Now in 2024, we see a lot of evidence that the police and the justice system engage in two-tier policing and justince. But this has been the case for many years.
Not only have we seen the failure of several UK police forces to investigate Muslim Grooming Gangs, there have also been incodents of violence where the police are reluctant to investigate crimes that are related to religion.
This systemic two-tier approach is not so evidence in other crimes, such as drugs gangs, where, as far as I am aware, there is no preferential or tame policing.
One example of the failure of the police to properly protect a victim of hate crimes, and a failure to investigate, is that of Nissar Hussain, a man who lived in Bradford, UK, converted from Islam to Christianity, along with his family.
In 2008, British citizen Nissar Hussain appeared along with the rest of his family in a documentary film about mistreatment of Muslim converts to Christianity, a group to which Nissar himself belongs. Since then, according to Nissar, their life had been unduly difficult. As he tells it, because of his family’s departure from Islam for a new religion, they faced an atmosphere of fear and intimidation, including sustained threats and harassment. This intimidation came to fruition in November 2015 when Nissar was physically attacked.
Such a conversion carries the death penalty in Islam. Those Muslims in Bradford that persecuted and attacked Mr Hussain didn’t go that far. Nevertheless, the police failed him.
The Muslim community are largely decent people but because of the taboo of converting to Christianity we are classed by them as scum and second-class citizens … If we were living in Pakistan or the Middle East I would probably [be] looking at prison or a death sentence for my beliefs. – Nissar Hussain
Mr Hussain was had his his kneecap and hand broken in the attack.
A police investigation was launched following the incidents, but the case was ‘complex’ and ‘sensitive’ due to the religious dynamics involved – not an unusual excuse for police being afraid of offending Muslim communities for simply doing what police are supposed to do. Despite this, the police supposedly took the matter seriously, with efforts made to investigate the assaults and threats against Hussain. However, the investigation was not without controversy, as Hussain and his family felt that the authorities could have done more to protect them and ensure justice.
Ramblings 