Editorial 03 SPIR 2020-21 (Volume I)
POLICING IN DISTURBED AREAS
Status of Policing in India Report 2020-21 (Volume-I)
‘A Romance with Public Causes’ the mission statement of Common Cause was coined by our legendary founder Mr. H D Shourie. While forming the civil society watchdog in 1980, Mr. Shourie and his publicspirited cohorts resolved to strive for an India where every citizen is respected and fairly treated. A mission like this required strengthening the rule of law, accountability in governance, and probity in public life. The Status of Policing in India Reports (SPIRs) are a step in that direction.
The SPIR studies were conceived mainly to measure the problems of policing in India by creating a series of baseline literature and to highlight the need gaps for policymakers. The first report was a study of performance and perceptions of policing and the citizens’ trust and satisfaction. The next report was about police adequacy, attitudes and working conditions. The third report SPIR 2020-21 is being brought out in two parts, Volume-I, which is being discussed here, is about policing in conflict affected regions and Volume-II (forthcoming) is about policing during the Covid-19 pandemic across India. Both pertain to policing under extraordinary circumstances.
In the present issue of your journal, we feature the salient points of the SPIR Vol-I on Policing in Conflictaffected Regions. The study explores how we police the disturbed areas and if there are any lessons for policymakers. Conflict-affected areas also have the presence of the Army or the para-military forces and stringent, even draconian, legal provisions in force. The activities of the armed underground outfits also pose a great challenge for the security forces and stretch the limits of the criminal justice system. We have tried to collate a cross section of views around these themes.
The SPIR 2020-21 (Vol-I) was released on April 19, 2021, at an online event attended and watched by more than a hundred people. This issue of your journal carries excerpts of the keynote address delivered by the retired Supreme Court judge, justice Madan B Lokur on “Is the Rule of Law Backsliding in India; Challenges for 2020s.” The event also featured a panel discussion on “Can Extra-judicial Killings be a State Policy?” The discussants were former DGPs Mr. Prakash Singh and Dr. Meeran Borwankar, Editor of Shillong Times Ms. Patricia Mukhim, and the Vice Chancellor of the National Law School of India University, Bengaluru, Dr. Sudhir Krishnaswamy. You can download the entire report from commoncause. in or by writing to us at commoncauseindia@gmail.com
The Scope of the Study
In areas under the influence of armed, underground movements like militancy, insurgency and terrorism, the society gets conflicted and polarised. It is common for the innocent civilians to be killed in violence and counter-violence. The security forces often arrest or repress them on the suspicion of sympathising with extremists while the latter target them with brutal violence on the suspicion of being police informers. Both sides tend to describe their violent campaigns as a war against injustice. In a seminal book The First Casualty, on the perils of media reporting during conflicts, American journalist Philip Knightly says that truth is the first casualty during conflicts and wars.
The real challenge in the conflict-affected regions is to safeguard the rule of law without compromising democracy. The present study analyses the rule of law under such situations along with the investigation and resolution of ‘normal’ crimes, the state of human rights and the predicaments of the vulnerable people. It involves 27 districts in 11 states covering large parts of Central and North-Eastern India. (We were not able to conduct face to face interviews in Jammu and Kashmir due to the prevalence of violence, curfews and internet shutdowns)
It was by no means easy to conduct surveys in other parts of India because of the lockdown, which also triggered an unprecedented migration of workers from the metro cities to villages. All this multiplied the problems of policing and disturbed areas were no exception. Pilots and training sessions were also conducted to make sure that we get valid and candid responses from the people interviewed. The surveys were finally conducted in the months of October and November 2020, when the first wave of the pandemic was on a decline leading to a relaxation of the lockdown.
Police Reforms: A Long-Term Commitment
Common Cause got involved in police reforms since the nineties. It was a co-petitioner in the breakthrough Supreme Court case, Prakash Singh Vs Union of India, along with its Governing Council member Mr Singh, a persistent campaigner for police reforms. The case was filed in 1996 and the landmark judgment came in 2006. It laid down seven groundbreaking guidelines which were to be operative until Parliament passes an effective legislation. Of course, such a legislation is nowhere to be seen to this day
The guidelines were about the establishment of the State Security Commissions with the leader of the Opposition, judges and independent members to guard against unwarranted government control, influence or pressure; fair selection of DGPs and a national commission to select the chiefs of Central Police Organisations; minimum tenure for officers on operative duties; a separate wing for the investigation of cases; Police Establishment Boards for transfers, promotions, postings and service matters; and the establishment of the Police Complaints Authority at the state and district levels to hear complaints against the police.
The judgment was a watershed moment for police reforms in India but it soon became clear that the political class, across party lines, was bent upon circumventing the court’s guidelines. The state governments which are empowered to enact their own laws seem to be in no hurry to modernise the force or to rationalise its functioning as a citizen-centric service. They are happy using archaic and colonial laws which keep the police subservient to the rulers of the day. Almost all state governments in India are guilty of the contempt of court in terms of implementation of the Supreme Court’s order in letter and spirit.
This is a good reason for us to believe that the idea of police reforms is a continuous process and not a one off event. If anything, the cause is even more urgent today when extra-judicial killings are rising across the country and police accountability is shrinking. Political interference is touching new heights and one of its visible signs is that the scum is beginning to rise to the top. The SPIR 2020-21 (Volume-I) is brought out with all this in mind as an independent collaboration between academic and civil society institutions. This issue brings to you the salient points of the report, the excerpts of the keynote address, and the discussion at its release. As always, your feedback would be welcome.
Vipul Mudgal
Editor
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