WEST BENGAL EVENTS ARE SYMPTOMATIC OF POLITICISED POLICING
According to a recent news item that received wide publicity, the West Bengal Chief Minister Mamta Banerjee ordered the police to arrest people who were chanting “Jai shri Ram” when her convoy was passing through the road. The police are reported to have apprehended 10 people from Barrackpore the next day. The news item became viral because people enjoyed the sight of a gusty CM losing her cool over a minor event, but no one raised the most relevant and important issue: under what authority did the CM issue such orders to the police. Arresting a person suspected to be involved in the commission of a cognizable offence is a part of the process of law enforcement and has, therefore, to be governed by the provisions of law. Chanting a slogan like “Jai shri Ram” is no offence under any law and asking the police to arrest people involved in such chanting was completely illegal. We in this country have become so accustomed to seeing the politicians issuing unauthorized orders to the police that no eyebrows were raised on learning either about CM’s orders or about action taken by the police.
The doctors’ strike in West Bengal is another event that highlights the same problem. The doctors were angry not only because they were assaulted but also because the police are reported to have remained inactive either in preventing the assault or in proceeding against those who were involved in the attack. The doctors raised a big question mark over the objectivity and impartiality of the police and the fact that this has received wide acceptance speaks volumes about how badly the police in the country have been politicised and politically polarised.
Another recent event and the most deplorable one occurred when the Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar along with other senior officers sat on a dharna with the West Bengal Chief Minister at the Metro Channel in Kolkata. What the senior police officers did was not only violative of the provisions of AIS (Conduct) Rules, 1968/AIS (Discipline & Appeal) Rules, 1969, but also brought a bad name to the entire police force. This incident clearly shows how certain elements in politics and in police have become a strong mutually supporting system. The existence of a symbolic relationship between politicians in power and the police officers gives rise to a climate of impunity and political patronage that results in creating and perpetuating a system where the best in the service cannot function without impediments and the worst find themselves protected in a way that demoralises ordinary good police personnel from working with honesty and commitment. This shatters the morale of honest officers and creates a general impression that the wrong ones always win the race. This impression percolates down the line and undercuts the will of men at various levels to act courageously and vigorously in conformity with law. It, therefore, no longer remains a question of a symbiotic relationship between some politicians and police officers. The effects of the relationship are felt by the entire organisation. It results in distorting the command structure of the police, erodes discipline, promotes impunity, breeds corruption and leads to the abuse of police authority and miscarriage of justice. It ultimately shakes the confidence of the public not only in the police but also in the entire system of governance.
Insulating the police from politicisation and accountability of police are at the heart of police reform and in need of urgent and vital attention from the point of view of addressing public needs and sustaining the constitutional system and rule of law. It is not as if the need for police reform has not been recognised. We have appointed numerous commissions and committees, including the state police commissions in sixties and seventies, National Police Commission in late seventies and early eighties, Ribeiro Committee on Police Reforms in nineties, Padmanabhaiah Committee on Police Reforms and Malimath Committee on Reforms of Criminal Justice System in 2000, Soli Sorabjee Committee to Draft a Model Police Act in 2006, Second Administrative Reforms Commission in 2007 (Report on Public Order) etc. The Supreme Court stressed the need for police reform in its judgements, like those delivered in the Havala case in December 1998 and the other announced in September 2006. i
Most recommendations made by these high powered bodies have remained unimplemented The resistance to reform is deeply entrenched and it stems from the same consideration that led the colonial rulers to establish the system here. As long as the police remained subservient to the executive, they could always be misused to further the interests of the ruling classes. And misused they have been. The police leadership cannot be absolved of their responsibility as they have gone along with their masters and allowed the status quo to remain.
The existing system is unacceptable. It has resulted in subverting the rule of law and in obstructing the growth of a healthy and professional system of policing. It must change. “The Government should make earnest efforts to depoliticise the institution of police before it becomes too late to retrieve it from the morass of degeneration. It must be ensured that the police remains accountable only to the law of the land.” The Prime Minister has the reputation of fixing targets and achieving them. Hope he targets this area of reform, which, as the CHRI slogan goes, is too urgent to be delayed and too important to be neglected.
