Section: Internal security
Title: Policing the Police
Relevance: GS 3
Why has this article been published?
For the first time in India, two policemen were sentenced to death recently for a case of custodial death in Kerala, and three other policemen were awarded imprisonment.
Fate of other such cases
The fate of a majority of other such trials in the numerous cases of custodial torture and killings is strewn with impediments that are familiar:
- witnesses who turn hostile,
- doctors who give in to the pressure to give the police a clean chit in the post-mortem report,
- investigations that are little better than “cover-ups” for the accused, and
- the vulnerability of the family of the victims who are unable to get legal and financial help.
The Supreme Court directives on Police Reforms
- The 2006 directives of the apex court was then hailed as a decisive move in the sluggish trajectory of police reforms in India.
- This hope has been dashed since, with the centre and states either implementing the directives selectively, conveniently, or ignoring them altogether. Some of these directives dilute the power of the state executive in terms of dealing with the police, and hence the reluctance to implement them effectively.
- Had the apex court ensured their implementation under its own observation, the outcome perhaps would have been different.
- The reports of the various commissions and the Supreme Court directives offer comprehensive suggestions. These include
- replacing the Police Act, 1861 with a new one,
- making the police force independent of executive interference by improving methods of recruitment (including that of top-ranking police officers),
- transfers and promotions,
- separating the investigative wing of the police from the law enforcement wing, and
- setting up a mechanism to deal with complaints against the police.
Police Discrimination
- The thrust of the police reforms campaign has also been to ensure that public perception of and faith in the police as an institution does not crumble completely.
- The “Status of Policing in India” 2018 report that covers six major areas—the crime rate, disposal of cases by police and courts, diversity in the police force, infrastructure, prison data, and disposal of cases of crimes against Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes/women and children—finds that in all these fields police performance weighs in against the marginalised and the minorities.
- It reveals that police discrimination based on class is the most common, followed by gender, caste, and religion, with the public fear of the police being higher among the country’s religious minorities, particularly the Muslims.
Conclusion
From the rather dismal pace of the implementation of police reforms, it is clear that the Supreme Court needs to step in to ensure that its 2006 order is strictly complied with and errant states are punished for contempt.
