Memory, Trauma and Police Brutality: Understanding Capiophobia in Postcolonial India

Abstract

The term “Capiophobia” is derived from the Latin words “capio” and “phobos”, which together mean “the fear of police” or “the fear of arrest”. Research on  people’s perception of the police shows that Capiophobia and distrust of the police are common and collectively shared by the Indian populace. Thus, this research article attempts to understand how the traumatic memory of policing in colonial India is intergenerationally transferred and how they form capiophobia and distrust of the police. The study also looks at the police in independent India as a continuation of colonial police and how they accentuate the fear and distrust of the police.