TARGETED IDENTITIES: THE COMPLEXITIES OF RACIAL PROFILING

Racial Profiling refers to the discriminatory practice by law enforcement officials of targeting individuals for suspicion of crime based on the individual race, ethnicity, religion or national origin. The practice of racial profiling has been around for a very long time not just in India but in many countries as well. In today’s time it has been labelled as a very critical topic as every human being can relate to. The process of racial profiling is becoming worse day by day as many innocent lives are facing brutalities and punishments for the crime they didn’t commit. Racial profiling punishes innocent people for the past deeds of others who depict them in looks and personality and necessary trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve is shattered and crucial resources are misdirected. This paper attempts to interpret the rationale behind racial profiling considering that no laws with respect to the same exist in a third world country such as India and neither any statute mentions it as a term nor its penalty. Furthermore, theory of Immanuel Kant of immorality and Jeremy Bentham’s philosophy revolving around utilitarianism has been used to interpret racial profiling using the secondary sources of data. And what all existing legislations are present which are helping to combat the arising process ‘racial Profiling’ have also been analysed.