POLICE ATTITUDES TOWARDS MINORITIES
The report prepared by the Directors General of Police on police attitudes towards minorities, summarised recently in the media, is timely and worthy of note.
Allegations that the police behave in a partisan manner against members of minority community are fairly common. Various judicial inquiry commissions, the national police commission and the minority commission have cited several instances where the police have shown unmistakable bias against minority community while dealing with communal situations.
The constitution and laws provide to all citizens access to justice to right wrongs. The access proves illusory if the enforcement mechanisms do not function impartially. The police being the most visible arm of the state, loss of confidence on the part of minority community in its ability to function impartially leads to erosion of faith in the credentials of the state. It has the effect of hardening the attitudes and sharpening the communal divide between the majority and minority communities.
The perception of the police as a communally biased agency by the minority community has thus grave overtones. Once the state loses its credibility, the feelings of insecurity amongst the minority community members gives rise to (i) militancy in the minority youth, (ii) faith in vigilantism and (iii) tendency to congregate and live together leading to ghettoisation with all its attendant ills.
Considering the serious implications of minority community’s lack of trust in the police force, it is extremely heartening to learn that the police have done this important exercise in self introspection and tried to accept and lay bare their own faults and failings which are responsible for creating distrust between them and the minority community members.
The DGPs report covers a fairly extensive ground. Some important issues examined in the report include the impact of demolition of Babri Masjid, use of advances in information technology and social media by anti social elements in fomenting trouble, role of NGOs and activists in spreading distrust, demeanour of police personnel in communal riot situations and their insensitive behaviour, poor communication skills and lack of basic police knowledge of minority religious beliefs and practices. The report goes beyond police work and behaviour and holds Lack of “social management skills” amongst some other agencies of the government, like municipal corporations, housing, health and revenue departments and also corporate sector responsible for alienating the minority community members.
The report makes suggestions to improve relations with the minority community. It suggests the need to improve basic police community interface at thana and district level, establishment and working of mohalla committees, policing to factor in religious sensitivities, encouraging sports activities amongst mixed teams, involving lower ranks in decision making in field matters. providing proper basic municipal amenities to minority community localities and intervention by law to provide proper housing and health to minority communities.
However, the DGPs report, though fairly comprehensive, does not cover some important substantive issues that explain the increasing perception of police force as communal. To some extent, this perception is a reflection of the sharpening of the split between the communities on communal lines. The forces of religious fundamentalism, racing aggressively across the country over the last few years and forcing the political parties to attach importance to communal issues and feelings, have succeeded in weakening the hold of secular values and ideals. The religious and caste affiliations and feelings existing in our traditional society have been manipulated and exploited by politicians to create, retain and expand their vote banks. To expect the police to remain unaffected by the forces which are influencing the attitudes, values and behaviour of large sections of population with whom they interact closely in their day-to-day work is somewhat unrealistic.
The problem of police showing bias against members of minority community is associated not only with the increasing hold of communal forces over others in society, but with the erosion of authority of police as an agency of law that has occurred in this country over a period of time. The philosophy of police neutrality is rooted in the concept of rule of law that has definitely been devalued. If the police officers are posted in communally sensitive districts not on the basis of their secular credentials or their professionalism but by their caste or communal affiliations or by their pliability, police will to act impartially and courageously in conformity with law is bound to be weakened. This was seen clearly during the recent communal riots in Muzaffarnagar, where cops, in that infamous sting operation, clearly admitted that they followed orders from their political bosses to go slow in curbing the violence.
The DGPs report, though a good beginning, avoids discussing the political environment in which the police deal with the problem of communal violence. A lasting solution of the problem would require more than what the DGPs have discussed and suggested. It would require establishment of statutory institutional arrangements that help in (i) insulating the police force against illegitimate influences, (ii) ensuring that appointments, postings, transfers and promotions are guided by merit and professional efficiency and honesty and not by communal and caste considerations (iii) denying impunity to anyone found negligent in doing his duty or guilty of committing crimes, and (iii) always holding accountable those who violate the rights, particularly the right to access justice, on grounds of colour or creed.
The report prepared by the Directors General of Police on police attitudes towards minorities, summarised recently in the media, is timely and worthy of note.
Allegations that the police behave in a partisan manner against members of minority community are fairly common. Various judicial inquiry commissions, the national police commission and the minority commission have cited several instances where the police have shown unmistakable bias against minority community while dealing with communal situations.
The constitution and laws provide to all citizens access to justice to right wrongs. The access proves illusory if the enforcement mechanisms do not function impartially. The police being the most visible arm of the state, loss of confidence on the part of minority community in its ability to function impartially leads to erosion of faith in the credentials of the state. It has the effect of hardening the attitudes and sharpening the communal divide between the majority and minority communities.
The perception of the police as a communally biased agency by the minority community has thus grave overtones. Once the state loses its credibility, the feelings of insecurity amongst the minority community members gives rise to (i) militancy in the minority youth, (ii) faith in vigilantism and (iii) tendency to congregate and live together leading to ghettoisation with all its attendant ills.
Considering the serious implications of minority community’s lack of trust in the police force, it is extremely heartening to learn that the police have done this important exercise in self introspection and tried to accept and lay bare their own faults and failings which are responsible for creating distrust between them and the minority community members.
The DGPs report covers a fairly extensive ground. Some important issues examined in the report include the impact of demolition of Babri Masjid, use of advances in information technology and social media by anti social elements in fomenting trouble, role of NGOs and activists in spreading distrust, demeanour of police personnel in communal riot situations and their insensitive behaviour, poor communication skills and lack of basic police knowledge of minority religious beliefs and practices. The report goes beyond police work and behaviour and holds Lack of “social management skills” amongst some other agencies of the government, like municipal corporations, housing, health and revenue departments and also corporate sector responsible for alienating the minority community members.
The report makes suggestions to improve relations with the minority community. It suggests the need to improve basic police community interface at thana and district level, establishment and working of mohalla committees, policing to factor in religious sensitivities, encouraging sports activities amongst mixed teams, involving lower ranks in decision making in field matters. providing proper basic municipal amenities to minority community localities and intervention by law to provide proper housing and health to minority communities.
However, the DGPs report, though fairly comprehensive, does not cover some important substantive issues that explain the increasing perception of police force as communal. To some extent, this perception is a reflection of the sharpening of the split between the communities on communal lines. The forces of religious fundamentalism, racing aggressively across the country over the last few years and forcing the political parties to attach importance to communal issues and feelings, have succeeded in weakening the hold of secular values and ideals. The religious and caste affiliations and feelings existing in our traditional society have been manipulated and exploited by politicians to create, retain and expand their vote banks. To expect the police to remain unaffected by the forces which are influencing the attitudes, values and behaviour of large sections of population with whom they interact closely in their day-to-day work is somewhat unrealistic.
The problem of police showing bias against members of minority community is associated not only with the increasing hold of communal forces over others in society, but with the erosion of authority of police as an agency of law that has occurred in this country over a period of time. The philosophy of police neutrality is rooted in the concept of rule of law that has definitely been devalued. If the police officers are posted in communally sensitive districts not on the basis of their secular credentials or their professionalism but by their caste or communal affiliations or by their pliability, police will to act impartially and courageously in conformity with law is bound to be weakened. This was seen clearly during the recent communal riots in Muzaffarnagar, where cops, in that infamous sting operation, clearly admitted that they followed orders from their political bosses to go slow in curbing the violence.
The DGPs report, though a good beginning, avoids discussing the political environment in which the police deal with the problem of communal violence. A lasting solution of the problem would require more than what the DGPs have discussed and suggested. It would require establishment of statutory institutional arrangements that help in (i) insulating the police force against illegitimate influences, (ii) ensuring that appointments, postings, transfers and promotions are guided by merit and professional efficiency and honesty and not by communal and caste considerations (iii) denying impunity to anyone found negligent in doing his duty or guilty of committing crimes, and (iii) always holding accountable those who violate the rights, particularly the right to access justice, on grounds of colour or creed.
