Common Cause Events
Citizen-Police Interaction and Policing in the Pandemic-October 30, 2021
Akhilesh Patil*
The editorial board of the Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law (RGNUL) Student Research Review (RSRR), in partnership with Common Cause, organised a panel discussion on October 30, 2021. Titled ‘Citizen-Police Interaction and Policing in the Pandemic,’ the discussion highlighted the potential short and long-term effects of the pandemic and public health emergencies on policing organisations and their officers.
Mr N Ramachandran, President and Founder, Indian Police Foundation, Dr Ruchi Sinha, Associate Professor, Tata Institute of Social Sciences and Dr Vipul Mudgal, Director, Common Cause were panellists at the event.
Aditya Vyas, the editor in chief of RSRR and the moderator of the event, discussed how the police became gatekeepers of not just law and order but of the entire public management during the lockdown. He said that the unique institutional response of the police during the pandemic prompted RSRR to select the issue as the theme for discussion.
Before the panel discussion, Ms Radhika Jha, one of the lead researchers of the SPIR Series, gave a presentation on the ways in which the reports on policing, jointly brought out by Common Cause and Lokniti-CSDS, are designed to be a valuable tool for reforms and advocacy. She also discussed the key findings of SPIR 2020-2021 (Volume II), Policing in the Covid-19 Pandemic.
Mr N Ramachandran, in his address, discussed the efforts of the police during the pandemic through the eyes of the personnel present in the field.
Dr Sinha emphasised that the police force is not a homogenous organisation, and every policeman or woman has his/her own set of problems. Dr Mudgal highlighted the discriminatory practices of the police, illustrating his argument with the Tablighi Jamaat incident. “Discrimination and prejudices which were inbuilt in the system, came out strongly during the pandemic,” he said. He also felt that the presence of other departments, apart from the police, would have made a stark difference in law enforcement. Dr Mudgal added that there was a serious lack of training and legal understanding among the police, which worsened the lockdown situation.
You can watch the event here: https://youtu.be/YCzQcL8g3bk
NEXT »
