Police Reforms in India: An Overview

Introduction

Police reforms aim to transform the values, culture, policies and practices of police organizations. It apprehends police to perform their duties with utmost respect for democratic values, the rule of law and human rights. It also aims to enhance the interaction of the police system with other parts of the security sector, such as the courts and departments of corrections departments, executive or supervisory government, parliamentary or independent authorities with management or oversight responsibilities.

Schedule 7 of the Indian constitution which talks about the different lists also talks about Police which comes under the state list. Article 226 talks about the police forces of the country and comes under the state, these state governments have the responsibility to draw guidelines, rule and regulations for their respective police forces.?

As the primary duty of the police force is to maintain the law and order within the state, and to fulfill this very purpose changing the police reforms as per the situation demands is a prerequisite for any developing nation. We cannot rely on 150-year-old laws governing one of the most important institutions of the country.?

The urgency of police reforms cannot be over-emphasized. Police reforms are essential to protect the democratic structure of the country, which is being threatened by criminal elements, and to sustain the momentum of economic progress. They are a sine qua non for improving governance, for upholding the Rule of Law and to ensure better respect for human rights of the ordinary citizens.?

History of police in India?

Police system was introduced by the British as by the act name the Police Act of 1861 which was the first official step took by the colonizers to reform and to create the statue of the police in India. Before the act the matter was headed by Lord Cornwallis and he conducted numerous experiments on how he can introduce the structure of police in India which bear fruits in the form of Police Act of 1861. The main aim behind its legislation was “to re-organize the police and to make it a more efficient instrument for the prevention and detection of crime”. The other important features on which the acts were based on were?

(a) the police must be completely separated from the military and should act as an independent body to perform its features?

(b) assist the collectors in the discharge of law-and-order responsibilities in the provinces.

For a long period of time there were no such acts related to the police reforms in the country but the establishment of Indian Penal Code in 1862 and Indian Evidence act in 1872 added provisions related to the crimes and polices which then helped the police to do their work in a better manner. Then in 1917 on the recommendation of Islington report Indian police service came into being which was clubbed by Sardar Patel in 1947 and formed AIS organization constituted of Indian Admirative Services and Indian Police Services.

Issues Faced?

States draw rules, regulations and guidelines for the police in the state police manual. The organization structure of police forces in India is fairly uniform in all the states throughout the country which is even today based on 1861 act, which is by far the most concerning issue that we are still not over with the colonial hangover and just want to polish or amends things instead of creating a new act or provisions. The usage of the act of 1861 can also be seen in the hierarchy of the officials in the department which the same as constituted by the Britishers. But following the same setup of hierarchy is not a problem, problem arises when the lacunas at the time of colonial rule are still prevalent in our system.

Low Budget & Vacancies

According to the report of Bureau of Police Research and Development in 2019, There is a vacancy of (1,09,525+29,371 IRBn) Police personnel in the State Special Armed Police forces, against (5,08,289+163,269 IRBn) sanctioned posts, 56,797 vacancies in the District Armed Reserve Police force, against 2,81,760 sanctioned posts and 3,36,044 vacancies in the Civil Police as against 16,69,907 sanctioned posts. The overall vacancy comes to 5,31,737 against the total sanctioned strength (Civil, DAR, Special Armed and IRBn) of 26,23,225 at the national level. Hence, while the sanctioned police strength was 181 police per lakh persons in 2019, the actual strength was 137 police.? As per the notification by the United Nations recommended standard is 222 police per lakh persons. 86% of the state police comprises of low ranked constables. Constables are typically promoted once during their entire service, and generally retire as head constables. This type of treatment dishearten them and demotivates them and there urge to work is deeply sidelined by this act.

Crime per lakh population has increased by 28% over the last decade. However, convictions have been low. In 2019, convictions were secured in 47% of the cases registered under the Indian Penal Code, 1860.? The Law Commission has observed that one of the reasons behind this is the poor quality of investigations done by the officers.

Overburdened police

A high percentage of vacancies within the police forces showcase an existing problem of overburdened police personnel.? Police personnel discharge a variety of functions related to: (i) preventing crime and response (e.g., intelligence collection, patrolling, investigation, production of witnesses in courts), (ii) maintenance of internal security and law and order, and (iii) various miscellaneous duties (e.g., traffic management, disaster rescue and removal of encroachments). Each police officer is also responsible for a large group of people, given India’s low police strength per lakh population as compared to standards of other nations.? While the United Nations recommended standard is 222 police per lakh persons, India’s sanctioned strength is very low at 181 police per lakh persons. After taking care of the vacancies, the actual police strength in India will be reduced to 137 police per lakh persons which far less than the ideal ratio.? Therefore, an average policeman ends up having an enormous workload and long working hours, which negatively affects his efficiency and performance.

Poor Infrastructure

CAG audits have found shortages in weaponry with the state police forces. For example, Rajasthan and West Bengal had shortages of 75% and 71% respectively in required weaponry with the state police.

The Bureau of Police Research and Development has also noted a 30.5% deficiency in stock of required vehicles (2,35,339 vehicles) with the state forces.

However, funds dedicated for modernization of infrastructure are typically not utilized fully. For example, in 2015-16, only 14% of such funds were used by the states.

Lack of Accountability?

Police has the power to investigate crimes, enforce laws and maintain law and order in a state. To ensure that such power is only used for legitimate purposes, various countries have adopted safeguards such as making police accountable to the political executive and creating independent oversight authorities.?

In India, the political executive (i.e., ministers) has the power of superintendence and control over the police forces to ensure their accountability. However, the Second Administrative Reforms Commission has noted that this power has been misused, and ministers have used police forces for personal and political reasons.? Hence, experts have recommended that the scope of the political executive’s power must be limited under law.

Police-public relations

Police officer requires the confidence, cooperation and support of the people they are seving to prevent crime and disorder. As in some cases, police personnel rely on members of the community who can inform and witness the ware bouts the criminal investigation of any case. Therefore, police-public relations is an important issue in effective policing.? The Second Administrative Reforms Commission duly noted that police-public relations are in an unsatisfactory position because people view the police as corrupt, inefficient, politically partisan and not at all responsive.

Reforms suggested from long time

National Police Commission 1981: It studied the problems existed in the police system. The key recommendation includes the establishment of State Security Commissions; included proper and systemized selection of the Director General of Police; proper selection of the Anti-Corruption Bureau Chief; replacement of Police Act 1861.??

Ribeiro Committee 1998: It was set up by the Supreme Court while it was deliberating over the Public Interest Litigation filed for police reforms; the Court wanted the Committee to examine if the National Police Commission’s recommendations, which formed the core of the PIL, were still relevant or that any modifications were called for

Padmanabhaiah committee 2000: The committee was set up to suggest and study reforms to amend and modify the police organization. The committee put forth a no. of recommendations to restructure the police department to make it consistent with the changing world?

Malimath committee 2002-03: Headed by V.S. Malimath to recommend on remodeling the criminal system of India. There were numerous reconditions made by the committee to the government which included strengthening of training infrastructure, improve investigations by creating more posts, enactment of the new Police Act, setting up of Sate Security Commission etc.?

Soli Sorabjee committee 2005 also known as Police Act Drafting Committee: The central government set up the Police Act Drafting Committee (Chair: Soli Sorabjee) in 2005 to draft a new model police law that could replace the Police Act, 1861.? The committee submitted the Model Police Act in 2006, which was circulated to all the states in 2006.? 17 states (Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Punjab, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Uttarakhand) passed new laws or amended their existing laws in light of this new model law.?

Prakash Singh v UOI 2006 SC directives: one of the most important reforms given by the Supreme Court of India in respect of police reforms, gave seven directives?

• 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 Two-year term for SPs and SHOs.
• 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 Organisations (CPO) with a minimum tenure of two years.

Second ARC 2007: The Second Administrative Reforms Commission (ARC-2007) has noted that political control has been abused in the past by the political class of the country to exert unduly influence on police personnel, and make them serve for their own selfish political interests.

Madhav Menon Committee: The committee submitted its report to reform the Criminal Justice System in 2007.Diffent suggestions were made by the committee, among them establishment of a separate authority on a national level to deal with the offences threatening the national security was a major step in reforming the police system and its working.

Police act drafting committee 2015: the DPMB-2015 drafting committee had tried to incorporate the essence for making police more responsive, efficient and citizen friendly, but something was off from the reports of the drafting committee which can be reformed in the open discussion in front of the parliament.

Way Foreword

• The nexus should be broken and reforms must start with the political system. We must have a law which debars people with serious criminal cases to enter the assemblies and the Parliament, and help in the working of the government.
• The Second Administrative Reforms Commission has recommended that one way to reduce the burden of the police forces and improve the current scenario could be to outsource or redistribute some non-core police functions that will not affect their day to day working (such as traffic management, disaster rescue and relief, and issuing of court summons) to other government departments or private agencies. These functions do not require any special prior knowledge of policing, and therefore may be performed by other agencies if needed.? This will also allow the police forces to give more time and energy to their core policing functions so the problem of overburdening can be resolved.
• One of the ways of addressing the challenge of building police-public relations is through the community policing model. This process requires the police to work with the community for prevention and detection of crime, maintenance of public order, and resolving local conflicts, with the objective of providing a better quality of life and sense of security.? It may include patrolling by the police for non-emergency interactions with the public, actively soliciting requests for service not involving criminal matters, community-based crime prevention and creating mechanisms for grassroots feedback from the community.? Different states of the country have been experimenting with community policing including Kerala through ‘Janamaithri Suraksha Project’, Rajasthan through ‘Joint Patrolling Committees’, Tamil Nadu through ‘Friends of Police’, West Bengal through the ‘Community Policing Project’, Andhra Pradesh through ‘Maithri and Maharashtra through ‘Mohalla Committees’ which a good sign as this types of initiatives improve the bonding between the twp powers and helps in reducing the element of fear or hesitation improving the quality of law and order in the society.
• Along with Police reforms, there is a need to reform the criminal justice system too. The criminal justice system should be revamped as recommended by the Malimath Committee. Creation of a fund to compensate victims who turn hostile from the pressure of culprits. An institution representing all of the police or police related departments such as: CBI/NIA, Intelligence Bureau, Income Tax department, Revenue Intelligence and Enforcement Directorate should be set up to manage and monitor the activities of the mafia and criminal syndicates in the country and ensure stringent action against them, without impacting their core function of maintaining law and order in the state, along with that complete revamp of the entire criminal procedure system.?
• A Central act on the lines of MCOCA (Maharashtra control of Organised Crime Act) should be initiated to curb the activities of organised criminal gangs in India.
• The Supreme Court’s directions on police reforms must be implemented in the 2006 case along with all the important recommendations given by the different committees in the past 3 or 4 decades should be implemented by the state governments keeping their selfish interests aside.?
• After the incident of George Floyd there were countrywide protests and demonstrations in the USA. The Democrats in Washington to avoid the situation even drafted a Bill called the Justice in Policing Act for police reforms. The then President Donald Trump, signed an executive order on June 16 to establish a database which would help in tracking police officers with excessive use of force complaints in their records. Apart from that it would also give the police department a financial incentive to adopt best practices and encourage other welfare programmes in which social workers would join the police when they respond to non-violent calls involving mental health, addiction and homeless issues.

• Need for political will is a prerequisite to improve the statue of the police in the country. The Supreme Court in the landmark Prakash Singh case (2006) gave seven important directives which are considered as the basic step towards reforming the police system. However, due to the lack of political will these directives were not implemented and even if some of them tried to implement it they were not able to regulate it to the lowest form on the state and lacked letter and spirit in many states.
• Modernisation of Police Forces: The Modernisation of Police Forces (MPF) scheme was initiated in 1969-70 and has undergone several revisions over the period of 50 years. However, there is a need to fully utilize the finances sanctioned by the government and improve the status of infrastructure in the system. It includes different things consisting of procurement of modern weapons, Mobility of police forces, Logistics support, upgradation of police wireless, a national satellite network for the purpose of efficient control by the police.

Conclusion

Police is an integral part for the smooth functioning of any country in the world. The importance of police is very underestimated by both the people and the government. Talking specifically about our country its importance is highly neglected. This can also be seen by the fact the even after 150 years the basic act, regulating the police system of the country is still in formulation even after considering the dynamic nature of the environment surrounding the police system our country. Also, the state governments should consider filling the vacancies which will not only solve the problem of efficient working in the police department but will also simultaneously reduce the unemployment rate in the country. Its high time that the government, keeping aside their selfish interests aside work together in implementing the numerous guidelines or directives suggested by the different committees of the country effectively and formulating new rules and reforms required in the current system.