Union Home Minister Amit Shah urged the new batch of IPS officers to take lead in the quest to remove fear of police from the minds of the people.

Addressing the probationers on Monday, the Home Minister said that the Government is committed to police reforms and encouraged the young officers  to individually carry out small yet important improvements in local police functioning, wherever they were posted.

Shah reiterated the changing role of police saying the colonial role of police as an agent of fear is not the reality of today. He called for the fear associated with police to be removed by bringing a positive behavioral change in the personnel and added that the IPS as an institution must make this change percolate to the grassroots.

He advised the 2018 batch IPS officers to never run away from responsibility and never compromise with discipline. He said that there are three constituents of constitutional framework of the country — the people, the Government and the bureaucracy. The Government and the bureaucracy need to perform their roles responsibly in order to effectively implement the Constitution in its letter and spirit.

Speaking on taking tough yet right decisions, Shah asserted that some bold decisions are necessary to be made for people’s benefit, without getting bogged down by the fear of a backlash. He quoted the example of Jammu and Kashmir and said that not a single bullet had been fired or not a single person had died after the abrogation of Article 370. He also added that only 10 police stations of Kashmir, out of 196, have Section 144 in force.

He further said that Jammu and Kashmir would not remain a Union Territory forever and that the statehood would be returned once situation is normalized. He said that the notion that only the Article 370 protected the Kashmiri culture and identity was a wrong one. He asserted that all regional identities are inherently protected by the Indian Constitution and called the misuse of Article 370 the root cause of cross border terrorism.

Shah called for a conceptual change in the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) and said that the amended code must be in line with India being a Welfare State. He noted that the purpose of the IPC and CrPC has shifted from preservation of the British Empire to the welfare of people, and this has to be reflected in the provisions and application of the code.

Speaking on the increasing proportion of women in police at every level, the Home Minister said that lady IPS officers can inspire other women to join the police. He said that gender-based reservation was not the answer to the issue of inadequate representation of women in the police. He spoke of the need to change societal mindset in this regard and expressed confidence that this would gradually happen. Union Home Secretary Ajau Kumar Bhalla also spoke to the IPS probationers.