07-03-2006, 06:26 AM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>What ails our police system? </b>
Pioneer.com
Joginder Singh
The police force is hitting the headlines these days for all the wrong reasons. Consequently, the image of the law-enforcer has taken a nosedive. In fact, left to an ordinary law-abiding <b>citizen, if he were given a choice, he would totally avoid the police or keep his contacts with it minimal</b>. The policemen in the guise of moral guardians are wreaking havoc everywhere in the country.
The case involving<b> the rape of a woman by a Delhi Police sub-inspector in June 2006, who also tried to extract bribe, threatening arrest otherwise</b>, is a shocking reminder that citizens are helpless when the law-enforcers themselves turn lawbreakers. Fortunately, the delinquent officer was promptly dismissed. The abuse of position by the police is not a new phenomenon.
Yet, in another instance, <b>in the CBSE paper leak case, the CBI arrested the investigating officer of the Crime Branch along with two others. </b>The officials were caught red-handed extorting money from parents of the prime accused. To top it all, a number of policemen apart from the above-mentioned cases have been charged with rape and kidnapping.
<b>A Uttar Pradesh Police constable was arrested for framing his three cousins in a case of gang rape by paying Rs 3,000 to a woman who allegedly implicated them.</b> Six policemen along with five criminals from Mumbai and the neighbouring district of Thane were arrested for participating in criminal activities during their service. Their crimes ranged from extortion, bribery and attempt to robbery.
<b>A Mumbai constable raped a teenage girl at the Marine Drive police post on April 21, 2005</b>. Of course, the guilty constable was dismissed from service and sentenced to 12 years in prison. But the punishment meted out to him is still to revive people's faith in the police force.
<b>Haryana Police had to prosecute its own DGs and a number of Inspectors General of Police on charges of crimes against women</b>. Similarly, the <b>Abdul Rehman Telgi fake stamp paper scam saw the degradation of Mumbai police, when its former Commissioners and an Inspector General were put behind bars</b>. If names of other States are not mentioned, it is not because policemen there have a clean record.
The British, who had established the Indian Police, set up a commission in 1902-03 which observed: <b>"There can be no doubt that the police force throughout the country is in a most unsatisfactory condition, that abuses are common everywhere, that this involves great injury to the people and discredit to the Government, and that radical reforms are urgently necessary."</b> The First National Police Commission of Free India (1977-81), under late Dharam Vira, commented as under: "<span style='color:red'>In public estimates, the police appear as an agency more to implement and enforce the objectives of the Government in power, as distinct from enforcing laws as such as an independent and impartial agency. The dividing line between the objectives of the Government in power as such on one side, and the interests and expectations of the ruling political party on the other side, gets blurred in actual practice."</span>
<b>In the last two years, 2,027 police officers were punished for various offences in Delhi alone; 741 were dismissed or removed or had their services terminated, 238 gave the penalty through reduction in pay. The services of 111 were forfeited. The remaining suffered as their increment in salary was withheld; some were demoted or censured.</b>
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Indulgent handling of bad elements in the force has done the police administration in. Most officials order departmental inquiries, notoriously long-drawn-out affairs. Rarely do inquiry officers find time to swiftly conclude the task. This is because most inquiry officers are from the very police and the investigation is only an extra task for which they have no inclination or aptitude. For many it is a waste of time. Or it repels them to find a colleague guilty of malfeasance.
In departmental inquiries, sometimes officers empathise with the accused as they might have worked with or under them or might have obliged them in some way. Moreover, the police officers, with a few exceptions, are loath to see their tribe punished, whether guilty or otherwise. Another reason is that very few officers put themselves in the shoes of the victims.
The criminal activities of policemen that surface are a tip of the iceberg. Except for dealing with infractions departmentally, neither the Government nor any of the Commissions or Committees set up so far has thought of an alternative mechanism. There are some toothless committees, like the grievances boards, who again pass on the complaints to the departmental officials or at the best call for some reports. While nobody should be condemned unheard, it is time the Government thought of a parallel - also effective and time bound - mechanism to address the aggrieved.
<b>It is true that many officials have so many skeletons to hide that they cannot afford to reprimand or punish their errant subordinates. So they have no moral high ground to admonish the misbehaving lot.</b>
No constitutional system of Government based on democratic principles can function without an effective, efficient and accountable police. Constitutionally, the police is accountable to the elected representatives. The concept of ministerial responsibility has led to a situation in which the political masters actually guide and intervene in all functions in all areas. Most often, all intervention takes the form of only verbal directions, which are difficult to prove later in a court or commissions of inquiry. <span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>It happened to this author when the then Prime Minister wanted to bail out a Chief Minister who was clearly involved in a scam being investigated by the CBI.</span>
Professor David H Balyey says, <b>"In India today, a dual system of criminal justice has grown up, the one of law and the other of politics. With respect at least to the police, decisions made by the police officials about the application of law, are frequently subject to partisan review or direction by the elected representatives..."</b>
The police are being used by the political masters, irrespective of the parties in power, to their selfish ends. It aptly explains the arrest of opposition leaders by the ruling parties. That is how the game of goes on. The final and eventual responsibility for what kind of police the country will have rests on the rulers of the country. It is time to remind them of what Winston Churchill had said, "The price of greatness is responsibility." They had better shoulder it.
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Pioneer.com
Joginder Singh
The police force is hitting the headlines these days for all the wrong reasons. Consequently, the image of the law-enforcer has taken a nosedive. In fact, left to an ordinary law-abiding <b>citizen, if he were given a choice, he would totally avoid the police or keep his contacts with it minimal</b>. The policemen in the guise of moral guardians are wreaking havoc everywhere in the country.
The case involving<b> the rape of a woman by a Delhi Police sub-inspector in June 2006, who also tried to extract bribe, threatening arrest otherwise</b>, is a shocking reminder that citizens are helpless when the law-enforcers themselves turn lawbreakers. Fortunately, the delinquent officer was promptly dismissed. The abuse of position by the police is not a new phenomenon.
Yet, in another instance, <b>in the CBSE paper leak case, the CBI arrested the investigating officer of the Crime Branch along with two others. </b>The officials were caught red-handed extorting money from parents of the prime accused. To top it all, a number of policemen apart from the above-mentioned cases have been charged with rape and kidnapping.
<b>A Uttar Pradesh Police constable was arrested for framing his three cousins in a case of gang rape by paying Rs 3,000 to a woman who allegedly implicated them.</b> Six policemen along with five criminals from Mumbai and the neighbouring district of Thane were arrested for participating in criminal activities during their service. Their crimes ranged from extortion, bribery and attempt to robbery.
<b>A Mumbai constable raped a teenage girl at the Marine Drive police post on April 21, 2005</b>. Of course, the guilty constable was dismissed from service and sentenced to 12 years in prison. But the punishment meted out to him is still to revive people's faith in the police force.
<b>Haryana Police had to prosecute its own DGs and a number of Inspectors General of Police on charges of crimes against women</b>. Similarly, the <b>Abdul Rehman Telgi fake stamp paper scam saw the degradation of Mumbai police, when its former Commissioners and an Inspector General were put behind bars</b>. If names of other States are not mentioned, it is not because policemen there have a clean record.
The British, who had established the Indian Police, set up a commission in 1902-03 which observed: <b>"There can be no doubt that the police force throughout the country is in a most unsatisfactory condition, that abuses are common everywhere, that this involves great injury to the people and discredit to the Government, and that radical reforms are urgently necessary."</b> The First National Police Commission of Free India (1977-81), under late Dharam Vira, commented as under: "<span style='color:red'>In public estimates, the police appear as an agency more to implement and enforce the objectives of the Government in power, as distinct from enforcing laws as such as an independent and impartial agency. The dividing line between the objectives of the Government in power as such on one side, and the interests and expectations of the ruling political party on the other side, gets blurred in actual practice."</span>
<b>In the last two years, 2,027 police officers were punished for various offences in Delhi alone; 741 were dismissed or removed or had their services terminated, 238 gave the penalty through reduction in pay. The services of 111 were forfeited. The remaining suffered as their increment in salary was withheld; some were demoted or censured.</b>
Â
Indulgent handling of bad elements in the force has done the police administration in. Most officials order departmental inquiries, notoriously long-drawn-out affairs. Rarely do inquiry officers find time to swiftly conclude the task. This is because most inquiry officers are from the very police and the investigation is only an extra task for which they have no inclination or aptitude. For many it is a waste of time. Or it repels them to find a colleague guilty of malfeasance.
In departmental inquiries, sometimes officers empathise with the accused as they might have worked with or under them or might have obliged them in some way. Moreover, the police officers, with a few exceptions, are loath to see their tribe punished, whether guilty or otherwise. Another reason is that very few officers put themselves in the shoes of the victims.
The criminal activities of policemen that surface are a tip of the iceberg. Except for dealing with infractions departmentally, neither the Government nor any of the Commissions or Committees set up so far has thought of an alternative mechanism. There are some toothless committees, like the grievances boards, who again pass on the complaints to the departmental officials or at the best call for some reports. While nobody should be condemned unheard, it is time the Government thought of a parallel - also effective and time bound - mechanism to address the aggrieved.
<b>It is true that many officials have so many skeletons to hide that they cannot afford to reprimand or punish their errant subordinates. So they have no moral high ground to admonish the misbehaving lot.</b>
No constitutional system of Government based on democratic principles can function without an effective, efficient and accountable police. Constitutionally, the police is accountable to the elected representatives. The concept of ministerial responsibility has led to a situation in which the political masters actually guide and intervene in all functions in all areas. Most often, all intervention takes the form of only verbal directions, which are difficult to prove later in a court or commissions of inquiry. <span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>It happened to this author when the then Prime Minister wanted to bail out a Chief Minister who was clearly involved in a scam being investigated by the CBI.</span>
Professor David H Balyey says, <b>"In India today, a dual system of criminal justice has grown up, the one of law and the other of politics. With respect at least to the police, decisions made by the police officials about the application of law, are frequently subject to partisan review or direction by the elected representatives..."</b>
The police are being used by the political masters, irrespective of the parties in power, to their selfish ends. It aptly explains the arrest of opposition leaders by the ruling parties. That is how the game of goes on. The final and eventual responsibility for what kind of police the country will have rests on the rulers of the country. It is time to remind them of what Winston Churchill had said, "The price of greatness is responsibility." They had better shoulder it.
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