It’s often alleged that India’s police force is corrupt, callous, unprofessional and, above all, highly politicised. The nexus between criminals, politicians and police officials is the root cause of the increasing deterioration in the country’s internal security and an abject decay in criminal justice system. The maintenance of law and order is in shambles and the prosecution branch lacks teeth. The courts are slow; and justice is invariably so delayed that in effect it is denied. The situation calls for drastic Police Reform, which is something that the Union Minister Rajnath Singh should devote his energies to, urgently. Procrastination will not do.
The problem is that we tend to ignore an issue in the initial stages and let it grow and multiply until it assumes menacing proportions. Police Commissions appointed by State Governments of Kerala, West Bengal, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, et al, in the last few decades, have repeatedly warned that members of political parties, especially of the ruling setup, whether in the legislature or outside, interfere considerably in the working of the police for unlawful state.
The Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPRD), Delhi, had sounded a note of caution in its report on ‘Political and Administrative Manipulation of the Police’ that ‘excessive control of the political executive and its principal advisors over the police has the inherent danger of making the police a tool for subverting the process of law, promoting the growth of authoritarianism and shaking the very foundation of democracy”.
The National Police Commission (NPC) has submitted a number of reports containing comprehensive recommendations covering the entire gamut of police working. Unfortunately, nothing has been done to implement the recommendations and the reports are perhaps gathering dust and fungus on the desk of some bureaucrat or the other in the Union Ministry of Home Affairs.
Today’s situation calls for drastic reform of the police, which should be the primary task of any government if internal security is to be ensured. The starting point of reforms should be the recommendations of the NPC in the last few decades. It had made detailed suggestions on how the police could be insulated from political interference. To start with, the role and functions of the police need to be redefined in the present context.
It is indeed strange that the police functioning is still governed by an antiquated legislation enacted in 1861, whose main objective was to uphold and subserve the interests of the colonial rule. Unfortunately, the situation continues to this day, the only difference being that the alien power has been replaced by indigenous ruling parties. It is high time, the role of the police is redefined in the present context, emphasizing that the police has a paramount obligation and duty to function according to the Country’s constitution, the laws of the land and the democratic aspirations of the people, and a new Police Act incorporating these ideals is drafted.
Having done this, it would be necessary to depoliticise the police. Three things would need to be done as recommended by the NPC. First State Security Commissions should be set up in every state and a National Security Council at the Central Level. The apex bodies should comprise persons of integrity down from different walks of life, and should be entrusted with laying down broad policy guidelines for the State and Central Police organisations.
Second, the procedure for the promotions of police officials/personnel should be streamlined so that only the professionally competent are able to reach the top. Besides, the present practice whereby officers who would dance to the tunes of politicians are selected as police Chiefs or other such top positions, must be done away with completely. Third, the pernicious practice of deploying police guards / escorts with persons of criminal background must be discontinued forthwith.
Police functions are broadly divided into three categories; investigative, preventive and service-oriented. The NPC has emphasized that as far as the investigative tasks are concerned, these should be “beyond any kind of intervention or interference by the executive or non-executive”. It is only in regard to the preventive and service-oriented functions that the police should be under the overall guidance of the government, the NPC asserted.
What is actually needed for a start is a thorough improvement of the existing police organisation at the all-India level. The quality of personnel inducted into the police force and their training will have to be enhanced. Equally, the modernisation of existing facilities and equipments, including arms, is required urgently. Indeed, selective upgradation of equipments, including weapons and communication network, will go some way in reforming police organisation.
The other aspect of this is in the direction of general reform. Changes must start from below. The NPC insisted that “any reform to strengthen policing… should start at the organisation location and working of the police station”. On 22 September 2006, in a landmark judgement, the Supreme Court ordered that Police Reform take place in the country, and laid down directives for governments across all states and Union Territories for setting up state security commission and state police complaints authority as recommended by the NPC.
Unfortunately, we are yet to see a tangible move on the part of the governments, both at the Centre and the States, to implement NPC’s recommendations for reformation of police organisation, which are upheld by the Apex Court of the country.
(The writer is a freelance journalist).
