Saturday 16 July 2011

Mockery of Police Reforms

Political executives have always made jokes on the name of reforms by forming committees but not accepting/implementing their recommendations.The problems of police in this country have been examined extensively by various commissions and committees appointed since Independence.The appointment of the Working Group on Police by the Administrative Reforms Commission in 1966, the appointment of the first National Police Commission (NPC) after Independence, Ribeiro Committee on Police Reforms in 1998 on the directions of the Supreme Court, the Padmanabhiah Committee on Police Reforms in 2000, Ram Pradhan Committe by Maharashtra Government after 26/11 attack to name few.there were other reports from different committees like "The Indian Police System
-a reform proposal" by Ebba Martensson and" ACCOUNTABILITY FOR THE INDIAN POLICE" by Adam Shinar from HRLN(Human Rights Law network).Now I would not like to go in detail of each and every reports but i just wonder how these committees were formed for the sake of reforms...none of their recommendations have been implemented.Most amazing is the fact that most of them have not been looked upon and debated upon. These are just lying in the archives.

In most of the committees, social aspects have not been looked upon at all. No public consultation and  debate on those reports which actually concerns the community. Take an example of the Padmanabhiah Committee. There were only four members in the committee(only Policemen..two retired and two Serving). The Committee did not have any representation from other sections of society or public.
The governments and people in other countries have realised that policing is too serious and important a business to be left to policemen alone. This is obvious from two important developments in international policing that have occurred during the last few decades- community policing and civic oversight of policing. We have yet to learn from the basic idea underlying these developments.

Though the report of the committee covered the wide range of aspects yet on some of key issues its recommendations were not that substantive. the three most important issues are:
1. Politicisation and Criminalisation of Police
2. Control over Police
3. Accountability of Police

All the reports with all the recommendations are lying in the home ministry's library. Most of them have been implemented yet. I would say majorly none.Some of the reports of other committees have not been made public even after a decade or two.

One also must read the 90 page report prepared by Ram Pradhan Committee formed post 26/11 By Maharashtra govt. ...some of the revelations it made were amazing and more amazing is the facts that most of its recommendations have not been acted upon yet....still Maharashtra govt. claims that we have done lot in making police system better to deal with any kind of terror attacks..forget terror attacks.. today,police system in almost all states are not even competent enough to deal with small small local crimes...they themselves with the coordination with political criminals are indulged in all type of criminal activities.

Intelligence comes from the local level. You fail to track small crimes. These small small crimes turn in to bigger crime one day.But how will you prevent them.When you don't register an information at local level. When you don't have any database containing the reports and datas on several cases filed in police stations in one district. When your police personnels are not trained properly. They are not fit enough to run 100 meters in 5 minutes. still we are relying on them, for security. When you have no weapon in police stations. We have entered in 21st century still Police stations are not connected with  special communication channel and internet. We have the same old training structure. It has not been revised since decades. and Political executives say we are improving..I agree we are improving but if this is the rate with which we are improving then god can only save this nation..I don't know when is this gonna stop. how long people will continue to be fooled by them

11 comments:

  1. Facts from Ram Pradhan Committee:

    No target practice, less than optimum utilisation of funds and shortage of ammunition led to inadequate response to terror attacks

    The elite commando force or the Quick Response Team (QRT) formed to counter terror attacks in 2003 has not carried out firing practice since 2007

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  2. Anubhav sir...thank you rahega...bahut din se soch rahe the ki pieces mein likhne ke bajaye kuchh iss tarah se try karein...bas aaplogon ka maargdarshan aur protsahan milta rahe....try karenge aur bhi important issues par taathyik prakash daalne ka...

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  3. The current governing instrument of the Indian police force is the Police Act of 1861. Together
    with the Indian Penal Code, the Indian Evidence Act and the Code of Criminal Procedure it forms
    the current but outdated police system in India.

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  4. there was a related joke for this
    "Let's form a committee to find out how many committees have submitted report"

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  5. Mohit.....Since 1971 there have been six major reform committees. 1) Gore committee 2)
    National Police Commission (NPC); 3) Riberio Committee on Police Reforms; 4) Padmanabhaiah
    Committee on Police Reforms; 5) Group of Ministers on National Security; 6) Malimath
    Committee on Reforms of Criminal Justice System

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  6. some questions how come US has been able to manage its internal security to such extent that it is almost impossible for anyone to commit a crime and get away..I studied the basic Police structure of United states...

    Police issues are a predominantly a local municipal issue and thus each municipality has developed its own oversight mechanism. So, for example, the Los Angeles Police Department has a
    different oversight mechanism than the San Francisco Police Department, despite them being in the same state. And of course, these two mechanisms will inevitably differ from New York City's mechanism. There are federal police forces, such as the F.B.I. and Border Patrol, but their jurisdiction is limited to defined federal crimes. Although the states have a state police force, that is usually limited to highway patrol.According to one count, there are more than 16,000 local law enforcement agencies in
    the U.S,112 resulting in a great variety in police oversight mechanisms.

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  7. P Jha...is article ko "The Hindu" mein bhej do..agar unhe pasand aaya to wo "independent Columnist" karke publish kar denge..waise I liked it and kudos to you!!

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  8. Alok...thank you rahega....Hindu mein Praveen swami ek columnist hai jo Police reforms and internal security pe expert hai...wo already is issues pe columns likh chuka hai....waise tum kahte ho to hum bhi bhejte hain....unko pasand aata hai ki nahi dekhte hain

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  9. Hamara neta kaisa ho?
    Pravesh Bhaiyaa jaisa ho!!!!!!!

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