A change in force

The Supreme Court has paved the way for reforms of the country's police system

RK Raghavan

The Supreme Court last week dismissed a revision petition filed by some states seeking a modification of the apex court's September 2006 order directing the union government and state governments to implement all the recommendations of the National Police Commission (1977) on the subject of police reforms.

This is a major victory not only for former senior police officers like Prakash Singh (at one time the head of the Border Security Force and a DGP of the Uttar Pradesh Police), who had filed the PIL on which the Supreme Court had issued its orders. It is a triumph equally for those who believe that the police system in the country is rotten and needs to be urgently revamped, if the common man has to be able to retain at least a modicum of faith in it.

The Supreme Court appears clear in its legal mind that the states in question are dodging basic reforms and that only a firm directive like the one it issued in 2006 could help mend the current state of affairs.

There is near unanimity in the country that the Indian police system stands only for the benefit of the ruling party of the day and that any citizen without some connections can hardly get help when he is a victim of crime. Instances are numerous to prove that the police in many states either connive at crime or merely watch disinterestedly out of
indifference and lack of motivation.

The National Police Commission, headed by former Cabinet Secretary Dharam Vir, came out with eight brilliant reports as early as 1979-81, outlining fundamental reforms which would make the Indian Police more accountable and more people-friendly.

But the Commission had been set up by the Janata government immediately after Indira Gandhi's electoral debacle in 1977 and, when she came back to power in 1980, the NPC recommendations became a sort of heresy. Ever since then, enlightened elements have been fighting hard for reforms. The response has been tardy, especially with state governments believing that the NPC reforms would weaken their stranglehold over the police.

How far will these reforms that the Supreme Court wants immediately in place make the police more helpful to the citizen? First, we will have a new Police Act in the place of a law that the British gave us in 1861. This would make the police more independent of the Executive (read: Chief Minister) and help it to act fearlessly without bowing to political pressure.

Next, we will have a State Security Commission (SSC) that will lay down broad policy and also look into complaints of illegal directions to the police. Although the SSC will be headed by the Chief Minister, it will have the Leader of the Opposition as one of its members, besides some independent members, including those who had been in the judiciary and those who, as social scientists, are familiar with the way the police operate.

Also in position will be a Police Complaints Authority to whom complaints against police misconduct can be filed by the ordinary citizen. Such a body has functioned reasonably well in other countries, especially in the UK.

Perhaps the most important change that will come about is a solid procedure that will ensure that the head of State Police - namely, the DGP - is appointed on a clinical basis, so that a political favourite, not known for professional excellence and integrity, is not appointed. Even more noteworthy among the reforms that we will see is a fixed tenure of two years for every DGP and all important police functionaries at the cutting edge level.

In my view the most significant change will be the availability of a complaints mechanism at the State and District level. Police misconduct is too rampant to go unquestioned. The National Human Rights Commission and its state counterparts have too much on their plates and they are unable to do justice to many who suffer in silence at the hands of a misbehaving policeman. I do not expect any miracles to happen overnight.

We will not have a reformed police tomorrow or the day after. But I am certain that a police restructured on the lines envisaged by the National Police Commission and now endorsed by the highest court in the land will in a few years from now be a more accountable and civilised force that all of us very much deserve.

The writer is former Director of the Central Bureau of Investigation