Humans by nature have been bestowed with an intellect that is highest in the ecosystem of living beings. This intellect though has been sharpened by them on the anvil of repeated experiences which came across their daily lives teaching them in the bargain, the nuanced version of their getting the better of these experiences. With increased pressure on sheer existence amongst them, it was but natural that an upheaval of sorts was bound to revisit them unleashing & bringing their base qualities of anger, frustration, jealousy to the fore. This individual portrayal of base qualities if not addressed in time was to result into an entire society getting disturbed and dissipate themselves to no end.
Ordered to fall in line so as to conform to the basics of a societal existence required an organization fit enough to ensure a sense of security, safety and order for all and sundry lest the entire fabric of existence fell apart. This is where the role and existence of police comes into play to shield, protect and direct the energies of a society in a more calibrated and constructive manner. The term police has been derived from the Latin word ‘Politia’ which means the condition of a state. The term inter alia means a system of regulations for the preservation of order, and regulation of law and order. Policing is the science of maintaining peace and order in an increasingly volatile and unpredictable human mentalities that impinges upon the very existence of lesser mortals. Therefore policing philosophy, methods, and attention of those responsible for the policing of our societies remains uppermost in the mandarins of power.
With an increasingly interactive society nowadays that has its very societal fabric tied up with the social media where news travels almost at the speed of light, it is but natural that the police forces the world over keep a matching profile with the fast changing socio-dynamics of the society where these media platforms act as one of the ‘casus belli’. Can India be far behind in this fast changing socio-milieu of the world? But before I further dwell upon these issues a throwback to the historical importance of ‘National police day’ in India that is celebrated every year on 21 October which happens to be today.
The day of 21st October is celebrated year on year in India with full pomp and show, off course tinged with a sense of solemnity and not gaiety. It remembers the sacrifice of the 10 (ten) policemen who were martyred in the line of duty on the present eastern Ladakh boundary with our adversary i.e. China. At a place called as ‘Hot springs’ in eastern Ladakh located between 15,000 to 16,000 feet, on 20th October 1959 three parties of police were launched for an ‘area reconnaissance mission’. Two parties of this mission returned to base safely having executed their tasks with no sign of the third party. It fell to the lot of base to launch a search and rescue mission of the missing third party. A strong team under DSP/ DCIO Shri Karam Singh left their base on 21st October 1959 for the task but were caught off guard after some time by the Chinese army due to absence of any cover.
Caught in the open the party was engaged by the Chinese army with automatics and grenades causing injury to 7 persons with 10 reported deaths. The bodies of these 10 brave hearts were detained by the Chinese and returned after hectic diplomatic parleys between the two countries after 3 weeks at the historic Karakorum pass along with the injured personnel in a very bedraggled condition. They were later cremated with full police honors at ‘Hot springs’ by the Indian police.
It would be pertinent to mention here that way back in the 1950s the Sino-Indian border management was a mix of authorities with actual foot patrolling and surveillance being carried out by the police forces under the ministry of Home Affairs and superintendence of these activities under the overall command of the MEA (Ministry of external affairs). It was only this incident and another one at ‘Longju’ in 1959 in present day Arunachal Pradesh that the GOI did a serious rethink of its border management policy prompting it to hand over the same to the Indian army as such. A much belated act for which the nation’s army paid in flesh & blood on the icy heights of the Himalayas three years later in 1962. Cutting back to the present times, the police is a state governed subject falling under the ambit of 7th schedule of list II of the constitution of India (1861 Police Act).
State draws rules, regulations, and guide lines for the police in the state police manual. The organizational set up in the police forces of the country is fairly common or uniform in structure which I will not much dwell upon here. The readers of this article too are well aware of the C&C (Command& Control) aspect of our police as mentioned by me above thus obviating the need to throw much light upon this aspect. Be that as it may the moot point over here is that has the country’s police kept pace in checking with the ever increasing crime rate spiraling in its all dimensions? A casual glance over the data furnished by the NCRB (National Crime Record Bureau) in the last 70 years or so throw some very disturbing signals for the police hierarchy to get its act together.
Cognizable crimes in India rose 9.67 times between 1953 and 2023, from about 0.6 million to about 5.8 million, while population grew 3.82 times during the same period. Notably, the crime rate more than doubled during this period, from 160 in 1953 to 422.2 in 2023. Data for the years between 1972 and 2023 reveals that while India’s population increased by 2.45 times the volume of the crime increased by 3.62 times and the crime rate by 1.47 times. The crime rates for the decades between 1953 and 1993 appear stable. However, the years between 1993 -2003 and 2003-2023 periods show a sharp increase in the crime rate, with the two decades appearing as the most crime infested in the country.
A general inference from the NCRB reports is that crime has risen faster than India’s population, resulting in a higher crime rate. However, a deeper analysis indicates several potential explanatory factors for this rise. Firstly the basket of overall crime rate has expanded exponentially over the years as newer and newer crimes have surfaced the societal firmament to include economic offences, juvenile offences, white collared crimes alongside the traditional crimes of the nature of murder, rape, loot, dacoity etc. This shows that the Indian society is under a tremendous socio-economic churn with certain sections of the society not able to cope up with this sudden churn and turning to such higher crime rates so as to give vent to their feelings.
More than the above analytical data provided by the NCRB , the rot of crime and its tentacles have deep rooted sustenance that are provided by an inept and vulnerable policing system pan India, very ably supported by an equally inept political dispensation . The recent abominable rape cum murder of a lady doctor at the RG Kar Medical College & hospital in Kolkata with complicity of hospital administration as well as the WB Police in obfuscating the true happenings even after more than two and half months speaks about the police system dipping into its nadir. Similarly the rape cum murder of two minor girls at Badlapur near Mumbai as also at many other places in India going initially unreported speaks about the insensitiveness of our police forces.
What is the way out for the police system in the country to get on top of the things in order to instill that sense of security in the last man standing in queue for justice? The last so called police reforms that were suggested in the ‘National Police Commission’ in 1977 submitted eight reports between 1979 and 1981 with suggestions to the central governments of the day to take action on its recommendations. But to the dismay of most of us the NPC’s recommendations have been lying in cold storage. Reasons are not far to seek. The police force is one such instrument of state power that could be bent as per the expediencies of the ruling elite to suit their own ends. Some of the problems that are being faced by the police forces of the country and need to be addressed in the right earnest as a mark of professional responsibility and an ode to this national police day are as under—
Failure to cope up with new set of changed laws of criminal justice system—Starting July 01 2024; three new criminal laws have come into effect reshaping the legal as well as policing landscape in India. The oft repeated refrain heard in the police forces is that it is difficult to cope with the interpretation of the new laws and becomes equally difficult to implement them on ground. There is an urgent need to set crash courses in all the police stations /training schools /academies to help these new laws seep into the psyche of the police starting from the level of beat constable level right till the level of SHOs.
Overburdened police forces and vacancies—There are several vacancies in the state police forces and some CPOs which occur from time to time. If I take the data of the year 2022 then overall sanctioned strength of the forces was little more than 196.23 per lakh of people. The actual strength was 152.80 per lakh of people. The UN’s suggested standards for police per lakh public is 222. This PPO (Police –public ratio) in countries like the USA turns out to be about 240 per lakh of population. It is here that the beat patrol or beat constable which is the first responder to an evolving situation comes into play. As a result in this whooping gap of PPO, there is a high pendency of police cases in all the police stations of the country, which translates into an equally high cases at the Supreme Court level.
High percentage of vacant vacancies in the police forces – With more than 25% of vacancies lying unfulfilled in all the police forces of the country, a high level of overworked police force is visible to the eye when one sees them on the job in all nooks and crannies of India. The resultant is an over wrought police which is always on short fuse that gets translated into their work culture.
Infrastructure—Modern policing methods entail effective communication, cutting edge/ modern weapons and a high level of mobility. On numerous counts the CAG & BPRD (Bureau of police research and development) have found flaws in the above facets. The CAG has further found lengthy and bulky purchase procedure in the arms & ammunition resulting in the scarcity of the same.
Relationship between police and the public- The less said the better in this case. A huge trust deficit exists on ground in India, as compared to the western world where the police is considered as a facilitator of social engineering.
Investigation of crime & police accountability—The archaic functioning of these two vital aspects by the police has to change keeping into account the changing socio-economic milieu of India.
While crime rate in India is rising, it still is a reasonably peaceful country when seen in around our backyard of theological states like Pakistan, Bangladesh etc. But is that enough consolation for India’s police forces to sit on their past laurels? As famous Kiran Bedi the indomitable first Indian lady IPS officer writes in her famous book—‘I Dare’—Those who take don’t charge of time, time lathi charges them.’ Time this National Police Day we take charge OF TIME.
(The writer is a Retired Army Officer and a Regular Scribe of Rising Kashmir. Feedback: [email protected])
