With a population of about 1.3 billion people, India is known around the world as the world’s largest democracy. The administration’s ability to sustain the world’s second-most populous country is astounding. It is noteworthy that India has held numerous and usually fair elections since becoming a republic in 1950 , but the police service, which ensures that voters exercise their right to vote without fear or intimidation, is a test of the country’s democratic institutions.
The Indian police force is organized in a way that reflects the country’s centralized federalism . It is federal since it is organized by states, which are legally responsible for peace and order and control significant police forces.
It is centralized in the sense that top police officers are recruited nationally to join the Indian police services. In addition to the national organization, there are numerous paramilitary forces such as the central reserve police force and border security forces that assist states in many contingencies, including the conduct of elections to the state legislative assemblies and the national parliament.
Policing, or police, as a key aspect of the state’s administration and governance, has both advantages and disadvantages. We will be analyzing police issues in this article, and one thing to bear in mind is that we will not be looking at policing as a separate entity, but rather as a component of the state’s much wider social and political system.
The recent police violence and malfeasance in the United States has drawn worldwide attention. Surprisingly, this has failed to bring to light incidents of police bias, brutality, unfair treatment, and selective persecution of specific populations in India. Many incidences of police brutality have occurred recently, but the memories of police brutality and harsh treatment directed at people opposing the Citizenship Amendment Act, particularly in the case of JNU students are still fresh.
During the lockdown to prevent the spread of coronavirus, other excesses emerged, such as the indiscriminate use of lathis against those who disobeyed the restriction as well as providers of essential services. The number of persons who have died in Indian police custody is astonishing. According to statistics presented to the Rajya Sabha by the Home Ministry, India recorded 1,674 custody deaths between April 2017 and February 2018, a rate of five prison deaths per day.
With 374 deaths reported in less than a year, Uttar Pradesh topped the list . the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies’ 2019 Status of Policing in India Report uncovers alarming trends in police discrimination. It reveals a considerable anti-Muslim bias. Muslims are more likely to be naturally prone to perpetrating violence, according to half of the police officers polled. Certain states had similar prejudices against Adivasis, Dalits, transgenders, and immigration from other states.
Two out of every five police officers in Bihar, and one out of every five in six other states, had never undergone human rights training. All these incidents and statistics highlight the monopoly of violence by police and their brutality against the weaker sections of the society by the virtue of discretionary powers provided to them legitimized by the state.
One of the other major issues is of handling terrorism. The Naxal movement, which began in West Bengal under the leadership of Charu Mazumdar and is affiliated with the Indian Communist Party (Marxist-Leninist), has been one of the murderous movements in history, with thousands of people slain on both sides.
Police have been employed to perpetrate state-sponsored terrorism and to evict people from their ancestral lands to sell them to international corporations. Or the instance of Jammu and Kashmir, where innocent people have been killed in the name of combatting terrorism. The police force has been an effective weapon for spreading the state’s propaganda and suppressing any opposition.
There is also the issue of political criminality. The link between the polity and powerful individuals is a universal issue. Corruption has been exacerbated in India, as well as elsewhere, by political parties’ propensity to use illegal methods to sway election results. While this phenomenon can be found throughout the country, it is most noticeable in the northern regions of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
The recruitment process of India’s police force has been in place for over a century. The police recruitment process is mediaeval, especially from the lowest constabulary level to the Sub-Inspector level. The overall focus of the training procedure is on improving the trainees’ physical strength, but other critical skills such as forensics, law, cyber-crime, and financial frauds are either disregarded or put on the back burner . According to the CAG, most states have a very low percentage of trained police officers. The audit also noted flaws in weapon training as well as a lack of adequate training infrastructure.
Despite the suggestions of various committees, there have been no significant improvements. In 2006, the Supreme Court issued a landmark decision in the Prakash Singh case, in which the court issued seven orders to the state and federal governments. These, on the other hand, have yet to see the light of day. It demonstrates a lack of political will and bureaucratic adamancy in carrying out the command.
Politicians and bureaucrats both don’t want to relinquish control of the police. The Police Act of 1861, which is silent on ‘superintendence’ and ‘general control and directives,’ contributes to the lack of clarity in control. This allows the executives to convert the police to mere instruments in the hands of political leaders to further their own goals.
The police are an effective weapon for the contemporary sovereign state to spread its propaganda without facing opposition, and executives have taken full advantage of this chance. Apart from being utilised as a tool for the monopoly of violence, the police force as a whole has several flaws that hinder it from being effective. All of these issues demand a prompt response from governments, both at the national and state levels.
The political leadership must recognise that the situation of the police system has a negative impact on the nation’s security and integrity. It’s past time to free the police from the shackles of state politics and logistical obstacles, and turn them from “Ruler’s Police” to “People’s Police.”