All is not well with the city’s police force and  I am not surprised. Two decades of undistilled policing from the Mantralaya was bound to end in a downhill curve.  It will take a good ten years or more of enlightened political-cum professional leadership to bring the force back on track. Two horrific incidents which showed the Mumbai police in a very poor light caught the attention of the people of this city in the last fortnight.  The first was a reported rape in a police Chowki where two police officers and a constable in cahoots with a gang of extortionists confronted an aspiring model suspected of being in the sex trade. Not only did they deprive the model and her male companion of a substantial amount of money and valuables, the woman was also molested within the premises of the Chowki.

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The second case concerned a policeman accused of being a habitual absentee who shot dead a Senior Inspector for having docked him for his absence from work on May 1,  2015. The man later committed suicide by shooting himself. The case created a sensation because it showed that the discipline and welfare aspects of personnel management had gone horribly wrong in Mumbai’s police force.

Let us take the second case first. The problem of absenteeism is not new in the force. Supervisory officers have been dealing with it for ages. The problem has become more acute now because the heightened pressure of duties on a limited body of men along with increasing demands on time and resources. The end result has been that men who are supposed to be on duty for 8 hours are normally relieved only after 14-15 hours of duty and if commuting time is taken into account it leaves them no time for the family. Holidays are the worst time for police officers as they have to be more alert on the days when the rest of the city is out enjoying themselves. Besides this, they get no weekly off like their clerical counterparts in government employ. The compensation that is paid for lack of leave does not really make up for loss of free time to spend with their family, a basic human need.

Earlier, many individual problems of the lower ranks used to be addressed by seniors while playing games with the men at the headquarters in the evenings and the time-tested institution of the Orderly Room where grievances of all types were heard and addressed.  Unfortunately, with the rapid politicisation of the force and the heavy doses of corruption that have consequently crept into the supervisory cadres, all these outlets for lightening burdens have been given short shrift.

I was surprised to hear from a Director General of Police that a previous Home Minister had advised him to refer all requests in Orderly Room to the Government in the Home Department rather than hear the grievances himself!  This was a sure recipe for distancing the men from their officers and introducing corruption and patronage into a very basic grievance–redressal mechanism.  The Army brass would be shocked to know that till very recently it was the politician and the bureaucrat who commanded the Mumbai police force and not the IPS officers, who were there only to take the rap when things went wrong.

The present dispensation with the Chief Minister in charge of the Home Department has restored authority over their own men up to the rank of Inspector to the DGP of the State and the Commissioner of Police.  He should go further and devolve this power of control over Dy. Ss.P. / Asst. Commissioners which used to be with departmental superiors thirty years ago. The spectacle of officers and men making a beeline to the Mantralaya for postings and transfers is one that should disturb every right thinking citizen who knows that such connections only breed corruption and nepotism and do not contribute in any way to the better delivery of public security. 

The case of the Assistant Police Inspector charged with rape and extortion from the model who had the courage to complain is even more typical of the state of the Mumbai police as it is today.  Most transfers and appointments in the past two decades have been made through political contacts. Notably, in the time of a previous Home Minister the norm was of cash for transfers at prescribed rates! The officers and men concerned would then set about recovering their investments before amassing further wealth at the cost of justice to the people. The entire concept of the rule of law was effectively destroyed. The Police Commissioner and other senior officers could be effectively ignored by politically-influential juniors. No wonder junior officers and men get so emboldened as to commit offences like rape and murder in the very police stations and Chowkis which are meant for the security of the public.

Corruption in the Police force is a problem that the Chief Minister must confront head on if he wants to ensure that the public gets its due. He should make a list of all senior officers who have been bitten by the money bug and call them in for a chat. They must be told to choose between service to the public, which they have sworn to deliver, and service to themselves, which they are presently performing. Their identities are very well known. Every subordinate knows. They talk about it quite openly among themselves and among their own friends. The Chief Minister will have no difficulty at all in identifying the corrupt.

The Indian Police Service was supposed to provide leadership and a level of supervision that would ensure justice to the people. If the supervisors themselves need supervision then we are in serious trouble. The number of venal supervisors has unfortunately increased. If they do not reform, they must be weeded out. Good men should be selected for jobs where public contact is maximum. If the DGP and the Commissioner are given powers to keep their own houses in order which the present Chief Minister is doing I am quite sure that things will improve. But it will take time to restore the old élan.