Dear Editor,
The abuse of prisoners while in Police custody is a violation of human rights, which is escalating in Guyana.
Recently, Mr Lallbachan Bachan, a young taxi driver who was incarcerated at the Suddie Police Station on DUI charges became a statistic to these problems.
Mr Bachan was found dead in his prison cell in which he was singly housed. An autopsy report revealed that Mr Bachan died from asphyxiation and his voice box fractured. So who murdered Mr Bachan? Was it the police?
However, in a cover-up attempt, the police claimed that Mr Bachan died from a fall which fractured his voice box. But drawing from a bit of anatomy, it is obvious that the police are into fake news because the voice box is a vital cartilaginous structure which spans a short length of only about 25 millimetres along the upper respiratory tract. Given this, the tiny voice box is quite easily fractured through direct trauma such as squeezing on it in the neck region.
Therefore, it can be reasoned that the police fractured Mr Bachan’s voice box by deliberately choking him and sealing off his airway, thereby blocking the vital flow and exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide essential in sustaining his life. Editor, this knowledge is necessary in helping to zero in on how Mr Bachan died. Also, a motive behind Mr Bachan’s murder needs to be calculated based on information that he failed to come up with the hefty $100,000 which the police allegedly demanded.
Further, the fact that Mr Bachan was singly housed rules out the possibility that he was murdered by persons other than the police. Of course, the police needs to be held accountable given the dynamics in this case.
Convincingly, the murdering of Guyanese who are perceived to be PPP/C supporters is on the rise under the illegal coalition Government because people like Dr David Hinds have encouraged hostility against PPP/C supporters. How can anyone forget when Dr Hinds callously urged the flushing out of PPP/C moles? These are the reasons why citizens like Mr Bachan, who are perceived as PPP/C supporters, are singled out and taken advantage of and murdered. Well, the police have responded to Dr Hinds by flushing out Mr Bachan from society. Dr Hinds has been bullying PPP/C supporters for years as a WPA executive.
Mr Bachan’s family will now suffer the consequences to this kind of bullying. Mr Bachan was the main breadwinner for his family and his murder will no doubt plunge his young wife and his four young children into undue economic hardship in a country unable to provide them with any kind of social safety net.
Also, in an unrelated case, about six months ago, Mr Kalicharran Sawak became another statistic of grave human rights abuse while he was in Police custody at the Sparendaam Police Station, where he sustained a fractured skull and a slew of physical injuries which caused him to haemorrhage and die. To date, nothing came out of this case which can easily be cracked with whistleblowers.
Further, it needs to be clear also that no matter if the police murdered Mr Bachan or Mr Sawak, they need to be held accountable because these men were in their custody when their human rights were violated.
The ordeal of these two men is reminiscent of my very own experience with the GPF. Several years ago, a certain police constable unsuccessfully attempted to extort money from me. I was obviously selected as his victim because the police routinely targets Indo-Guyanese who are also perceived to be PPP/C supporters.
And so he retaliated by enlisting a van load of officers who were brandishing huge rifles as if they were in combat with drug lords. The brainless officers heard that I was visiting from New York and they reflexively raced over to get me based on an erroneous calculation that I was loaded with money. This experience made me realise how the police prey on innocent citizens like criminals.
The cowardly police even forcefully took me over to the East Ruimveldt Outpost. I was no doubt traumatised. And I knew that the extortioner would frame me and have me detained. I also feared that the police were going to beat me and murder me in a dark cell.
As predicted, the extortioner fabricated silly lies about me but he failed to sell them to the corporal and he was booted from the outpost. The corporal was the one who stepped in and did the right thing in saving my life. It was obvious that all of the officers were of a certain race/ethnicity, except for the corporal. It was this experience that caused me to realise that racial/ethnic diversity is needed in the police force to protect innocent citizens and to give them a fair chance. Guyana’s diversity needs to be valued, not trampled. But Dr Hinds endorses the unfair racial/ethnic imbalance seen in the workplace. On Globespan 24X7, he argued that Indo-Guyanese are rich and thus they do not deserve to be in the workforce. This is stereotyping and deception to cheat Indo-Guyanese of what they deserve. I know that the majority of Indians in Guyana are poor. I also hailed from the ranks of a poor Indo-Guyanese family. Dr Hinds has been pushing for ethnic dominance which compromises our welfare and destroys our country. Dr Hinds can’t be of any good for Guyana if he does not stand up for diversity.
Moreover, I was absolutely shocked to see drunken officers on the job at the outpost. Some of them were pointing to great big ledgers and mumbling that I must deposit money in them but I pretended not to understand what they wanted and so I asked the corporal for clarification. The corporal responded with a wide smile. The GPF can’t be trusted. The GPF is dysfunctional, dangerous, corrupt, abusive and lawless. The GPF can’t be of benefit to Guyanese given its lawlessness.
However, I am convinced that the GPF can shed its problems through education which emphasises respect for human life. And this will allow only good things to fall into place for the benefit of every Guyanese.
Sincerely,
Dr Annie Baliram (PhD)
