries.

I have a feeling this doesn’t work even in the developed countries. Sometimes people are just testing the boundaries of what they can really when a new system is brought in.

I recall seeing a thing about creating curfew laws for high school kids. Most kids on the street after school started were from poor neighborhoods and were on their way to school. They were just running late. Making it illegal for them to be there -- out on the street -- was just compounding their problems and creating additional barriers to getting to school.

A lot of rules get made with little understanding of the actual problems and circumstances of a lot of the people they are supposed to apply to.

Mandatory situps as a punishment sounds like a good idea honestly. I'd have no issues police offering that as an alternative to a fine in the UK for petty crimes.

Not so sure about the others though, but fair enough if it works for you guys.

police also executes people they deem unworthy of wasting courts time.

proof: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-50682262

"Eschew flamebait. Don't introduce flamewar topics unless you have something genuinely new to say. Avoid unrelated controversies and generic tangents."

The parent comment had one foot on each iceberg, but this is completely unmoored.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

ok I was citing this as an example of slippery slope of this thought process

> I'd have no issues police offering that as an alternative to a fine in the UK for petty crimes

It was completly criticized even india. pretty sure its not controversial flamewar.

Anyways. I understand. won't happen again.

How about cleaning the pavement with a toothbrush? Worked in Germany in the 1930s.

Seriously, I'm astonished about the rise of people advocating dehumanizing authoritarian measures here.

How is a criminal record and being unable to get jobs for a long time more human punishment?

I'd rather get hit with a switch a couple times than be prosecuted for a crime myself, but it's a terrible direction for society to take. You will never be able to restrict police, who are only human, to physically assaulting people only when society deems it appropriate. We have enough trouble as it is with police abuse

> Mandatory situps as a punishment sounds like a good idea honestly

It's rather unequal (for some people it's literally not a punishment, for others it's tortuous), and (less so if it is a voluntary alternative to a citation which has usual due process) it is also a denial of due process if it is summary punishment instituted by the police without judicial oversight.

I've seen a few videos shared on WhatsApp. Here's a sample on YouTube

Edit: A better link (warning: police hitting people with a cane): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wNQ_V-Ol78

I also came across this one: https://government.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/governa...

To be clear, I don't think this will actually be enforced

>> To be clear, I don't think this will actually be enforced

In my opinion, Army will be called if the police is not sufficient to enforce this.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com