The need for police reforms is long recognised, but the ideas remain buried. Reforming the institution and not suspension of few police officers is the need of hour
This job gives you terrific opportunity to serve, yet the challenge is that one minor slip, and in moments, your stardom is teared apart,” said a young Indian Police Service (IPS) officer to me. This past week, when two IPS officers — Gurgaon Commissioner of Police and Bulandshahr Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) — faced a patterned wrath of the State, I couldn't agree more with my friend. In a rather baffling move, the Haryana Government transferred Gurgaon Police Commissioner Navdeep Virk, following a massive media uproar that was caused by severe jams in the Millennium City. Incessant rains for a few hours, coupled with faulty urban planning, and terrible lack of civic sense had caused the terrifying jam. Furious residents and commuters to this city took massively to Twitter and soon it grabbed national headlines, the fury of floods in Assam notwithstanding!
Swarmed with criticism, the Haryana Government took swift action and removed the Police Commissioner, leaving many wondering if the officer was the only one accountable for the havoc on the roads. The jams, and the perpetual chaos we see in Gurgaon, are definitely an outcome of mindless urbanisation. The previous Congress Government, in their zeal to develop the city, had turned a blind eye to the fundamentals of urban planning. Rather than resorting to a more nuanced approach to correct the flaws, the incumbent Government took to an easy route of assuaging public emotion. The transfer, many officers rue, is a naive attempt to deal with such a problem and damages the morale of the police force. Many, including the replaced Commissioner wondered why the civic authorities did not face any wrath as water logging was caused by their inabilities to forsee and plan in advance. Surprisingly, police officials in Bangalore, who too faced chaotic traffic snarls almost at the same time, were spared the stick.
Not too far away from Gurgaon, in Bulandshahr, in wake of a rape case, the SSP of Bulandshahr Vaibhav Krishna, alongwith six other senior officers, was suspended for laxity. Many officers said that the incident was soul tormenting and despicable. The IPS (Central) Association issued a tweet saying, “Our sympathies are with the victims. Uttar Pradesh police is making all efforts to nab the culprits. However, continuation of bright IPS officer Vaibhav Kishan could have actually helped in bringing quicker justice to the victims.” Soon afterwards, the family of the victim expressed regrets at the manner in which the SSP and other officers were transferred.
To many, this was yet another classic case of finding the scapegoat while putting requisite systemic changes under the carpet. Twenty years after a petition for police reforms, filed by former BSF director general Prakash Singh in 1996 and 10 years after the historic judgement by Justice YK Sabharwal in September 2006, many fundamental issues of systemic reforms in the police remain mired in apathy of Governments.
In his judgment, Justice Sabharwal said that “having regard to (i) the gravity of the problem; (ii) the urgent need for preservation and strengthening of rule of law; (iii) pendency of even this petition for last over 10 years; (iv) the fact that various commissions and committees have made recommendations on similar lines for introducing reforms in the police set-up in the country; and (v) total uncertainty as to when police reforms would be introduced, we think that there cannot be any further wait, and the stage has come for issue of appropriate directions for immediate compliance so as to be operative till such time till a new model police act is prepared by the Union Government and/or the State Governments to pass the requisite legislation.”
Singh wrote a year ago, “The court proposed establishing three institutions: State security commissions to insulate the State police from extraneous pressures; police establishment boards to give autonomy to the department in personnel matters; and police complaints authorities to ensure better accountability of the force.”
The court also laid down a procedure for the appointment of the Director General of Police and a fixed tenure of two years, mandated a two-year tenure for officers performing operational duties in the field, and gave directions for the separation of investigation from law and order in towns with a population of 10 lakh or more. The directions were to be implemented by December 31, 2006. The ideas remain buried till date. Reforms of the institution and not suspension of few police officers will serve the interest of the people and the country.