‘Understood Emergency only while executing warrants': Retired Delhi cop reflects on 1975 crackdown
As a young Delhi Police officer in his 20s, Vijay Malik, like many of his peers, was unaware of the true implications of the Emergency. It was only when he was tasked with executing warrants that he began to understand the gravity of the situation and the deep sense of fear inflicting the people.
On June 25, 1975, the then prime minister Indira Gandhi declared a state of Emergency in the country, setting in motion a tumultuous turn of events. It was lifted on March 21, 1977.
As Emergency completes 50 years, 78-year-old Malik cannot help but remember that era, which he calls "partly good for the general public in terms of discipline but grossly misused in terms of propagation of personal and political vendetta".
Malik, who was posted as a sub-inspector and in-charge of the police post at Kotla Mubarakpur in south Delhi, learnt about the imposition of Emergency through newspapers.
"We were new to the force and did not even know what Emergency meant. We asked our seniors and then we understood the gravity of what was about to unfold," he recalled.
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Terming the Emergency a "political war", Malik, who joined the force in 1968, said police were tasked with executing warrants under the Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA), issued against leaders from opposition parties like the Jan Sangh.
Warrants were complete with detailed information about individuals the government sought to imprison.
"We used to receive warrants with full names and addresses and then organise raids to detain them. Since information travelled fast, in some cases, people would also flee before we could arrest them," he told PTI.
Source-based information was the tool that police relied on during those days to apprehend people as there was hardly any technology at that time, he said.
Later, when he was posted as a station house officer (SHO) in Naraina, he met two such political detainees, whom he had arrested during the Emergency period. They bore no ill will and, in fact, remarked, "Your actions are dictated by the call of duty," he said.
Malik recalled that on the face of it, life appeared normal. Buses were running, offices were open and people went about their daily routines.
But beneath this facade, a deep sense of fear was taking hold in society.
The atmosphere had become so tense, he said, that supporters of the opposition parties would remove photographs of their leaders from shops and homes, replacing them with pictures of Indira Gandhi during police patrols, only to avoid the risk of being arrested.
Asked if there was any positive thing about Emergency, he said crime was under control as there was fear among people.
While the crime rate was declining among the public, police ranks witnessed several instances of "misuse of power", the retired officer said.
"Sterilisation drives were enforced in an oppressive manner. SHOs would summon their men and exert pressure on them to get sterilised. People also had no option but to comply only out of fear," he said, while talking about the mass sterilisation undertaken during the Emergency.
Alleging that corruption had seeped into the Delhi Police during that time owing to unbridled power, he said some officers summoned individuals to police stations and tried to extort money.
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