Three possibly innocent people spent the night in detention on Tuesday in the atrocious conditions we have on a previous occasion described and detailed. And they will spend nearly a week in those same conditions before their bail motion is heard again. One of these people – Avinash Bissessur – is recovering from a recent surgery and was, according to his lawyer, deprived of his medication. Two mothers, already traumatised by a previous house raid followed by a prolonged and unjustified detention spent a sleepless night worrying about the fate of their children. One of them is handicapped and was left to fend for herself, as her daughter was led away from home into utter horror. A father, in tears, who no longer knows which institution to turn to in order to see the end of the persecution of his children. A director of public prosecutions watching helplessly as his instructions – of not placing anyone in detention before informing him – have been blatantly flouted. A justice system based on reasonable suspicion being made a mockery of. A country that has forgotten the values on which the forefathers have built this nation. All happening in plain sight. A population terrified out of its wits wondering when their turn might come. A country in disarray. A people who have been bathing in indifference for so long that they are on the verge of becoming heartless.

Across the street, I can hear the barbaric and primitive sound of victory. The triumph of the powerful against those who have been rendered powerless through sheer injustice. Thirst for revenge has been quenched and that is all that matters. The sweet feeling of relishing other people’s miseries, suffering, agony, helplessness…and gloating about the idea that they can inflict so much sorrow on whoever they choose.

Are we being led by a pack of sociopaths? One cannot help asking the question as we saw Akil Bissessur and his brother, both handcuffed, and Akil’s partner being led into yet another detention after a parcel landed at his place and which, not having ordered anything, he refused to take delivery of. It came all the way from Germany, we are told, and it contains 1,022 ecstasy pills. A gigantic figure of Rs2 million was immediately tossed at us as being the value of the drugs found in it. And those who have just fought and won a case for drug trafficking found themselves again accused of…drug trafficking and importing!

I have had quite a few interactions with the police for a number of years and the impression they have always given me is that of decent and humane human beings. When they had to obey orders ‘from above’, they did so with kindness, embarrassment, almost shame. In the cases I documented in my first book, Provisional Charges, one of the protagonists, Laina Rawat, after one night in detention, burst out in tears when a CCID officer implored her to eat something for the sake of her unborn baby! How did we go from those people who had empathy and feelings to a lot who show no sympathy for anyone and who seem to relish the pain they are causing? What has happened to the humanity of our officers? Has it been crushed by a system gangrened with revenge and heartlessness or have they always been sociopaths who now have the power to give free reign to their feelings?

Thinking about this and about the Mauritius we live in today gives me the shivers!  

Touria Prayag’s third edition of Provisional Charges and her second book #BLD: When Mauritius Lost its Bedside Manners are now available in the bookshops.