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Policing By Police: A Shift From The Traditional Approaches To Meet The Requirements Of New India (By-Amar Pandey & Sonu Agarwal)

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ISSN 2582-6433
Published 2022/07/07
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Policing By Police: A Shift From The Traditional Approaches To Meet The Requirements Of New India
Authored By-Amar Pandey[1] & Sonu Agarwal[2]
 
1.   Introduction To Indian Police System:
“Police” is one of the main organs in a country, because they are the ones who get to know the problems of the public at the first instance. Police is responsible for maintaining law and order in a society. The dictionary meaning of Police is “A civil force of a state, responsible for the prevention and detection of the crime and maintenance of public order.” Police in India has been present in the Vedic, Medieval and during the Mughal rule. It has seen some good phrase during the Gupta Period and the Ashoka Period and also it was in a confused state of condition during the Mughal Period. The Police System was revolutionized first in India during the British Rule, where they brought a central police act named as “The Police Act, 1861” when they established there rule in India after they converted from being an East India Company to body that will rule whole of India. The revolts of 1857 made them feel the importance of well set up system of Police to control and rule such a vast country. Thus a committee was appointed in 1860 to setting up of a Police system with the objectives to have a look at the business or trade matters and to follow orders and to live up to the imperialistic and racist views of the British authority. This all led to the establishment of the Indian Police act 1861.  This legislation got amended in 1902 by the setting up and recommendations of the All India Police Commission in which the setup of the police was further extended and the chairman of that particular committee, A.H.L Fraser said in his statement that ‘The police force is far from efficient, it is defective in training and organization, it is inadequately supervised, it is generally regarded as corrupt and oppressive, and it has utterly failed to secure the confidence and cordial cooperation of the people’. By a committee named as Islinton Commission in 1912, the Indians got accommodated at the senior levels of the Police force and with the recommendations of Lee Committee in 1924, the quota for including Indians in the police force which was reserved as 33 percent in 1919 got up to 50 percent. After framing the Indian
 
Constitution which was the largest constitution, the constituent assembly adopted the same police act along with several other things namely the Codes such as Indian Penal Code, the Code for Criminal Procedure and the Indian Evidence Act.
 
2.   Constitutional Provisions
According to the Indian Constitution, Article 246 and the Section 3rd of Indian Police act (IPA) Police force is a state subject which means that it is going to be dealt by the state government of each and every state and not from the central government. But this does not minimize the role of the central government; the central government may intervene in some situations that are through the words of Article 355 of the Indian Constitution it is center’s duty to protect the state from internal disturbance, Schedule 7th of the Indian Constitution empowers the central government to make laws relating to armed forces of the union that are the departments of CBI ( Central Bureau of Investigation), Institutions of training of Police Officers, All India Service & many more. All these departments or organization come under the direct control of Ministry of Home Affairs. The Central Government appoints the IPS officers according to Section 3 of All India Service Act after consultations with the state government.
 
3.   The Structural Makeup Of The Police:
The head of Police Force in the State is the Director General of Police (DGP) who is responsible for administration of police in the concerned state and for advising the government in matters related to police. The state is further divided into Zones, Ranges and Districts. The Superintendent of Police (SP) is the head of the district police force. A group of Districts forms a range and the head of the range is Deputy Inspector General of Police and his job is to assist the SP and have regular visits to the districts. States have setup zones if they have multiple ranges. The head of the zone is the Inspector General of Police (IGP). The districts are divided into sub-divisions, circles and police stations. The head of sub-division is Additional or Deputy Superintendent of Police (ASP). On the basis of population the sub-divisions are further divided into police stations and a police station is headed by Inspector or Sub- Inspector. Head Constables and Constables form the lower level of the police force. Between Police Stations and Sub Divisions there are Circles in some states which is headed by Inspector of Police. The District Police is divided into Armed Police and Civil Police, where the civil police job is to control crime and the armed police look after the law and order. These are reserved police for
 
district kept to meet emergency requirements. There are other kinds of Police departments also that are Detective Police, Traffic Police, Revenue Police, Mounted Police, Fire Police and technical branches such as Prosecution Branch, Radio Branch and Intelligence Branch.
 
4.   Challenges Before The Police Department
·         Modernization of the Police:
      The main purpose for which the Police are required in a society is to maintain law and order. The crimes that have taken place from time to time have easily founded many different or the developed ways to commit what is against the law, whether it be the use of weapons or using better techniques to fulfill their particular motive. With the development of crimes in the society the question that needs to be answered is that the equipment’s or the resources available or given to police are sufficient or not. Is police capable enough to handle such an increasing and developed crime rate? The resources includes the availability of modern weapons, the expenditure put on the training of police officers, available funds to each police station for carrying out daily activities. The reports of CAG have suggested and come out with a report stating that the weapons that are right now used by the police officers are outdated and are not sufficient to deal with the modern weapons that are with the criminals. Basic digital instruments used by police are also not available in sufficient numbers. Camera/ CCTV used by the Police for investigation are 12930, where Bihar and Jharkhand police do not take use of the Police camera or the CCTV[3]. Another link to this problem is the lack of availability of funds for the use of police stations, here it is important to note that police being a state subject where the state plays a majority role in controlling it, but the funds are received from central also and then is always a political factor that decide in the allotment of the funds to a specific state from the Center and many a times state government also doesn’t release funds for the police station giving the reason that the union government has not given the funds. Also the corruption in police leads to a very minimum amount left which can be actually spend on the Police Station. Here expenditure of police station includes there daily routine work of patrolling, investigation, keeping records. Also another important issue is the training of the police officers, in Indian police there are multiple doors by which an individual can enter,
 
      training of IPS officers is done in Hyderabad under the supervision of central government but the training expenditure and facilities on the lower ranks of police is very alarming. The lower ranks of the police i.e. the constables are ones who are more attached to the public and the training of these constables on how to deal with the particular situation is very necessary. The modernization grants for the police in the year 2015-16 was 1581.47 cr. by central government and by state government 7621.99 cr. and the funds out of these which were utilized are 1330.28 cr.
·         Police to Population Ratio:
      Police during British India was the most efficient and effective. The Reason for that was the Police to Population Ratio that made the British police have an upper hand over any Indian protest for such a long time period. It was only the nonviolent methods of Mahatma Gandhi that were able to make an impact on such an effective British administration. The Indian Police in the present times is facing such an issue. The population of the country is ever increasing and the police personnel available or joining the police force is very low as compared. To have an effective control over the people, to look into the matters where there is a conflict in the laws the numbers that are required in the police departments need to be higher; this will lead to both efficiency and effectiveness in the police department. According to the report in 2005 the population of the country was 110.71 cr. and then the total strength of police personnel was 15.79 lakhs which is 701 persons per policemen and in 2015, the population of the country was 126.29 cr. and the numbers of policemen we have were 22.80 lakhs which is 554 people per one policeman[4]. As compared to other countries, United States has one officer on 436 people, Spain has one officer for 198 & South Africa has one officer for 398 people, the United Nation standards states that their needs to be one police officer on 454 people[5].
·         Working hours for the policemen:
      The working hours for the policemen are also an issue to be looked at. The Police force is the only unit which works for the society 24 hours and 7 days in the week. The working hours for a policemen is never specified, he has to be on alert anytime and at anyplace to face any emergency situation whether it be a terrorist attack, any natural calamity, any public festival or any VIP’s rally. This creates an adverse effect on the lifestyle of those particular police men, many psychological problems emerge, and much dangerous disease also develops during this
 
      time span. Also the facilities provided by the government whether it be of housing or of increment. It is not sufficient enough for police personnel to lead a happy life. Also this very condition in the police sector makes distrust towards the youth to join the police department. To talk about the workload of the police department, a police officer has to maintain law and order, also do the investigation of the case or a situation and an important thing in investigation is the “Evidence”, and especially the evidences that are available on the spot of the crime, these evidence when proved through forensic science act as a strong and substantial proof before the court of law. But in our country, there is lesser stress given on the forensic department and that is the reason that investigation takes such a long time, also the police officer are not properly trained to deal with the techniques of dealing with on the spot evidences and this leads to many evidences and proofs gets destroyed. In many countries there is a separate department for Investigation in which the officers are well trained in dealing with the evidences. Up to 90% of Indian police officials work more than 8 hours a day, in which 68 percent works 11 hours a day and 28 percent works 14 hours a day[6].
·         Relationship with the local inhabitants:
      The police departments in the country do face external challenges like mentioned above but there are some loopholes in the internal structure also. The most important aspect for a police department in a country is how policemen of the police station share the relationship with the citizens of their particular area. This will always help a police officer by some or the other way. People reporting there problems to the police and have believe among themselves that the police is the protector of the rights which the constitution of the country has given to them. The concern to be looked at is how much of the cases go unreported, the same issue has been debated in cases of rape, we all noticed how much grievous was the Delhi gang rape and that instance was not for the first time, many of such cases go unreported and one of the main reasons for that is people have a negative image of the police in their minds, they feel that the police is irresponsive to the problems which they register. Also the behavior by which the police officials treat the person who has come to them to make a report, they will ask them unreasonable questions, behave in a rude manner and many a times refuse to register their reports. People in our country are not very much aware about the rights available with them, one such right is given to the women for filing a report in case of any act committed against them in any of the nearest police stations, this is commonly known as the zero report system
 
     whereby no policemen can give a reasoning that this case or event doesn’t come under the jurisdiction of his police station otherwise the situation was that police officers refused to accept the complaints of the victims stating the reason that the case doesn’t fall under their jurisdiction.
·         Judicial relation and Impact:
      Another important point is the relationship of the police and the judiciary. To understand this aspect the point which needs to be looked at is Section 167 of Cr. P.C which states that when the accused remains in the custody of Police, Police has physical control over accused. Police custody is given in non-bailable offences, depending upon the circumstances of the case and to facilitate investigation. Police custody cannot be given in bailable offences. Whereas judicial custody means that the accused is technically in the custody of the Magistrate. Police cannot interrogate a person in judicial custody without permission of the concerned Magistrate/court. Many cases of torture have come up during the police custody where the person who is in the custody is made to admit a fact or to sign a statement of the basis of a termed called as “Danda Investigation”.
·         Political Intervention:
      Moreover, police who was established with the purpose of serving the public today are serving the ruling political party. Political interference in the police system has only made the condition to worse. I think it is the base of all the problems our political system is facing today. The lack of political will in developing the police mechanism is an alarming challenge that our country is facing today. The lack of trust among the people is because of the political pressure on the police. The ruling party makes full use of the Police to initiate investigation against the opposite party, the role and use of CBI has been a very famous example for this. Also the ruling person of a particular area wants that the police officers of his choice to appointed in his area so that he can use them for having slow investigation in cases related to him or his supporters and also the police will work in that area taking in mind the supporters of that particular area because these supporters only turn out to be the vote bank for that particular MLA. Police officers also have to follow or get used to such interference and the one who doesn’t follow such instructions gets suspended or gets a transfer to some other place. This situation has been the people in the department working with restrictions and with corruption and also for some specific set of people and also there is very less window left for a person who wants to do his job seriously and honestly as either his seniors are corrupt or the juniors do not respond to his orders.
 
·         Multiple Entry System:
      The colonial police system which we are following is full of loopholes, the officials of that time also accepted this and this is a well-established universal fact that we have to change according to the changing time because staying constant will invite your end only. Our Police System which we are following is having multiple entry system in it which means that a person can enter into the police system through many ways. There are many exams held for major post in the police administration, your recruitment to that specific post is done on the basis of how better you perform in that exam. But the problem to conduct such an exam for any of the post of the department is that a police officer does not come to know what are the difficulties faced at the lower level both by the people and by the police. Also he looks at his juniors with a lot of hate and treats him as a person of low caliber and this very situation effects the integrity of the department where the senior doesn’t believe on the junior and the same vice-versa. There is just an opposite system that is followed in the Britain; there the Police officer who is of highest rank has at one stage worked at the lowest stage that is the constable post. This definitely adds to his experience of working and assessing the situation in a better way and also in that kind of system a lower rank officer has full chance on the basis of his performance to go to the highest rank of the department. This motivates the officer to do well in the cases which issued to him but the situation in our country is very different, here the constable is not treated well by the seniors and also chances of his promotions are up to a level of Assistant Inspector only and that too after a lot of struggle, this demotivates him and ultimately it reflects in the performance of that individual.
5.      Recommendations and various programmes organized:
·         Prakash Singh vs. UOI[7]:
      The judgment of the court in this case was termed as historic in the field of police reforms. It gave 7 principles that need to be implemented by the states and the respective union territories. These principles were:
§  Constitute a State Security Commission (SSC) to:
(i) Ensure that the state government does not exercise unwarranted influence or pressure on the police
(ii) Lay down broad policy guideline and
(iii) Evaluate the performance of the state police.
 
§  Ensure that the DGP is appointed through merit based transparent process and secure a minimum tenure of two years.
§  Ensure that other police officers on operational duties (including Superintendents of Police in-charge of a district and Station House Officers in-charge of a police station) are also provided a minimum tenure of two years.
§  Separate the investigation and law and order functions of the police.
§  Set up a Police Establishment Board (PEB) to decide transfers, postings, promotions and other service related matters of police officers of and below the rank of Deputy Superintendent of Police and make recommendations on postings and transfers above the rank of Deputy Superintendent of Police.
§  Set up a Police Complaints Authority (PCA) at state level to inquire into public complaints against police officers of and above the rank of Deputy Superintendent of Police in cases of serious misconduct, including custodial death, grievous hurt, or rape in police custody and at district levels to inquire into public complaints against the police personnel below the rank of Deputy Superintendent of Police in cases of serious misconduct.
§  Set up a National Security Commission (NSC) at the union level to prepare a panel for selection and placement of Chiefs of the Central Police Organizations (CPO) with a minimum tenure of two years. As regarding the implementation of this directive, Home ministry of central Government has taken some significant steps, but more or less they are as ineffective as it is with the situations of other 6 directives.
·         Police Act Drafting Committee:
The chairman of this commission was Shri. Soli Sorabjee. This commission was made to replace the existing police act with a new police act that can satisfy and do justice to the motives for which it was setup. Features/ Recommendations of this committee were:
§  Giving the power to control the police organization in the hands of state government and ensuring that police performs his acts in a professional manner.
§  Appointment of DGP to be done by the State Government among the three senior most officers & empanelment to be done by the state police force.
§  Tenure of Minimum two years for the DGP
§  Security of tenure for key police functionaries.
§  District Magistrate to have a coordinating role
§  Initial appointment at Civil Police Officer Grade-II and Sub-Inspector levels
§  Constitution of a State Police Board, headed by the Home Minister. The State Police Board to frame broad policy guidelines for promoting efficient, effective, responsive and accountable policing, in accordance with law; prepare panels for appointment of the Director General of Police; identify performance parameters to evaluate the functioning of the police services and review and evaluate organizational performance of the police service in the state.
§  Constitution of Police Establishment Committee.
§  Definition of the role, functions, duties and social responsibilities of the police.
§  Constitution of a village police system. • Creation of Special Security Zones.
§  Constitution of a State Police Accountability Commission to inquire into public complaints against police.
§  Constitution of a District Accountability Authority[8]
·         Second Administrative Committee:
This committee was headed by Shri Veerapa Moily and its recommendations were:
§  Separation of Investigation Police from Law and Order police
§  An Independent Crime Investigation Department
§  Accountability of State Police and performance commission to frame policy guidelines to appoint DGP of police and review performance of the Police.
§  Transfer of non-essential functions of the police to other departments.
§  Fair & Professional recruitment of police.
§  Setting up of District and State Police Complaint Authority to take note of abuse of power by the police officers.
§  Independent committee to investigate in matters relating to police officers like rape, bribery and fake encounters.
·         Janamaithri Suraksha Project (Community Policing[9]):
Janamaithri Suraksha Project seeks the responsible participation of the citizens in crime prevention at the level of the local community, conserving the resources, both of the community and of the police, in fighting against crimes which threaten the security of the community. Experience shows that by seeking the active co-operation of the public in performance of police duties, the process of Law Enforcement becomes far more effective. Appropriate training is being given to the Beat Officers, Assistant Beat Officers, and Community Liaison Groups etc. Janamaithri Suraksha Samithi members have an important role in implementing the project. Selected persons have to be effectively trained. 1361 persons got training in Police Training College for Janamaithri Suraksha Project. In order to popularize the concept of Janamaithri Project, Janamaithri Kendra’s were opened in District and Battalion Headquarters. These centers help people to come and interact with police. These centers have become extremely popular with the public. The information regarding the Police initiatives has to be disseminated to the public. To give publicity about the Janamaithri Suraksha Project and to attract more and more people into the ambit of the Scheme, various activities are being undertaken. Pamphlets, booklets and other materials are provided to them. The printed materials are supplied to houses in the Beats which also provide them with information such as Beat Officer’s phone number, and other Police telephone numbers and various services available with the Police. A docu-drama is also being staged for the purpose of spreading the message and mission of the project among the general public. To give publicity about the Janamaithri Suraksha Project and to attract more and more people into the ambit of the Scheme, various audio visual publicity activities are undertaken. Short films and sponsored programmes have been telecast through the visual media and radio programmes like radio jingles and skit have been broadcast through radio[10].  The result of this was that there was a significant rise in the registration of the crimes in the area, often the registration of crimes in a particular area denotes that there is a higher crime rate but if we look it with a different prospective we may conclude that people of that very particular area believe in the police system and that is why the registration of the crimes is done on such a higher scale because the concern or the limitation in this situation is that unless and until the case is been reported the police force or the laws cannot come into force. The reports of this initiative in Kerala in tribal areas states that there has been sufficient reduction in alcoholism in the area, 23% regards as higher impact and 72% regards as medium impact[11], reduction in crimes was reported as 49 % being medium and 45% as high[12] & impact on improvement in registration of crimes was noted as 53% with medium impact and 35% stated as high impact[13].
·         Saad Samvaad, 2012 (Goa):
This was a weekly initiative launched by the police of Goa. In this five crucial objectives were being focused: To bridge the communication gap between police and public, to break anonymity of law breakers, to make law abiding citizens as stakeholders in community policing, to improve police image and to make police accountable and transparent. Police
 
spokesperson said that an appeal will be made to the public to assist police in curbing these menaces and be a partner in the prevention and detection of crime[14]. The initiative was inaugurated by the then chief minister Manohar Parrikar. The initiative will see police meeting the public, NGOs and other institutions on a regular basis and seeking their inputs on various policing aspects. Police hope to improve intelligence gathering through this initiative[15].
6.      Conclusion
Police is a uniformed gang of criminals. There is not a single lawless group in whole of the country whose records of that organized unit which is known as the Indian Police and no self-respected person would willingly associate with police whether as a witness, complainant or defendant” By Justice A.N Mulla, Allahabad High Court. This is the current situation of our police in the country. The condition needs to be changed, and a change only can bring a change. The current mechanism has shown signs of his inefficiency to cope up with the present needs. Both external and internal conditions need to be revolutionized and examples are there from within the department.
India today is poised to emerge as a global economic power with all its high growth rate of economy and all-round economic development. For realizing our legitimate aspirations of economic development, it is essential that the problems of peace and order are managed efficiently in the country. No developmental activity is possible in an environment of insecurity and disorder. Failure to manage the multifarious problems arising out of violent conflicts based on religious, caste, ethnic, regional or any other disputes, can lead to unstable and chaotic conditions. Such conditions not only militate against realization of our economic dream, but also would jeopardize our survival as a vibrant democracy. We have to look at the problem of public order management and the role of law enforcement in that regard, in this perspective. We should not forget that it is the weaker sections which suffer the most in any public disorder. There is also a need for greater transparency in the law enforcement agencies. Despite our efforts and more than five decades of planning, regional imbalances and economic disparities between rural and urban regions have grown, leading to disaffection and dislocation. The expectations and aspirations of the people have also risen with globalization and liberalization. While the new economic policies have contributed to growth on the whole, conflicts stem from disparity in patterns of development, giving rise to perpetual tensions.
 
Many sections of the society, such as the laborers and the poorer sections, living in villages and largely dependent on agriculture, have felt neglected. Politically motivated groups often exploit their sense of grievance – real or perceived. This is already leading to major conflicts and often confrontations in different parts of the country, adversely affecting public order. While violent manifestations of all such problems will have to be inevitably tackled by the law enforcement agencies, given their socio-economic and political roots, these problems, most of the times demand a concerted response from different wings of the civil administration – both regulatory & developmental - for resolution in the long run. Indeed, the response of the police as the main law enforcement agency, is of crucial importance not only as a bulwark against eruption or escalation of violence but also in resolution of conflicts at the nascent stage itself, to prevent minor discords from turning into public order situations. All the other concerned wings of the civil administration too must be enabled and empowered to play their role in consonance with an efficient police response. Lack of a coordinated approach among different agencies, for instance, often proves to be a bane and this calls for institutionalized mechanisms of formal and informal coordination between all concerned agencies. There is need for national consensus among all the agencies apart from the political parties. Unless there is clarity and commitment on these issues, there would not be a convergence of national purpose. What is also required is a holistic approach towards managing such issues. For example, communal riots must be accepted as a failure of governance. We have to uncover the chemistry of these riots and suggest long-term measures. Also the recommendations of the National Police commission which were very much deeply analyzed and researched need to be implemented in the coming years if we have to put a honest step for the betterment of our police system, the implementation is still a problem as was recommended in the report of Justice Thomas Committee[16]. Committee recommended that The Supreme Court, to begin with, may, therefore, initiate action as deemed appropriate, against these States. It recommended, as for the remaining States, it is for the Supreme Court to decide on the course and modalities of such verification, to assess the exact level of compliance of the directives by them, before deciding on the action to be taken in respect of them. Committee stated that “Proper functioning of police forces is crucial for the rule of law to prevail in any society. It is also a critical requisite for ensuring the Fundamental Rights of the people enshrined and guaranteed under our
 
Constitution. The indifference of the State Governments to the issue of police reforms and non-compliance of the Directives of the Supreme Court in this regard, despite the tenacious efforts made by the Committee within the boundaries of its limited mandate, has to be viewed in that perspective.”
The programmes which are organized by various state police must be exercised on a regular basis so that there is a development of confidence in the eyes of people for the police. Also there is a need for change in the internal system of the police where the seniors needs to respect both there juniors and seniors so that the sense of unity is maintained in the department. Also corruption in police need to be taken on strict note, policemen or the cases on which there is a complaint against police officer of bribing or any type of corruption an independent committee should properly investigate it and proper charges must be put on the concerned police officers, this very step will ensure that there is no more corruption in the department. The problems in the police department are inter linked, if there is a problem of police to population ratio then this is because of the vulnerable condition in which the policemen works and also internal corruption in the department plays a role in it. If the problem is of modernization of weapons in the field then the problem is due to lack of political will. Political interference has made a sense of disbelieve in the eyes of people for the police. This major problem can only be solved when people will feel that police officers are just like their friends, they are the protectors of their fundamental rights and examples of these are from Bhiwandi in Maharashtra where the IPS officer Suresh Khopde implemented a “Mohalla Committee” programme and the result of that programme was that the area of Bhiwandi which was famous for riots was the district which was at peace during the Ayodhya issue in the early 1990’s, this scheme had a lot of success and got positive reviews by the Maharashtra CM and the Governor, later on the chief minister said that the programme will be implemented in whole of the state. So these programmes are an inspiration for the other department on what scale and to what effectiveness the goals can be achieved and can be continued as the same was done by the successors of Mr. Suresh[17]. It is imperative that more needs to be done than mere structural changes within the system. It is essential to now look at the police as a service organization meeting those needs of the society that are essential for safety, security, quality of life and peace. Community involvement, problem oriented policing and proactive policing strategies need to be adopted in the changing scenario of society.

Article Information

Policing By Police: A Shift From The Traditional Approaches To Meet The Requirements Of New India (By-Amar Pandey & Sonu Agarwal)

Author Name:  Amar Pandey & Sonu Agarwal
Title: Policing By Police: A Shift From The Traditional Approaches To Meet The Requirements Of New India
Email Id: Amar Pandey-amarpandey9713@gmail.com & Sonu Agarwal-sonu.aggarwal@jaipur.manipal.edu
  • Journal IJLRA
  • ISSN 2582-6433
  • Published 2022/07/07

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