The Broken System
Police reform in India is too important to neglect and too urgent to delay. This message, so important for a country that claims to be the biggest democracy in the world but has a highly colonial and repressive police force, was once again brought home recently by the publication of the Human Rights Watch’s report entitled “Broken System- Dysfunction, Abuse, and Impunity in the Indian Police” (August 2009). The report describes clearly and vividly the stark and ugly realities of policing in India that are well known to all who are interested in police reform issues in the country.
The study report is based on research done by the Human Rights Watch during two months (December 08 to January 09) in three states- HP, Karnataka and UP. The methodology included doing library research, interviewing victims and witnesses (60) of police misconduct, visits to police stations (19), interview with police officers (80) of different ranks and with lawyers and activists ( 65).
The methodology adopted for the study may not be impressive but it in no way vitiates its findings. The study documents human rights abuses, particularly in four fields- police failure to investigate crimes; arrest on false charges and illegal detention; torture and ill-treatment; and extrajudicial killings. It shows how the police fail to investigate crimes because they don’t register complaints, something that affects the poor and marginalised people more than the rich and influential citizens. Instead of acting professionally to carry out scientific investigations, they rely on threats, intimidation and coercions to extract confession and adopt short cuts. They arrest people on false charges and detain suspects and their family members illegally for prolonged periods, subject them to torture and ill treatment and indulge in fake encounter killings with impunity.
The police misconduct creates a climate of fear and insecurity not so much amongst criminals but amongst ordinary citizens who are reluctant to cooperate with the police. This is exactly what a former union Home Secretary Shri Kamal Pandey had once told the IPS probationers: while the law abiding public suspect the police, those who operate on the wrong side of the law do not fear them.
Part of the problem, according to the study, is the working and living conditions of lower ranks, particularly the constabulary. The organisation has a crumbling infrastructure. Police stations are not equipped not only with adequate strength or transport or communication, but even with basic civic facilities that can enable the police people to live a life of dignity. It is not only the living but also the service and working conditions that are degrading and inhuman. The police, particularly the lower ranks, work for long hours without a day’s break and continuously under pressure, resulting in demoralisation in ranks. In addition, political interference leading to partisan policing and protection of criminals have led to undermining the confidence of the public in police. These combined with lack of political will to introduce structural reforms in the police have led to “dysfunction, abuse and impunity” in the Indian Police.
There is nothing new in any of these findings. They have been made umpteen number of times by the expert committees and commissions appointed by the government to examine police problems, by the National and State Human Rights Commissions in their annual and special reports, by the media in its daily reportage and by courts in their judgments of police work. The fact that these get constantly repeated shows how utterly negligent and callous the governments in this country have been towards the important need for police reforms.
The country is going through a period when the security situation is really bad. The Prime Minister as well as the union Home Minister have repeatedly drawn the nation’s attention to the increasing terror and insurgency threats and called for greater alertness on the part of all. It is the danger emanating from terror or insurgent groups that has dominated and shaped the thinking of the government towards police reform issues. The steps taken so far have included the expansion of para military forces, establishment of a national investigating agency, the enactment of an anti terror law with stringent provisions, creation of regional NSG hubs, strengthening of intelligence network, setting up of counter insurgency and anti terrorism training schools and modernizing the equipment of the police forces.
This is as it should be; such steps are necessary. While all that is needed by the security forces to neutralise terror should be provided to them, it must be realised that a mere increase in number and equipment of the law and order machinery will not yield full results. What will really win the war against terror is public faith and confidence in the efficiency and integrity of the police agencies- a faith that leads to increasing inflow of intelligence and a willing cooperation being provided to the security forces. The police therefore have to make a conscious effort to win the hearts and minds of the citizens of all communities. This can happen only when they start doing their basic job in a professionally efficient, honest and impartial manner and the government provides the police the environment and the enabling capacity to do so. More than one hundred crore people of this country deserve much better day to day policing in normal situations than they are getting.
The Human Rights Watch’s report is a timely reminder to all concerned to wake up and introduce police reforms. This is necessary for the survival of our democratic structure, for speedy economic growth and to establish good governance in the country.
