POLICING IN INDIA- SOME UNPLEASANT ESSAYS
(A Brief Introduction)
The essays in this book are on diverse topics, but the underlying theme is that even though we are living in a democratic society with a modern constitution and a very prominent Bill of Rights, the police organisation, in its structure and functioning, are still feudal and colonial in mould. We are still having what is called the regime system of policing in the country. In such a system, the police function less to serve the rule of law and more to secure the interests of the dominant group or regime in power.
We inherited this system of policing from the British at the time of Independence, but instead of changing it to suit the new environment we persisted with what we inherited and in fact made it worse. The first essay talks about the type of police system inherited by us and what we have turned it into. It was bad and we have made it worse.
Under the regime system of policing, the police remain subservient to the political executive in power and become vulnerable to their illegitimate control. The second essay discusses the domestic initiatives as well as those taken in foreign jurisdictions to deal with the problem of insulating the police from illegitimate political control.
The most important initiative in post Independent India to reform the police came in the shape of the National Police Commission, which was set up in 1977 by the Janata Government that came to power after Emergency was revoked. The Commission produced eight reports between February 1979 and May 1981. Important major recommendations of the NPC have mostly remained unimplemented, despite Supreme Court’s directives. The third essay surveys all that happened since the Commission was appointed, including how its reports were treated and the final outcome of efforts made to get the Commission’s recommendations implemented.
If the quality of policing is bad it affects all in a community, but it definitely impacts the poor more severely than it does the rich. The victims of what the police do and how they do it are mostly poor people. A major problem is with the mentality of policemen. It is a feudal mindset, which oppresses the weak and the poor. The fourth essay discusses the police practices that obstruct poor people to access justice in the country
An important characteristic of the regime system of policing is that the gulf between the seniors and lower ranks in the organisation is very wide. The entire managerial philosophy of the police is based on distrust of the lower ranks in the organisation. The essay on the subject discusses all aspects of this managerial philosophy and shows how the problems of lower ranks in the police have never received the attention they deserve. The second part of this essay discusses the circumstances in which the statute called The Police Forces (Restriction of Rights) Act was legislated.
A problem that has dominated public debate in the country during the last couple of years is that of huge corruption that exists in almost all fields. Two of the most important agencies of the central establishment are the Central Vigilance Commission and the Central Bureau of Investigation. The next two essays in the book survey the developments underlying the government’s management of these two organisations and show why they failed to develop as professionally strong and effective anti- corruption agencies.
The Police, according to the Constitution of India, is a State subject, but the centre is increasingly playing a wider and a bigger role in policing. The eight essay discusses all these developments that indicate a trend towards militarisation and centralisation of policing. If extremist or terrorist violence increases further in the country, this trend is likely to be accentuated.
The police forces in the country employ a very large number of persons. Presently, they have a total sanctioned strength of about 2.95 million persons. Their success ultimately depends upon how well or how badly their employees perform on their jobs. The ninth essay discusses the existing system of performance appraisal of the individual policeman and also of the police organisation, identifies the weaknesses of both and suggests corrective action.
Probably no other factor has been responsible for tarnishing the image of the police in this country as much as their alleged involvement in several incidents of brutality. The essay on police brutality discusses all relevant aspects of the problem and suggests the need to set up effective and independent police complaint bodies.
The next essay analyses how the increasing trend of crime and violence broadly impacts different institutions or sections of society, like the government, police and citizens and, more importantly, how they respond to the need to control it. Some responses are disturbing. The government enacts tough laws; the police adopts short cuts and rich citizens hire private security while poor become vigilantes.
The number of occasions when the police use firearms to disperse crowds in this country is very high. The essay on the subject discusses the rules and regulations on the subject and highlights the need to frame a comprehensive policy regarding the use of firearms by the police in dealing with the civilian population.
An important characteristic of a regime system of policing is that it provides impunity to people in positions of power and allows them to get away with their misdeeds. Sexual molestation of Ruchika Gehrotra is only one such case. The essay gives the details of the case and then shows how people in position of power can manipulate and subvert the entire system to delay and deny justice to victims of crime.
There are other ways in which impunity is granted. One is to insist that public servants cannot be prosecuted in criminal cases without sanction of the government. The essay discusses the law requiring sanction for prosecution in corruption cases and analyses the implications of the recent judgement of the Supreme Court in Subramanian Swamy’s case, asking for prosecution of Dr. A Raja, the then Minister for Communication and Information Technology under the Prevention of Corruption Act for illegal allotment of new licenses in 2G mobile services.
In addition to the above fourteen research based essays, the book includes fourteen short pieces. These are on different topics but again the basic theme running through them remains the same. Most were written by way of reacting to certain events or developments that happened at that time. One of these was an open letter to the Prime Minister of the country on the need for police reforms, which was written on the eve of the conference of District Superintendents of Police that he was scheduled to address. Some are of the view that structural reforms in the police are not the only ones that are needed. The idea of police reform discusses the various other facets of the subject. How the law is misused not only by the police but also by others is the theme of another component of this section. Another piece suggests that it would be in the interest of politicians themselves to reform the police. Two events that occurred abroad have been analysed to draw some lessons. One of these was the furore that followed President Obama’s remarks about the Cambridge Police when they arrested a black professor. The other compares two incidents of murder. One was committed in a distant land; the other one nearer home. The two cases had many similarities but differed in major ways. It is the difference that tells us what we can learn and how. A large number of police personnel are losing their lives in line of duty every year. The article on police fatalities suggests that this should cause more concern than it does.
(The book was published in March 2013 by the Atlantic Publishers and Distributors, 7/22, Ansari Road, Darya Ganj, New Delhi-110002. Telephone: +91-11-4077 5252, 4077 5214; 2327 3880, 2327 5880; Fax : +91-11-2328 5873. E-mail: orders@atlanticbooks.com Website: www.atlanticbooks.com. The book has 374 pages and can be procured on line directly from the publisher or from the prominent book sites, like www.infibeam.com, flipcart.com etc)
(A Brief Introduction)
The essays in this book are on diverse topics, but the underlying theme is that even though we are living in a democratic society with a modern constitution and a very prominent Bill of Rights, the police organisation, in its structure and functioning, are still feudal and colonial in mould. We are still having what is called the regime system of policing in the country. In such a system, the police function less to serve the rule of law and more to secure the interests of the dominant group or regime in power.
We inherited this system of policing from the British at the time of Independence, but instead of changing it to suit the new environment we persisted with what we inherited and in fact made it worse. The first essay talks about the type of police system inherited by us and what we have turned it into. It was bad and we have made it worse.
Under the regime system of policing, the police remain subservient to the political executive in power and become vulnerable to their illegitimate control. The second essay discusses the domestic initiatives as well as those taken in foreign jurisdictions to deal with the problem of insulating the police from illegitimate political control.
The most important initiative in post Independent India to reform the police came in the shape of the National Police Commission, which was set up in 1977 by the Janata Government that came to power after Emergency was revoked. The Commission produced eight reports between February 1979 and May 1981. Important major recommendations of the NPC have mostly remained unimplemented, despite Supreme Court’s directives. The third essay surveys all that happened since the Commission was appointed, including how its reports were treated and the final outcome of efforts made to get the Commission’s recommendations implemented.
If the quality of policing is bad it affects all in a community, but it definitely impacts the poor more severely than it does the rich. The victims of what the police do and how they do it are mostly poor people. A major problem is with the mentality of policemen. It is a feudal mindset, which oppresses the weak and the poor. The fourth essay discusses the police practices that obstruct poor people to access justice in the country
An important characteristic of the regime system of policing is that the gulf between the seniors and lower ranks in the organisation is very wide. The entire managerial philosophy of the police is based on distrust of the lower ranks in the organisation. The essay on the subject discusses all aspects of this managerial philosophy and shows how the problems of lower ranks in the police have never received the attention they deserve. The second part of this essay discusses the circumstances in which the statute called The Police Forces (Restriction of Rights) Act was legislated.
A problem that has dominated public debate in the country during the last couple of years is that of huge corruption that exists in almost all fields. Two of the most important agencies of the central establishment are the Central Vigilance Commission and the Central Bureau of Investigation. The next two essays in the book survey the developments underlying the government’s management of these two organisations and show why they failed to develop as professionally strong and effective anti- corruption agencies.
The Police, according to the Constitution of India, is a State subject, but the centre is increasingly playing a wider and a bigger role in policing. The eight essay discusses all these developments that indicate a trend towards militarisation and centralisation of policing. If extremist or terrorist violence increases further in the country, this trend is likely to be accentuated.
The police forces in the country employ a very large number of persons. Presently, they have a total sanctioned strength of about 2.95 million persons. Their success ultimately depends upon how well or how badly their employees perform on their jobs. The ninth essay discusses the existing system of performance appraisal of the individual policeman and also of the police organisation, identifies the weaknesses of both and suggests corrective action.
Probably no other factor has been responsible for tarnishing the image of the police in this country as much as their alleged involvement in several incidents of brutality. The essay on police brutality discusses all relevant aspects of the problem and suggests the need to set up effective and independent police complaint bodies.
The next essay analyses how the increasing trend of crime and violence broadly impacts different institutions or sections of society, like the government, police and citizens and, more importantly, how they respond to the need to control it. Some responses are disturbing. The government enacts tough laws; the police adopts short cuts and rich citizens hire private security while poor become vigilantes.
The number of occasions when the police use firearms to disperse crowds in this country is very high. The essay on the subject discusses the rules and regulations on the subject and highlights the need to frame a comprehensive policy regarding the use of firearms by the police in dealing with the civilian population.
An important characteristic of a regime system of policing is that it provides impunity to people in positions of power and allows them to get away with their misdeeds. Sexual molestation of Ruchika Gehrotra is only one such case. The essay gives the details of the case and then shows how people in position of power can manipulate and subvert the entire system to delay and deny justice to victims of crime.
There are other ways in which impunity is granted. One is to insist that public servants cannot be prosecuted in criminal cases without sanction of the government. The essay discusses the law requiring sanction for prosecution in corruption cases and analyses the implications of the recent judgement of the Supreme Court in Subramanian Swamy’s case, asking for prosecution of Dr. A Raja, the then Minister for Communication and Information Technology under the Prevention of Corruption Act for illegal allotment of new licenses in 2G mobile services.
In addition to the above fourteen research based essays, the book includes fourteen short pieces. These are on different topics but again the basic theme running through them remains the same. Most were written by way of reacting to certain events or developments that happened at that time. One of these was an open letter to the Prime Minister of the country on the need for police reforms, which was written on the eve of the conference of District Superintendents of Police that he was scheduled to address. Some are of the view that structural reforms in the police are not the only ones that are needed. The idea of police reform discusses the various other facets of the subject. How the law is misused not only by the police but also by others is the theme of another component of this section. Another piece suggests that it would be in the interest of politicians themselves to reform the police. Two events that occurred abroad have been analysed to draw some lessons. One of these was the furore that followed President Obama’s remarks about the Cambridge Police when they arrested a black professor. The other compares two incidents of murder. One was committed in a distant land; the other one nearer home. The two cases had many similarities but differed in major ways. It is the difference that tells us what we can learn and how. A large number of police personnel are losing their lives in line of duty every year. The article on police fatalities suggests that this should cause more concern than it does.
(The book was published in March 2013 by the Atlantic Publishers and Distributors, 7/22, Ansari Road, Darya Ganj, New Delhi-110002. Telephone: +91-11-4077 5252, 4077 5214; 2327 3880, 2327 5880; Fax : +91-11-2328 5873. E-mail: orders@atlanticbooks.com Website: www.atlanticbooks.com. The book has 374 pages and can be procured on line directly from the publisher or from the prominent book sites, like www.infibeam.com, flipcart.com etc)
