Podcast Summary

OVERVIEW

Episode:
Deana Heath and Jinee Lokaneeta, "Policing and Violence in India: Colonial Origins and Contemporary Realities" (Speaking Tiger, 2025)
Podcast: New Books Network
Host: Shailza
Release Date: January 2, 2026

This episode dives into Policing and Violence in India: Colonial Origins and Contemporary Realities, a new edited collection examining the persistence, normalization, and roots of state violence in India. Through the voices of editors Deana Heath and Jinee Lokaneeta, the discussion explores the book’s genesis, its unique multidisciplinary structure, the colonial inheritances of Indian policing, and the urgent need for new frameworks to analyze and resist police violence. Thoughtful attention is paid toward how caste, law, medicine, and political structures reinforce legacies of brutality and impunity.

KEY DISCUSSION POINTS & INSIGHTS

1. Origins: From Workshop Dialogues to a Book

• Workshops as Crucible:
  The book emerged from a series of workshops at the University of Liverpool and JNU (2016–19), which brought together a cross-section of academics, practitioners, activists, policymakers, police officials, and former prisoners—creating unique interdisciplinary and regional dialogue.

  • “Our attempt was to create points of conversation around policing across these different actors as well as different regions.”
    — Jinee Lokaneeta [04:20]

• Bridging the Accessibility Gap:
  Editors aimed to make recent scholarship on policing more accessible, breaking out of the confines of academic presses and theory-heavy writing.

  • “We wanted to find a way to bridge that gap between academic work that wasn’t very accessible and the amazing work… directly in this area.”
    — Deana Heath [05:24]

2. Book Structure and Editorial Philosophy

• Four-Part Organization:

  • Part 1: Colonial to Post-Colonial Police Violence
  • Part 2: Legal/Judicial Landscape: Courts, Law, and Non-State Actors
  • Part 3: Complicating Notions of Police Violence and State Power
  • Part 4: Interviews with Critics and Reflective “Further Thoughts”

• Inclusion of Diverse Voices:
  Chapters and interviews progress from scholarly analysis to personal narratives (e.g., ex-officials, activists, torture survivors). “Further Thoughts” sections feature responses from prominent activists and thinkers to propel discussion.

• Intent:
  To raise big questions, lay groundwork for further inquiry, and prompt a reader’s own critical engagement.

  • “This is laying out issues and themes, concerns that we’ve explored. But there’s a lot still to think about…”
    — Deana Heath [11:29]

3. Anti-Carceral Politics and Civil Liberties in India

• Limits of Rights-Oriented Activism:
  Civil and democratic rights organizations have historically focused on “state repression,” particularly in response to movements, but not necessarily on critiquing police and prisons as autonomous oppressive institutions.

  • “…there wasn’t an analysis of state violence on its own terms or police and prisons as institutions.”
    — Jinee Lokaneeta [14:59]

• Need for South Asian Frameworks:
  The discussion urges building anti-carceral politics attentive to Indian realities: caste, class, gender, religion, and postcolonial state formation.

  • “We have to situate [anti-carceral politics] both in terms of colonial continuities, post-colonial politics, and shifting societal hierarchies.”
    — Jinee Lokaneeta [18:49]

4. Colonial Legacies and Systemic Violence

• Deconstructing the ‘Bad Apple’ Myth:

  • “We need to toss out long discredited ideas about random bad apples being responsible for police violence.”
    — Deana Heath [20:26]

• Police as ‘Violent Workers’:
  The Indian police, from inception, were a semi-militarized colonial force meant to terrorize and control, not serve as a civil police. This violence became normalized and systemically reproduced post-independence.

  • “Police violence was a product of the system into which all members of the Indian police were inculcated…”
    — Deana Heath [22:37]

5. Changing Landscape: Technology and Digital Policing

• Spectacle Versus Substance:
  Modernizations (like digital infrastructure, forensic techniques) are often unevenly implemented and may serve spectacle over substance. There’s a danger that new “scientific” approaches mask existing abuses.
  • “Often makes it a kind of appearance or a spectacle of digital progress, quote unquote, rather than substantively shifting anything.”
    — Jinee Lokaneeta [27:04]

6. Institutional Complicity: Medical, Legal, and Carceral Actors

• Case Study — Jairaj & Bennix:
  The routine failure of medical and judicial personnel to protect or even report on egregious violence is detailed; eg. doctors often declare victims “fit for remand” despite visible injuries under police and systemic pressure.
  • “…the role of doctors in this structure of policing. And where does one find accountability in this context?”
    — Jinee Lokaneeta [33:44]

7. Writing Process and Collective Voice

• Collaborative Challenges:

  • Balancing accessible language, technical expertise, and direct testimonials from varied contributors led to an iterative editorial process.
  • “How do you bring all those different disciplinary expertises and styles of writing... to as widespread an audience as possible?”
    — Deana Heath [39:41]
  • “The accessibility piece… is something that Deana worked really hard on…”
    — Jinee Lokaneeta [38:23]

• Advice for Researchers:

  • Don’t wait for absolute clarity—write as you research; be open to varied forms (essays, interviews).
    — [35:29-39:26]

8. Key Takeaways For Listeners

• Central Lesson:
  India’s police violence is enormous and normalized; outrage is sporadic and quickly fades, allowing routine abuse to persist.

  • “If this brings attention to the enormity of police violence, the normalization of police violence in India, that would be really important for us.”
    — Jinee Lokaneeta [41:32]

• Invitation to Critical Inquiry:
  Continuously question why systemic violence is tolerated and how historical complicity shapes the present; positive change is possible through persistent critical engagement.

  • “Keep asking why things are the way they are and how they got to be that way…”
    — Deana Heath [42:30]

NOTABLE QUOTES & MEMORABLE MOMENTS

• On the Failure of Official Procedures:
  “They were bleeding profusely… And yet when the doctor examined them, she ended up giving a certificate which saw them as fit for remand…”
  — Jinee Lokaneeta, recounting the Jairaj and Bennix case [29:43]

• On Systemic Nature of Violence:
  “Police violence was a product of the system into which all members… were inculcated and which they needed to enact in order to survive and thrive within it.”
  — Deana Heath [22:37]

• On Muted Outrage:
  “The outrage doesn’t stay… you have routine cases of police violence, custodial deaths, encounters, and yet you don’t see that kind of outrage.”
  — Jinee Lokaneeta [41:23]

• On Research and Change:
  “Is that always a good starting point for research and writing? But also the potential for positive change.”
  — Deana Heath [42:30]

TIMESTAMPS FOR IMPORTANT SEGMENTS

• [03:47] — Workshops and the conception of the book
• [07:14] — Book’s structural overview and inclusion of “Further Thoughts”
• [14:02] — Historical roots of Indian resistance and limitations of anti-carceral politics
• [20:19] — Why colonial policing legacies persist
• [23:46] — Impact and limits of police “modernization” and digital investigation
• [29:06] — Medical complicity and the Jairaj-Bennix custodial death case
• [35:29] — Reflections on writing process and making academic work accessible
• [41:17] — Final key lessons for students, activists, and reflecting on public tolerance for routine violence

SUMMARY TAKEAWAY

Policing and Violence in India is a much-needed intervention that confronts how the Indian police force, shaped by colonial priorities, continues to carry out daily acts of violence that are systemically normalized and broadly ignored. The book (and this conversation) emphasizes the importance of moving beyond episodic outrage; instead, India must develop a deeper anti-carceral critique attentive to the realities of caste, law, and state power, as well as to ongoing technological changes in policing. The editors urge listeners and readers alike to continuously interrogate systems of violence and collectively imagine paths toward accountability and change—rooted in rigorous research, lived reality, and historical awareness.