COMMON CAUSE-INDIA INTERNATIONAL CENTRE
Seminar on “Making our Police Effective & People –friendly” July 4, 2009; 9.30am-5.00pm
Conference Room-II, India International Centre, 40, Lodi Estate, New Delhi
A. Participants
1. Justice J.S.Verma-Former Chief Justice of India
2. Shri N.Gopalaswami-Former Chief Election Commissioner
3. Ms. Maja Daruwala-Director, CHRI
4. Prof. Ajay.K.Mehra- (Director Honorary) Centre for Public Affairs
5. Dr. K.S. Subramanian-IPS (Retd)
6. Mr. N.S.Sisodia-Director, Institute for Defence Studies and Analysis
7. Ms. Madhu Kishwar- Senior Fellow, Centre for the study of Developing Societies.
8. Shri Prakash Singh-IPS (Retd)
9. Ms. Nina Singh-IGP (P&W), Rajasthan Police
10. Shri Kamal Kumar-IPS (Retd)
11. Dr. U N B Rao- IPS (Retd)
12. Lt. Gen.(Retd) R P Agarwal
13. Shri Prem Arora-Foundation for Restoration of National Values
14. Mr. Pramod Chawla-NNFI
15. Shri Rohit Handa- Social Activist
16. Shri B R Lall-IPS (Retd)
17. Ms. Madhumita-Advocate, Supreme Court
18. Ms. Indrani Majumdar-IIC
19. Ms. Doel Mukerjee- Social Activist
20. Shri Kamlendra Prasad- Director, National Institute of Criminology
21. Lt Gen (Retd) P R Puri
22. Ms. Vineeta Rai- IAS (Retd)
23. Dr. N. Bhaskar Rao-Centre for Media Studies
24. Shri Asok Ray-National Foundation for India
25. Shri O P Shah- Centre for Peace and Progress
26. Maj. Gen (Retd) Vinod Saighal
27. Maj. Gen (Retd) Satbir Singh- Indian Ex Servicemen Movement
28. Shri Sanjay Singh-TATA Services
29. Mr. Jai Gupta-Student, Shri Ram College of Commerce
30. Shri Inder Jit-Journalist 31. Shri B.G. Verghese-Journalist
32. Shefali-Genesis Burson-Marsteller
33. Syeed- Journalist (The Week Magazine)
34. Shri A K Verma-IPS (Retd)
35. Shri Bharat Wakhlu- Resident Director, Tata Services Limited
36. Ms. Savita Wakhlu- Foundation for Restoration of National Values
37. Shri Vikram Lal-President, COMMON CAUSE
38. Maj. Gen J P Gupta-Vice President, COMMON CAUSE
39. Dr.Divya Jalan- Chairperson, AADI & Member, Governing Council, COMMON CAUSE
40. Shri K K Jaswal-Director, COMMON CAUSE
41. Shri Sarvesh Sharma-Advisor, COMMON CAUSE
42. Shri K K Jhingan-General Manager, COMMON CAUSE
43. Ms. Anumeha Jha-Research Executive, COMMON CAUSE
44. Ms. Kavitha -Assistant Research Officer, COMMON CAUSE
B. Minutes
1. Mr Kamal Jaswal welcomed the chairpersons of the two sessions, the President of COMMON CAUSE Society and the participants in the day long deliberations on the subject of police reforms. Outlining the agenda for the seminar, he said that there is a need to develop a strategy to accelerate the pace of police reforms while giving primacy to the aspirations and expectations of the people. The police are out of sync with the imperatives of policing in a pluralist democracy. While there were outstanding examples of individual and collective bravery, sacrifice and dedication to duty, the inadequacies of the Indian police were also dramatically exposed in times of national tragedies, such as the attack on the Parliament in Delhi and the 26/11 Mumbai attack.
He said that the essence of police reforms is embodied in the seven directions given by the Supreme Court, the provisions of the Model Police Act, 2006 and the 5th report of the Administrative Reforms Commission on Public Order. The ARC has emphasised the citizen- centric dimensions of police reforms, and enunciated eight core principles, which should form the bedrock of police reforms. Divergence of views exists amongst the votaries of police reforms and human right activists, but it is possible to reconcile these differences and evolve a consensus by a process of iteration and incremental refinement of a draft reforms package. There is a need to mobilize popular support for the replacement of the Police Act of 1861 by a new Police Act to be legislated and implemented in the first instance to the Union territories and adopted later by various state governments.
Mr. Jaswal pleaded for a consensus on pressing for introduction of a bill on the lines of the Model Police Act, 2006 in the next session of the Parliament. Once this objective was achieved, one could insist on a full consideration of the recommendations made by the ARC and also the reservations and apprehensions of different sections of civil society in respect of specific provisions of the Bill. Civil society should launch a popular movement for replacement of regressive State Police Acts by new laws in line with the Central legislation and keep a constant vigil on the functioning of the institutions and accountability mechanisms created by these legislations.
2. Mr. Sarvesh Sharma said that civil society campaigns for Police reforms are largely limited to getting the directives issued by the Supreme Court in 2006 implemented. These directions would not by themselves lead to an effective and people - friendly police. Police reforms need to be looked at in a wider context. In this perspective, the first session of the Seminar would focus on certain crucial aspects of effective policing, such as respect for human rights, sensitivity to special needs of various vulnerable and disadvantaged sections of society, dealing with political violence and the role of police in national security. Reforms at the level of police station would be discussed during the participatory session. A paradigm shift in the prevailing value system and attitudes at the citizen’s interface with the police is urgently required. Instead of being a force of coercion of citizens, the police need to consider themselves as a service for protection of the life and liberties of citizens. This change in self-perception would help them earn the trust and cooperation of citizens. If we fear to reform until all our fears are addressed beyond all doubts, we would have to reform out of fear, as happened in the aftermath of 26/11 attack on Mumbai, when a flawed central legislation was passed in a hurry. This would be counter-productive.
3. Justice J.S.Verma (Chairperson, pre-lunch session) welcomed the participants to the first session of the seminar. He said that the interest and commitment of a few retired police officers have kept the crusade for police reforms alive. We need to ensure improvement at the cutting edge level. Simply improving things at the top is not going to help. If you have an ill-paid police constable doing duty for more than twelve hours a day and not having enough money or time to give his children good education, you cannot expect him to discharge his responsibility with sincerity and honesty. In order to improve the quality of policing, we must improve the service conditions of police personnel. A larger group of serving and retired police officers needs to identify the improvements to be effected at the grass root level. Transparency and accountability are two other factors which must be a part of systemic police reforms.
Terrorism poses a very great threat to national security and there are several new problems that the law enforcement to national security agencies have to face. National security is not inconsistent with the concept of protection of Human Rights. The Preamble to our Constitution guarantees Justice, Equality, Fraternity and Liberty, assuring the Dignity of the Individual and Unity and Integrity of the Nation. Law itself permits the use of force to the maximum extent, but within constitutional and legal limits. Violations of human rights are happening today because the police force and law enforcement agencies at grass root level are poorly equipped and are working in inhumane and abysmal conditions.
Independence of the police force and of the law enforcement agencies is as important as independence of the judiciary, because unless the police is allowed to perform its statutory function in the manner in which it is expected to, people will not get the protection of the Rule of Law and will resort to extra legal methods. This would be dangerous, as it would further erode the rule of law.
4. Ms. Maja Daruwala made a presentation on “Protecting Human Rights is Essential for Effective Policing’’. She stated that over the last 10 - 12 years, people have become exasperated about the quality of policing, and this is manifested in different ways, not always positive, e.g. self-help, violence, anger, protests etc. Police reforms are now a part of policy discourse; they also figure in the Congress manifesto. The Prakash Singh judgement has shown the way. We need to take this further. Our partners have to be identified, public opinion has to be mobilized and the outreach extended. It is not necessary that all stakeholders share the same opinion; but the challenge is to harmonise differing views and collaborate towards a common objective in order to avoid duplication of energies and efforts. Human right is a constitutional value and where human rights are continually and brutally trampled upon, terrorism often results. The role of the police is not only to enforce the law but also to uphold it, not only to prevent crimes and catch suspects, but also to create an environment of peace, safety and security for common citizens. Many ills plague our police setup. It is organized in a way that smacks of feudalism and colonialism. Recruitment, training, provision of facilities too are reminiscent of feudalistic and colonial times. There is a lack of leadership and the seniors do not command respect within or outside the force. In lieu of the taxes paid by the public, they get a reign of fear and criminal behaviour from rogue policemen, high and low. There are instances of illegal detentions; extra judicial killings; non-registration of FIRs; use of extreme or unwarranted force in crowd control; use of illegitimate force in police custody; biased, unprofessional and lazy investigation and failure to come to the assistance of people who need it. A dysfunctional internal mechanism of discipline and inquiry compounds the problem.
Despite certain glaring flaws, the Supreme Court directives for setting up of Police Complaints Authorities would improve matters to some extent. Civil society will have to constantly monitor and engage with these bodies.
Besides inculcating human rights into the training and operations of the police, it must be demonstrated in the way the police arrange themselves internally. There is a need for fairness in designing police career paths. There has to be transparency, merit and rationale in promotions, transfers and postings. Policing plan can be arrived at by engaging with people at grassroots and gradually moving upwards until a state plan is formulated. This would entail planning the budget, allocating resources and manpower and then judging police performance through indicators that also measure public satisfaction.
5. Dr. Ajay Mehra made a presentation on ‘Effective Policing for Disadvantaged Sections’. He stressed the need for a sound institution to develop sound methods for whatever activity it is performing. It is not true that the police have a wonderful super-structure of an elite cadre of righteous people and absolutely brutal people at the cutting edge level. The institutional structure must be considered in its totality. Unless the institution of police is in good health, its methods will never be sound and all kinds of human rights violations will take place.
Two sets of disadvantaged groups have special security needs; those with structural disadvantages, for example, SC and ST, the minorities, children and women; and those who suffer from economic disadvantages.
Apart from constitutional provisions, there is a legal framework for the security of disadvantaged sections of different communities, but the commitments made in the Constitution and the legal framework have largely been ignored.
It is well known that Muslims and other weaker sections are not fully represented within the police and other civil services. Data from NCRB shows where the deficiencies are. But when we start disaggregating the data and juxtaposing it with the performance of those States during incidents of communal riots, we find no clear correlation. There are states which do not have adequate representation of Muslims in their police forces and yet they have not done too badly in handling communal riots. Praveen Swami, in an article in Frontline some years back, pointed out that the terrorism in Punjab was controlled by a Sikh dominated police force.
6. Dr. K.S.Subramanian said that in handling political violence, not just the State Police force, but the central police forces, the Intelligence Bureau, the Union Home Ministry, and the National Security system, also play an important role. The Union Home Ministry is the most important agency in formulating the policy for handling political violence. Though its system of collecting information is basically sound, it does not have the institutional mechanism to use the intelligence reports for policy making. There is a need for integrating information emanating from various sources, because sometimes different government agencies give different and at times contradictory reports.
The report of the Second Administrative Reforms Commission on ‘Public Order’ is an excellent report which summarises, consolidates and also carries forward the discussion of the Soli Sorabjee Committee and the Supreme Court directions, besides making its own independent recommendations.
Dr. Subramaniam suggested that the control over the police should be decentralised and they should placed under the control of Panchayati Raj institutions in so far as the function of local policing is concerned.
7. Mr N.S Sisodia dwelt upon the concept of national security and its relationship to internal security. National security can be defined as defending the nation against external threat or aggression and protecting its territorial integrity and sovereignty. From a broader perspective, it would include defending the nation’s vital interests on national security objectives. The other dimension of national security is the aspect of internal strife; it has to be ensured that there is law and order in society, because in its absence, the nation becomes vulnerable to external threats. So, internal security is very much a part of national security.
Mr. Sisodia drew attention to the fact that international wars are becoming increasingly rare as they no longer serve much political purpose. However, armed forces are needed for deterrence and to deal with any eventuality. Wars are now being fought surreptitiously through fostering insurgency and terrorism. This is increasingly blurring the boundaries between internal and external security threats. This is exemplified by 26/11 in Mumbai and 9/11 in New York. There are other non-traditional threats, like religious extremism, communal tensions, ethnic strife, drug trafficking, smuggling and organized international crime, which cannot be resolved by regular militarization. Globalisation has posed new threats too, particularly in terms of migration, cyber crime, disparities of income and their perception. There are other types of non-conventional security threats, like climate change. Also, the world is getting more urbanized. Almost a half of the world will be living in cities in a few years’ time. Urbanization is leading to its own social divisions and alienations.
The militaries are trained to fight and kill enemies. They ought not to be forced to face moral dilemmas, where they have to face their own people. Excessive involvement of militaries in internal security is likely to exhaust them, diminish their efficacy and expose them to political interference. Hence, it is not desirable to use militaries excessively in internal security situations. Effective policing is crucial for national security. Problems like those encountered in J & K, political, religious or sub-national extremism, terrorism, insurgency in the North East, etc can be tackled much more effectively through police action. Effective policing is becoming increasingly crucial for national security.
8. Opening the discussion on the presentations made by the panelists, Lt. Gen ( Retd) Parikshit Puri said that a holistic approach to police reforms is required. Earlier, the armed forces were responsible for external security, but today, the enemy uses methods which threaten our internal security too. Hence, one should not think in terms of the armed forces and the police in mutually exclusive terms, but in terms of national security.
9. Ms. Vineeta Rai said that police reform cannot happen in a vacuum. Many a time, the problem to be handled by the police relates to issues of governance. Problem arise when there is a break down of general administration, when there is poor enforcement of laws, and when there is a lack of coordination and a hiatus between people’s aspirations and the agenda of those who are charged with their welfare. These problems get aggravated by lack of coordination between the agencies for investigation and prosecution and dilatory judicial processes.
Ms. Rai emphasized the need for instituting external accountability mechanisms to hear citizen’s complaints against the police and redress their grievances. She suggested that adequate investment should be made at the lower level of the police i.e. at the level of constables and head constables. Their interactions and specially their dealings with women and the weaker sections need to be smoothened and facilitated.
10. Mr Kamlendra Prasad said that while discussing police reforms, we need to take into consideration our traditional social values. In India, compliance and, obedience are respected virtues but a law enforcement officer should have the freedom to examine and question everything. The situation inside the police is very different. There is a lot of political interference. The major reason for political interference is that the police leadership has disowned the police force. At the least intervention, the senior police officer is prepared to suspend or transfer a lower functionary without ascertaining his version of the story, because the suspension or transfer of a Inspector or a constable does not mean anything to the senior police officer. The subordinate police officers feel that the IPS officers do not protect them, so they start building their links to politicians. Moreover, the compulsion to give faster promotions, both in the IAS and the IPS, has created a lot of inconsequential postings at higher levels. So, to secure and retain a good posting, one becomes compliant to politicians and other influential persons.
11. Mr. Pramod Chawla was of the opinion that corrupt regimes protect themselves through the police and criminal elements. Police reforms will be possible if there is de-criminalization of politics and we have a better breed of legislators.
12. Mr Kamal Kumar observed that a police force modelled on a colonial pattern cannot possibly win the confidence of the people, because it is designed to carry out the diktat and directions of whosoever is in authority. This necessarily creates a deficit of trust between the police and the people.
Recounting his own experience in regard to representation of the minority community in the police force, he stated that the police establishment was conscious of the need for diversity in recruitment, but the effort was stonewalled by the Muslim community, because there was a feeling among the community that if you joined the police, you would become a part of the repressive machinery of the state and then you would be utilized for purposes which the community would not approve of.
Mr. Kamal Kumar was of the view that life was a spectrum of colours and could not be compartmentalised into terrorism and human rights. When we talk of human rights, the human rights of police personnel, their working hours, their living conditions etc, also need to be taken into consideration.
13. Mr. Gopalaswami (Chairperson, post-lunch session) was of the opinion that one of the problems is ineffective grievance redress mechanisms. Good governance practices help in resolving the disputes at the local level and complement police reforms.
14. Lt.Gen. R.P. Agarwal said that police reform is just one sectoral reform. In order to bring about comprehensive and enduring reforms, we have to focus on structural reforms. We have to have a proper strategic focus before any big sectoral reform is initiated. Police reforms must not be a one-point reform. They should be holistic. Police do not operate in a vacuum; the reforms agenda should take into account other factors and constituents of society, too. 15. Mr. B.R.Lall observed that there is greater resistance among Muslims to joining government service and particularly the police. The police should be freed from executive control, whether political, or administrative.
16. Mr. Vinod Sehgal referred to the threat posed to society by hardened criminals who manage to secure bail without any difficulty. He felt that the Supreme Court should issue a guideline that after the second or third offence, there should be no bail. He also felt that unless electoral reforms are in place, police reforms will remain non-functional.
17. Ms. Savita Wakhlu cited many instances where the police have put their life in danger and resolved difficult issues. But at the same time, there have been numerous lapses and atrocities that need to be probed and the causes for the same identified. There is immense power in the will of the people and their collective representation. People have to come together and create a critical mass to carry the baton forward. At the same time, the police leadership has to stand up for its people when there is illegitimate political interference.
18. Maj. Gen. Satbir Singh felt that the enforcement of State authority is crucial to redeem the situation, but this has not happened due to a lack of political will. 19. Dr. Doel Mukerjee stated that the government agenda set out in the address of the President to Parliament only talks about actively pursuing police reforms and promoting community policing. The Congress party is diluting the commitment that it made to civil society and to the people in its manifesto. The government agenda is silent on the specifics of community policing. It is not clear how this will be achieved, as both the Model Police Act, 2006 and the ARC Report on Public Order have hardly developed the concept of community policing.
20. Justice J.S. Verma. In his summation of the deliberations of the first session, Justice J.S. Verma underlined the need for a holistic approach on police reforms, which cannot be divorced from judicial reforms or legal reforms. At the same time, the participation of the people in governance is very important, as this will ensure the accountability of all public functionaries. There has been a general lack of political will and commitment to reform. Public pressure needs to be built up and sustained for an enduring change to come about. 21. Mr. Kamal Kumar made a presentation in which he reviewed the efforts for police reforms.
He stated that besides the Government of India, a number of state governments had appointed their own Commissions to inquire into the functioning of the police and give their remedial prescriptions. Reports of the National Police Commission (NPC) constitute a seminal work on police reforms and have become an important reference material. Only certain peripheral recommendations of the NPC have been adopted; no recommendation pertaining to structural reform in police functioning has been implemented. A Review Committee on Police Reforms was appointed in 2005 with the mandate to take stock of all the pending recommendations of the various committees and commissions and suggest a pragmatic strategy for implementing them. As many as 557 recommendations on Police Reforms have been made by various committees and commissions. Of these, 49 were shortlisted by the Review Committee as crucial for police reforms in the country. Several meetings were held at the level of the Union Home Secretary with the State Chief Secretaries and DGPs with a view to persuading them to implement these recommendations. It is another matter that the recommendations in respect of the Union Territories had not been implemented by the Government of India.
The Model Police Act, 2006 (MPA) is a good model which deserves to be adopted. The PADC report was circulated to all the states with the advice to legislate new police laws on the lines of the MPA, but the Government of India failed to act on its own advice in respect of the Union Territories.
After the Supreme Court’s directives to the states and the Union in the Prakash Singh case, a Monitoring Committee was appointed by the Supreme Court to monitor the progress of their implementation. In so far as the texts of the laws legislated by various states are concerned, barring Rajasthan and two North Eastern states, namely Meghalaya and Manipur, there are significant deviations from the Supreme Court directions in all other states.
21. Mr. Kamal Kumar was of the view that sustained pressure from all concerned sections of the society was needed to take the entire reform exercise to its logical end. The efforts so far have been dispersed, dissipated and disaggregated and have lacked the tenacity of purpose needed for a cohesive pursuit. Concerted effort are required on the part of all the protagonists of police reforms to surmount the stumbling blocks in the political leadership, civil bureaucracy and the police leadership. The power of media must also be harnessed to this end. The main thrust of our movement should not be on implementation of Supreme Court directions for the sake of organisational objectives, but on the social and political necessity for reforming the functioning of the police to facilitate the social and economic resurgence that we are aspiring for.
Evidently, police reforms cannot be limited to the six directions of the Supreme Court. They have to be holistic and cannot happen in isolation. The equipment and training of police personnel, procedures for ensuring the recruitment of the right kind of human material, their working conditions, and service conditions; all need to be taken care of. The MPA, 2006 drafted by the Soli Sorabjee Committee takes care of all the major concerns and marks a major step forward. The Government should be pressured to enact the MPA. He recognized that more stringent accountability mechanisms than those envisaged in the MPA might be required, but it would be counter-productive to insist on totally idealistic solutions.
22. Ms. Madhu Kishwar in her presentation asserted that the Model Police Act was far from being model, because there was no provision for making the police accountable to citizens. Monitoring bodies in charge of overseeing accountability comprised retired bureaucrats or retired judges, who failed to deliver when they were in service. She suggested that citizens should be included in any process of defining the powers, responsibilities and limits of police functionaries and it should include their aspirations as well. She did not believe that legislation was the crux of the matter. Even if the 1861 Act were to be sincerely implemented, there would be a significant improvement in the overall situation. Accountability to the citizens at the level of the thana should be institutionalised and enforced in a transparent manner.
Ms. Madhu Kishwar stated that police reforms are a necessary enabling condition for ordinary citizens to secure their rights. If the law and order machinery functions as lawlessly as it does today, if it continues to aid and abet criminals, if it continues to act vengefully towards citizens demanding their democratic rights, if it is used as an instrument of coercion and tyranny, then none of the civil rights will ever materialize.
Recounting the experience of her own organization, Manushi, she stated that Manushi has been involved in the development and implementation of the national policy for street vendors for the last 12-13 years. Street vending is a very major source of self-employment for at least one crore of the urban poor and impoverished rural migrants. As per India’s archaic Municipal laws of 1820, it is unlawful to vend or hawk in the streets without a licence, but procuring a licence is more difficult than getting a ticket for elections to Parliament. This forces street vendors into illegality and leaves them at the mercy of the police or criminal mafia who invariably have to be bribed for permitting them to vend. Supreme Court orders declaring food vendors illegal have only raised the bribe rates. Periods of forced idleness due to destruction or seizure of goods and the renewed negotiations required in order to be allowed to operate make these vendors desperate and agreeable to any terms and vulnerable to further exploitation. In Delhi, at least one lac street vendors have been removed through clearance operations, but this does not make news the way it does when 1200 air hostesses of Jet Airways lose their jobs. The media hype eventually results in their reinstalment. One lac vendors forcibly pushed out without any due process, despite the National Policy saying that hawking zones must be created, does not make any news. Disinformation is a deliberate strategy of the extortionist mafia. A canard is spread that the vendors are unhygienic and dirty and the middle-class feels happy when clearance operations are carried out, whereas clearance operations are only a device for raising the bribe rate. Despite the Supreme Court’s permission and a partnership agreement with Municipal Corporation of Delhi, the Police did not allow two pilot projects of model vendor markets to be sanctioned and in one instance, the police forced them out by the use of physical violence. Only one project reached the implementation stage, but the police would round up their people, destroy their constructions, calling them illegal encroachments on public land, despite knowing that this was a legally sanctioned project. There were many instances of police complicity, of genuine criminal cases not being registered by the police, and of cases registered at the instance of the mafia on the basis of bogus complaints or self-inflicted superficial injuries.
Finally, in the wish list for police reforms, there should be stronger elements of accountability to citizens, and then the Swaraj of Gandhiji’s dreams may be realized, if not in this lifetime, then in some other.
23. Dr Doel Mukerjee narrated an anecdote about the Police Act Drafting Committee. She recounted that when the issue of Naxalism was being discussed by the Police Act Drafting Commiteee, a series of workshops had been organized across Chhatisgarh and Madhya Pradesh since Naxalism was one of the primary issues for people there. People from all walks of life attended these workshops in large numbers, but none of the Committee members turned up despite being invited. In this way, an opportunity to take the exercise of drafting a Model Police Act to the grassroots and incorporate people’s voice and views was lost.
24. Mr. Kamal Kumar clarified that the members of the Committee could not attend the workshops/meetings due to their busy schedule, but they did go through all the material which had been sent to them on the said issue. He was of the opinion that the MPA provides a starting point for the central government’s legislative initiative. Incorporating all the changes advocated by each one, at this juncture, will only have the effect of postponing this exercise at least for another year. The Soli Sorabjee Committee proceedings have not been conducted behind closed doors, contrary to the popular perception. There were newspaper advertisements; a website was created and its address was widely publicized, resulting in tens of thousands of inputs. The major difference in the accountability mechanism of the State Police Boards envisaged by the Model Police Act and those by the National Human Rights Commission is that the recommendations of State Police Board in the former case are to be binding on the government and all the bodies concerned, whereas those in the NHRC model are not.
25. Ms. Maja Daruwala said that the directives in Prakash Singh’s case provide a methodology for holistic reforms and that she would prefer to pursue the Supreme Court directives which have legal sanction, instead of persisting with the Model Police Act, which in any case was flawed.
26. Mr. Prakash Singh stated that there were three stages in the implementation of any law: • accepting it in principle • issuing orders to operationalise the law, and • implementation of the law at the ground level. The Supreme Court directions are a victory for civil society. In ten states of the country, there is a consensus in so far as the first two stages of implementing the Supreme Court directives are concerned, but there is a problem of implementation at the ground level. These states have partially or fully complied with the directives. Seven others have diluted the Supreme Court directions to some extent, but despite that, their level of compliance ranges between 30 and 60 percent. There is a definite forward movement in the implementation of police reforms, but a concrete improvement in the quality of policing will be visible at the ground level only after ten years, even if the Supreme Court directions are implemented with full sincerity.
27. Responding to the points made by Ms. Daruwala and Mr. Prakash Singh, Mr. Kamal Kumar agreed that there cannot be any compromise on the fundamentals of the six directions of the Supreme Court, because they have the validity of law. The twelve states which have enacted new police laws have diluted the provisions mandated in the Supreme Court directions. They have even deviated far away from the model of Soli Sorabjee Committee’s Draft Bill. Though the Rajasthan Police Act is supposed to be the best example of a new police law, the state has lagged behind in implementation of reforms at the ground level. In the legal scheme of things, the enacting of a statute does not lead to concrete reforms. It requires implementation at the ground level. Also, operational rules and regulations have to be framed; bodies need to be created under those rules, etc.
28. Mr. Prakash Singh, in his presentation on ‘ Making Policing a Service to Citizens’, made a quick tour d’ horizon of the state of policing in the country and raised a few critical issues. Citing the example of UP he said that it is a state where the police and the bureaucracy have been subverted. The press has either been bullied or bought over and the judiciary has also been influenced. Bihar has passed an Act which is reminiscent of the days of the East India Company and is more regressive than the 1861 Act. The trend is the same in the entire country. The nexus between the police and the criminal elements is getting stronger with the blessings of the politicians, the bureaucracy and senior policemen.
All the three recent prescriptions on police reforms, namely the Supreme Court directions, the Model Police Act and the ARC recommendations contained in its report on ‘Public Order’, are equally relevant and there is a basic congruence of views among them. The Supreme Court directives, though not enough by themselves, will provide the critical mass, which will set in motion forces and events which we aspire for and look forward to. We are an under-policed state. An important measure for improving the standards of policing is to raise the police population ratio, which is 1:694 in India, whereas in the USA it is 1:334; in the UK, it is even lower at 1:290. Recruitment to state police forces needs to be streamlined. Recruitment procedures have been vitiated in most of the States. There should be a cap on the open-ended expansion of para- military forces and the attention should be focused on the expansion and modernisation of state police forces.
The strength of the police station needs to be augmented substantially. We have come to the stage where police stations are denuded of the entire force in an emergency situation like the holding of general elections. Police stations are also lacking in requisite infrastructure in terms of equipment, weaponry, vehicles, communication, etc. In order to make the police more effective, we have to start from the police station level, which is the weakest but the most critical link in the entire chain. The battle against terrorism would be fought by the police stations and not by the National Investigating Agency.
29. Ms. Nina Singh made a detailed presentation on the research based interventions for improving the functioning of the police in Rajasthan. The pilot project was scientifically designed and its impact was rigorously evaluated.
The objective of these interventions was not only to improve the effectiveness of the police, but also to improve the service delivery and outreach to the community. The project was called Police Performance and Public Perception because the underlying hypothesis was that if the police performance is improved, its public perception will automatically improve. It was the first rigorously evaluated Police reform project in the country.
The project was a three year experiment carried out in collaboration with the Poverty Action Laboratory of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA. The objective of this project was to enhance police performance, improve public perception and gather objective information on its impact. Reform initiatives were tested in 150 police stations in 11 districts across the state.
The components of the reform initiative (selected on the basis of cost-effectiveness and sustainability) were as follows:-
• Transfers were frozen, providing stability of tenure to the personnel of police stations with a view to minimising inappropriate interference in their functioning.
• Rotation of duties and weekly day off to increase productivity.
• Placement of community observers in the police stations to enable the observers to learn about police work, observe and spread information about the true role, challenges and needs of the police.
• Training of police personnel to improve investigation, communication skills and relationship with the public
A pre-pilot survey was undertaken, in the course of which interviews with all stakeholders were conducted. These included police personnel, right from the constabulary to the senior IPS officers, members of the judiciary and the magistracy, media, members of civil society, slum dwellers and residents of posh colonies, etc. From the feedback received, it was decided that these initiatives would be implemented in eleven randomly selected pilot police stations in three districts of Rajasthan, keeping in mind the representative character of the district. Before implementation, a base-line survey and after implementation, an end line survey were carried out.
The worst aspects of policing listed by the police were long working hours, followed by absence of a weekly holiday, low pay, poor housing quarters, insecurity of tenure and unpredictable postings far away from home.
As many as 39 percent of the respondents said that law abiding citizens feared the police, while 46 percent of the respondents said that criminals feared the police. A number of recommendations was made to the state government on the basis of the results of the initiatives/research. The main recommendations were in regard to the following:
• Setting up of a National Crime Survey to evaluate the strategies for crime reduction.
• Reduction of transfers.
• Enhancing training facilities.
30. Dr. U.N.B.Rao, made a presentation on the provisions of the Model Police Act, 2006. He stated that the MPA was much wider in scope as compared to the 1861 Act which was modelled on the Irish Police Act. The primary purpose of the 1861 Act was safeguarding the interests of the British ruler. The Model Police Act had to take into account the contemporary needs of policing. For this purpose, 49 vital recommendations were culled out from the three National Committees on Police Reforms. Out of these, 39 recommendations were incorporated in the Model Police Act. As per the Model Police Act, the Police were to be conceived as a service, instead of a force. This modification has already been incorporated in the new Police Acts that have come up in Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Assam, and Tripura. The State Police Board envisioned under the MPA is to be a recommendatory body. None of the State Governments was in favour of having a State Security Commission, a statutory body, whose decisions would be binding on the state government. Secondly, the idea of totally removing the District Magistrate’s control over the police was also not acceptable to state governments. The proposal for implementation of Police reforms was opposed not only from outside but also from within. Most police officers are in favour of maintaining a status quo. The MPA provides that the function of superintendence vests in the government, while the administration vests in the police chief. The proviso is that government may intervene in administrative powers of the police chief as per rules and only in exceptional circumstances to be recorded in writing.
The MPA tries to empower the police and at the same time make them more accountable. Non-registration of FIR is specified as an offence. For promoting professionalism in police stations, the MPA has provided for better qualified and trained civil police officers instead of a constable. Also, the MPA contains provisions for a dedicated staff for crime investigation, security of tenure, regular training, Research & Development etc. Arrangements for streamlining rural policing have also been spelt out in the MPA.
The MPA has been made exhaustive because there are no separate rules or manuals. It is self explanatory. It has elicited positive response during interactions with a number of police Chiefs in various states.
31. In his concluding remarks, Shri N. Gopalaswami said that electoral compulsions play a big part in the politicians’ desire to keep the police happy, as well as under their thumb. There is a need to take up seriously the issue of implementation of the Supreme Court directions, while recognising the fact that Supreme Court cannot go beyond a particular point. The two performing institutions in this country, in whom the people repose a lot of faith despite their being unelected bodies, are the Supreme Court and the Election Commission. However, it is not proper that Supreme Court should intervene every time there is an institutional failure. The people must be made aware of the responsibilities of their elected representatives and the legislatures in this regard.
32. Proposing a vote of thanks to the chairman of the two sessions, the speakers and the participants, Maj. Gen. Gupta underlined the urgency of inhibiting the growing nexus between unscrupulous politicians and the police. In his final remarks, Shri K.K. Jaswal emphasized the need for a concerted civil society initiative to mobilise popular support for police reforms. This alone would force the hand of the political executive.
