Shaktimaan’s tragic death raises the question: Is there really need for our police forces, often facing conflict situations, to have a horse-mounted divisionIJ The answer is ‘no’. It’s time we did away with this archaic practice
Post-surgical complications leading to the death of Shaktimaan, the Uttarakhand Police horse, has plunged the nation in mourning. He suffered a fracture in his leg on March 14 during a BJP protest rally in Dehradun. The medical care and attention he received over the last one month was exemplary. It was demonstrative of the Indian view of life in contrast to the Western practice of shooting a horse with broken leg, dead. Remember the title of the 1969 film, ‘They shoot horses, don’t theyIJ’ based on a novel by Horace McCoy. Ironically Shaktimaan’s death vindicated the Western wisdom that shooting down a lame horse is the best way to terminate its pain instantaneously.
Our generation is more accustomed to seeing police sniffer dogs than police horses. But then, the Shaktimaan incident reminds us that the days of mounted police are not over. Once upon a time, under the British rule, mounted police commanded awe and esteem. All over the British Empire — Britain, Canada, India, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand — there was an equine component to the police force. Moreover police officers using horse as a personal conveyance, were entitled to an allowance. With the growth of mechanised transport, horse-use declined.
But in the colonial context, the horse exemplified the brute power of the state. They were often used to disperse political agitators. The Police Commission (1902-1903) presided over by Sir Andrew Hl Fraser recommended their complete abolition in Assam, Bengal and Madras. It opined in favour of their retention only in small measure in Provinces where dacoity was rife, and dacoits were themselves mounted. But overall, the commission found that mounted force was an expensive proposition; and its utility was overestimated. It even recommended the use of bicycles rather than horses for police messengers. Those recommendations were not implemented even after Independence.
The question is: Should an independent nation use mounted force against unarmed demonstrators in this 21st centuryIJ And, should not the role of horses be restricted to ceremonial and sport usesIJ Surprisingly, many State and Union Territory police establishments have not only retained mounted police but want to augment it. last year, Delhi Police purchased 40 new horses. In 2013, as many as 100 horses joined Gujarat Police, making its mounted division the largest in India.
Historically, the horse is an animal most exposed to mortal dangers. It had been put into war zones for centuries around the world. Cavalry was an integral part of the Armed Forces. The startling victory of the Arabs, Turks, Pathans and Mughals in India could be attributed primarily to their cavalry. The Indians then did not know the use of stirrup, though horses were known to them since the Vedic times. When Peshwa Baji Rao I turned the Marathas into an imperialist force, we noticed a sea-change in the composition of Maratha Army.
There was an enormous increase in cavalry and artillery as compared to the forces under Shivaji. The third Anglo-Maratha War (1817-1818), which led to the rout of the Pindaris or the mounted pirates of the Central India, brought down the curtains on the great age of cavalry warfare in India. But the British did retain horses in the Army and the police, though with reduced capacity.
The casualties suffered by horses in war situations were no less significant. The probability of a horse dying in the battlefield was as high as that of the combatant dying. The story of Chetak laying down its life to salvage his master, Rana Pratap, in the battle of Haldighati, has become the stuff legends are made of. Therefore, animal rights activists should look at the other face of the coin. Should horses be put into conflict situations where both man and the brute are at risk of injuryIJ It’s a question that at least one Union Minister has reportedly raised in the Shaktimaan context.
The mounted police force generally uses horses to put the crowd down. On June 3, 2014, Calcutta Police used its mounted division to disperse a crowd outside Eden Gardens. The affected persons were mostly from the lower-income group, who could not afford tickets to get inside the stadium to witness a Kolkata Knight Riders’ felicitation ceremony. Kolkata Police has a history of using mounted force during football events to contain crowds. But it is equally possible, as the Shaktimaan incident showed, somebody in the crowd could assault the horse or terrify it enough for harm to come.
A horse, by instinct, however, is not a cruel animal. It is a very sensible creature. It flinches from mowing down anybody. Whenever a horse is put into crowded situations, there is a possibility of the animal pulling back and falling down. These factors need to be reckoned with.