Friday, August 23, 2002
Title of the Book: POLICING FOR THE NEW AGE
Name of the Author: PRAVEEN KUMAR
Address: GB, HAYES HALL, HAYES ROAD,
BANGALORE-560 025 (Karnataka, INDIA)
E-Mail: pryveen@yahoo.com
pryveen@gmail.com
Phone: 080-41125309
Mobiles: 9901979567 / 9945336849
Click Here For E-Mail
Year of Publication: 1992
Subject: INDIAN POLICE AFTER INDEPENDENCE
Respectful Dedication To SHREE R.D.SUVARNA, My Father
Policing For The New Age is a collection of
articles that analyses the status quo of Indian
policing in the nineties, in the light of the
changes that can be reasonably expected to
occur as we approach the twenty-first century.
An organised, efficient police force, beholden to
none and committed only to the preservation of
law and order and the well being of the society
it serves is a necessary concomitant to the
smooth functioning of the civilized order.
Reality presents quite another picture
altogether.
What has gone wrong and more importantly
what can be done to bring about a change in the
status quo is the book's theme, the leitmotif
that runs through its articles. At once
hard-hitting and scholarly as they are, they
reveal both the anguish and the unquenchable
hope of a man devoted to his calling and
articulate his conviction of the positive role it
can and must play in the life of our country.
Praveen Kumar is a senior Police Officer
with the Kamataka Police. Apart from Policing
For The New Age, he has also authored and published
five volumes of verse – Love And Pride, Unknown Horizons and
Portraits Of Passion in English, Divya Belaku
and Bhavana in Kannada, and Policing The Police,
a treatise on the Police and Policing.
Born in Mangalore, Praveen Kumar
graduated in Science from St. Aloysius College,
Mangalore, going on to obtain a
post-graduate degree in Literature from Mysore
University. He also holds post-graduate
diplomas in Business Management and
Cooperation. In his student days he was also a
prize-winning orator and writer and shares an
active interest in interior decoration with his
wife, Smt. Jayashree. He has also appeared on
literary programmes on Doordarshan - Kavi
Sammelana and Sanchaya and interviewed several
times by different TV channels as a Poet and Police
Officer.
Stemming from his varied academic
background, are the lively far-ranging Interests
that have impelled him to write on subjects as
diverse as police procedure and poetry, striking
the perfect balance between the pursuance of
vocation and avocation.
BHAVANA
(Poems In Kannada)
THE WORK IS A BUNCH OF LILTING POEMS IN EASY, INTIMATE
AND COSY KANNADA. THEY ARE THE REVERIES OF A TRAINED
AND CRITICAL MIND OF A MATURE POET WITH AN OBSERVING
AND PENETRATING EYE AND SHARP SENSITIVITY TO THE
WORLD AROUND.......THE CANVAS FOR HIS 62 SHORT PIECES
/OF POETRY IS THE WHOLE GAMUT OF HUMAN LIFE, ITS
CHARMS AND BEAUTY..... AND IS HIGHLY ENJOYABLE.....
THERE IS ALSO A BOUQUET OF THE ECSTATIC WORLD OF
LOVERS AND ROMANCE.
THE HINDU
DIVYA BELAKU
(Poems In Kannada)
METAPHORS AND WORLD IMAGERIES, REPLETE WITH RHYME
AND RHYTHMIC FELICITY HERE FILL AND SPILL IN ALL
DIRECTIONS; THEY FLY, FLOAT AND DANCE AND ULTIMATELY
GO STILL TO ECHO WITHIN TIME AND AGAIN (Translated from
Kannada).
DR. SHIVARAMA KARANTHA
UNKNOWN HORIZONS
(Poems In English)
THERE IS AN ELEMENT OF DELIGHT AND SURPRISE
THROUGHOUT. THE POET IS AWARE OF THE WONDERFUL
WORLD OF NATURE AND OF MAN. SO HE IS ABLE TO EMPLOY
TELLING IMAGES TO PORTRAY HIS INNER FEELINGS OF
BEAUTY AND LOVE.
DR. M. GOPALAKRISHNA ADIGA
PORTRAITS OF PASSION
(Poems In English)
PRAVEEN KUMAR IS A POET, A PROLIFIC WRITER
AND A SENIOR POLICE OFFICER IN ONE.THE GENTLE
PASSIONS OF A POET, INTELLECTUAL ATTRIBUTES
OF A CREATIVE WRITER AND HARDIHOOD OF A
POLICE ADMINISTRATOR HAVE SPLICED TOGETHER
IN HIS LITERARY CREATIONS.
POLICING FOR THE NEW AGE
(Essays on Police)
THE LANGUAGE IS FLOWERY.....THERE IS A NEED TO
APPRECIATE HIS RUTHLESS EXPOSURE OF THE
CRIMINALISATION OF POLITICS AND THE POLITICISATION OF
THE POLICE... HIS TREATISES ON DOWRY DEATHS AND
THEIR INVESTIGATION AND ON POLICE DOGS ARE
CHARACTERISTICALLY THOROUGH AND SOUND MERITING
UNIVERSAL ATTENTION.....THERE IS NO DOUBT THAT THE
AUTHOR WHO HAS ALREADY ACQUIRED A REPUTATION AS
A POET IS A HIGHLY SENSITIVE AND CULTURED PERSON.
THE HINDU
POLICING THE POLICE
(Essays on Police)
A POLICE officer and a prolific writer, Praveen Kumar, has published
another anthology ……….in the form of this book.……… "Policing the police" acquires more relevance today in the context of the criminalisation of not just politics, but of the services as well……….Coming as a sequel to his earlier book Policing for the New Age, the author chooses to describe policemen as "social doctors" and policing as a "surgical operation to systematically remove cancerous growths from the body of society”.
THE HINDU
Praveen Kumar is not only an upright police officer but also a poet and a prolific writer.……..Policing the Police—an analytical Study of the philosophy and field dynamics of the policing in practice highlight various problem areas including defective selection and recruitment,unsound training and unhealthy job culture and identifies likely solutions for its redemption.
DECCAN HERALD
Praveen Kumar gives an insight into the Indian police set-up and analyses the problems of the department, with interesting illustrations from the field.
Mr Kumar's book is a departure from the routine, where he not only analyses
the problems, but also suggests solutions.
THE ASIAN AGE
The author expresses concern over sycophants climbing the ladder and reaching the top to hold the reins and guide the destiny of the police. The result — a spiritless culture created by incompetent leaders…….Policing the police involves self-policing. Through the book, the author has made an honest effort to throw some light on the state of affairs of Indian police.
THE TIMES OF INDIA
A police officer unravels his profession.
INDIA TODAY
Policing with a cause. Policing The Police by Praveen Kumar.…….delves deeply on this core aspect of policing and lays bare the Indian Police setup, sheath by sheath………He interprets police and policing through the prism of a poet’s sensibilities.
THE HINDUSTAN TIMES
PUBLISHED WORKS OF PRAVEEN KUMAR
Books
a) English writings 1) POLICING FOR THE NEW AGE (MAY 1992)
2) POLICING THE POLICE (JANUARY 2000)
b) English poems 1) UNKNOWN HORIZONS (JULY 1991)
2) PORTRAITS OF PASSION (MARCH 1997)
3) LOVE AND PRIDE (2002 IN WEB)
c) Kannada poems 1) DIVYA BELAKU (JULY 1991)
2) BHAVANA (DECEMBER 1993)
Articles
a) The Hindu (Open Page)
1) INDIAN POLICE AT A CROSSROADS (6-6-1995)
2) INTERNAL SECURITY- CHALLENGES AND APPROACH (8-8-1995)
3) INDIAN POLICE: TIME TO TAKE TOUGH DECISIONS (19-9-1995)
4) WHAT AILS PROFESSIONAL POLICING IN INDIA? (2-1-1996)
5) NEED TO LIBERATE LAW ENFORCERS FROM UNHOLY ALLIANCES (2-4- 1996)
6) ROLE OF POLICE IN THE RECONSTRUCTION OF INDIA (18-6-1996)
7) WHERE THEIR LOYALTIES LIE… (27-8-1996)
8) CAUGHT IN THE VICIOUS CIRCLE OF CORRUPTION (15-10-1996)
9) POLICE STRUCTURE NEEDS THE MANAGEMENT TOUCH (31-12-1996)
10) POLICE & HUMAN RIGHTS – DOES END JUSTIFY MEANS? (18-3-1997)
11) RESTORING CREDIBILITY TO CRIME INVESTIGATION (24-6-1997)
12) WHAT AILS THE INDIAN SECRET POLICE (9-9-1997)
13) POLICE UNPROFESSIONAL (20-1-1998)
14) LAW AND JUSTICE (23-6-1998)
15) POLICE MORALE ERODED BY POOR ADMINISTRATION (8-9-1998)
16) TIME TO IMPROVE THE QUALITY OF CIVIL SERVICE (2-3-1999)
QUALITY OF CIVIL SERVICE (19-3-1999) : letter to the Editor
as answer to UPSC response in THE HINDU dated 16-3-1999.
b) The Indian Express (Editorial Page)
1) QUOTA SYSTEM CAN WEAKEN CIVIL SERVICE (6-6-1995)
2) EMPOWERING THE CBI (10-7-1997)
c) Deccan Herald (Sunday Supplementary)
1) TOWARDS SANE SERVICE (2-7-1995)
2) LACKING VIGOUR (6-7-1997)
3) PROFESSIONAL PRIDE OF THE POLICE (28-9-1997)
4) NEED TO REVITALISE THE POLICE (23-11-1997)
5) FOR GOOD GOVERNANCE (11-11-2001)
d) The Times Of India
1) THE GUN STILL SPEAKS (21-10-1995)
e) Alive (Focus)
1) CRIME, POLITICS AND POLICE (FEBRUARY 1996)
2) CRIMINALISATION OF POLICE (JANUARY 1997)
3) THE INDIAN POLICE : MALADIES AND REMEDIES (SEPTEMBER 1998)
4) THE CRUMBLING STEELFRAME OF INDIA (NOVEMBER 1998)
5) KASHMIR: THE CORE ISSUE OF NATIONHOOD (FEBRUARY 2002)
f) IJCC
1) INVESTIGATION OF DOWRY DEATH CASES (1996 – 3)
2) INDIAN INTERNAL SECURITY BUILDUP (1998 – 4)
TV appearances
a) Interviewed
1) Sanchaya (Bangalore DD) on 8-6-1992
2) Sanchaya (Bangalore DD) on 22-8-1994
3) Parichaya (Udaya TV) on 16-3-2000
b) Presenting Poems
1) Sanchaya (Bangalore DD) on 12-9-1989
2) Kavi Sammelana (Bangalore DD) on 17-10-1990
National Events
a) National Seminar
1) Political Reforms in India (centre for Policy Research & BU) on
20-3-2002
S.Mohan Bangalore
Chief Justice October 1,1991
"Man is just a minute constituent of the monolith of police".
In a broad sense the term ‘Police' connotes the maintenance of law and order and protection of the rights of the citizens. Specifically, it applies to the officers who are charged with the duty of maintaining public order and enforcing law, including prevention and detection of crime. There can be no civilized society without an efficient police organisation. For a democracy to survive, the existence of a police organisation committed to legal and social values is essential. The role to be played by the police in a developing democratic country undergoing rapid social changes is indeed very great. In a democratic society the police should be so organised as to be a reliable instrument for the maintenance of order and suppression and prevention of crime, while at the same time assuring that they exhibit restraint and sensibility to citizens' rights.
In recent times the topic regarding politicalisation of the police organization has become the subject matter of discussion. Though in a democracy the police might find it difficult to completely dissociate themselves from politics and political influence, it is very necessary for effective discharge of their duties that they should avoid political involvements. It is high time that the persons wielding political power realise the great harm that would be done to the society by using the police for political ends.
Of late, the police are required to deal with new types of crimes and
situations. The techniques to be adopted by the police are also undergoing
various changes. The priorities in the field of crime and investigation have also changed. There is need for a study of the various changes that have taken place in the policing field.
Mr. Praveen Kumar in this treatise has exhaustively dealt with various
aspects of policing with reference to the new challenges, new types of offences and new techniques of investigation. His approach to the various topics is refreshingly sound. How beautifully he has underlined the suppression of crime, remembering he who overlooks a crime, encourages the commission of another. He has dealt with each subject in a thorough and thoughtful manner. I am sure this book would be helpful not only to those in the police organisation, but also to those who wish to have an insight about the working of the police organisation, the challenges faced by the police and the new trends in Ihe field of policing.
A police officer with a tough heart, to be a poet, is a matter of approbation.
As a poet he manifests humanism. That the same spirit is to be exhibited in
reforming the criminals is his theme here.
I wish Mr. Praveen Kumar all the best in his literary ventures. May he
succeed endlessly.
Bangalore
(S. MOHAN)
CHIEF JUSTICE
HIGH COURT OF KARNATAKA
This is a fascicle of nine essays, written between.the years 1987 and 1991
and deal with various aspects of Policing and Police Organisation. The essay on "Social Justice And Law Enforcement" was written in late December 1990 for presentation at a seminar at the National Police Academy in Hyderabad. In "Dowry Death Cases And Their Investigation" which was written as a general guide for police officers, the three primary aspects of investigation namely law, investigation procedure and forensic interpretation of evidences are separately dealt with. Written in 1990, the essay was intended as subject reading for the Corps of Detectives of Karnataka. And "The World In The 21st Century" is actually two essays clubbed for this publication, both written in 1990, as entries to an international competition sponsored by Keihanna Interaction Plaza Inc. Kyoto, Japan and supported by National Land Agency of Japan, the Kyoto, Osaka and Nara Profectural Governments. The ambit of the essay extends beyond policing and its organisation in an attempt to envision conditions in the 21st century as they might logically be assumed to develop from latter-day circumstance. On the other hand, "Organisational And Administrative Challenges Before The Police For The New Age" is more specific in scope and derives in part from my own experiences. This and "Humanising The Police - The Role Of Its Leaders" arc of earlier vintage, having been written in the latter half of 1987 as entries in riational-level essay competitions held for police officers. "Humanising The Police - The Role Of Its Leaders" is written in the context of a democratic setup such as ours, where the inteneration of policing methods without sacrificing discipline and efficiency is something that is of universal relevance. "Police Dogs For The New Age in Kamataka" is an essay adapted from a study report prepared in 1989 for expansion and modernization of the Dog Squad in the Kamataka Police Department. The essays "Crime, Politics And The Police", "Internal Security - Challenges And Approach" and "Indian Police At The Crossroads" were written as recently as August 91. "Crime, Politics And The Police" is an in-depth scientific analysis of the present Indian Police and its organisation in relation to the topical subjects of criminalisation of politics and the politicisation of the police. "Internal Security - Challenges and Approach" identifies the maladies of internal security operations in India and endeavours to find remedies while the essay, 'Indian Police At The Crossroads' is an overall examination of the police subculture in India in the post-independent era. The essay is based on empirical evidence encountered during the last thirteen years of my service in the police and its rational analysis. The scope of the essays are limited to analysis of the causes of the maladies and the suggestion of remedies to prepare "Policing For The New Age." Awareness of the malady itself is half the remedy. Ergo, if these essays succeed in awakening police leadership from its frosted complacence by shocking its sensibilities with the truth, the raison d' etre of the essays will be more than fulfilled. The esperance is that these scientific works would be found useful and appreciated by police professionals as well as by the public.
Though each essay addresses various issues confronting the police, the
treatment of these problems can be neither said to be exhaustive nor conclusive: they are only meant to provoke thinking. There are many other problems with special reference to the Kamataka Police that require urgent solution.
If policing is to be effective in the years ahead, specialization is crucial. I
suggest three distinct police services with separate recruitment and training:
a)Regulatory Police or Uniformed Police in charge of law and order and other regulatory duties; (b) Mainstay police in charge of crime investigation, crime prevention, security and intelligence operation; (c) Social police in charge of prevention and investigation of all social offences and implementation of social legislation. All three wings should have their own individual organisations upto district level with independent Superintendents and staff as required: functioning in tandem in much the same way as the army, navy and airforce. At the apex could be a specially constituted body called the State Police Authority with Police Chiefs of all three wings as members and the Chief Secretary of the Government as its Chairman.
At present, the growth of the Police Department is not really much more
than a spasmodic reaction to various stimuli and lacks the benefit of an
integrated approach. As a result, a structural chorisis is evident which places
operational facilities, counterbalances and counterchecks in jeopardy. The
constitution of a permanent cell of organisation experts under the direct control of the police chief to redefine Kamataka's Police Organisation is required to make it more meaningful and need-based. This could help in streamlining the hierarchy by identifying and eliminating redundant posts, rationalizing workloads and preventing their duplication, redefining duties and procedures and thus the rights and responsibilities at each level. In consequence, police functioning would be made more cost-effective and efficient.
The annual assessment of men and officers in the police has become a
travesty of what it was originally meant to be. In no way, under the present
circumstances, does an ACR reflect an officers qualities or capabilities or lack thereof. Any reliance on this clavis to mischief is sure to demoralise the force. It is my strong conviction that the department would be far better off without this pernicious evaluation process that encourages corruption and favouritism in the force. Though, it must be said that the evils of the ACR are not inherent in the process itself, but stem rather from the calibre of those who write them at various levels. What characterises the rite of the ACR today is a distinct lack of objectivity: it has become a means to personal ends, a medium for the advancement of individual interests and even settlement of personal scores. Servility is its inevitable consequence and it would not be immoderate to say that, eliminating the ACR altogether would be certainly a step towards commune bonum in the police force.
The other suggestion I have in mind to make in regard to the Karnataka
Police is that the Karnataka State Police Officers who don't opt to join the IPS must have the opportunity for promotion provided by reservation of a suitable percentage at the next level. New rules would of course have to be prescribed for such promotion. Similarly, a minimum percentage of the total number of district and other coveted posts must be reserved for these officers. As the KSPS and IPS are two distinct services and nowhere is it stated that the latter superates the former, equal opportunities should be given to officers of both services. There would be no harm in allowing KSPS officers to grow in the service of their induction if proper avenues for advancement are vouchsafed. They would also feel more of a sense, of belonging in their own service rather than in an alien service, where a degree of alienation is perhaps inevitable.
It is common experience that police officers on deputation land in jobs far
lower in rank than in their home departments. The tendency to only gradually upgrade posts to facilitate promotion further complicates matters. Many posts generally held by Deputy Commissioners in administrative service were held by DIGs and then by IGs in the police department, with a consequent lowering of the prestige and dignity of the ranks. Similarly, there are very high-ranking posts in the Kamataka Police with minor job contents, ipso facto affecting the dignity of the ranks'. These matters require critical review by organization experts to have a more balanced police setup in Kamataka.
The blame that no talent breeds and grows in the heath of the police setup
cannot be easily gainsaid. The Indian Police Service continues to be an
intellectually poor, unattractive, subsecive service in the spectrum of All India Services with only misfits opting for the service. The constabulary which forms the bulk of the service is largely constituted of people from the lower strata of society who are psychologically handicapped to exercise their police powers against the more enlightened people in society. The tendency to foul-up superior intellect and excellence is another contributing factor for the atrophy of the police setup. The general reluctance to adopt modern techniques of policing and management, the dogmatic approach to man-to-man and public relations and the lack of psychological insight to human nature are other factors responsible for the unfortunate state of affairs in the force. These problems can be overcome only by capable police leadership at all levels. The organisation is bound to experience a glissade until the trend of donkey-judging-and-riding-horse is put to an end in the police setup and a semblance of objectivity, reasonableness and good judgement touch the core of police administration. This and related issues with possible remedies are discussed in this volume.
I remember with profound regard and love, Shobha, who provided me
strength and inspiration always. I have dedicated this work to my father,
Shri R.D. Suvarna. It is he and my mother Smt. B. Sarojini who made me
whatever I am. Without their encouragement, perhaps I would have never
ventured into literary pursuits. The ideas about the police in this volume
surfaced in the process of my exchanges with my wife, Smt. Jayashree. I am grateful to her for this and her succinct support in spawning this work. My deep gratitude is due to my brothers, Shri Nishith Kumar and Shri Sushir Kumar and sisters, Smt. Asha N.R. and Smt. Pramodini Ganesh, without whose help and encouragement, this volume would not have been a reality at all.
I thank the Hon'ble Mr. Justice S. Mohan, Chief Justice, High Court of
Kamataka, Bangalore (currently, a judge in the Supreme Court of India) for writing a beautiful foreword to this book. His wise and good words brought honour to this work and blessings, strength to me.
Bangalore - PRAVEEN KUMAR
22.2.1992
About the author
Other books of the author
Foreword
Introduction
Crime, Politics And The Police
Indian Police In Crossroads
Humanising The Police
Organisational And Administrative Challenges Before
The Police For A New Age
Internal Security - Challenges And Approach
Social Justice And Law Enforcement
Dowry Death Cases And Their Investigation
Police Dogs For A New Age In Karnataka
The World In The 21st Century
ONE
CRIME, POLITICS AND THE POLICE
Crime, politics and the police are the three meiths of the vicious triangle within
which the future of democratic India and its free people is inexorably involuted.
Though wealthy industrial and commercial houses form the fourth dimension of
the unfortunate predicament, their techniques are as yet limited to manipulative
strategies to gain an increscent hold over political power by remote control in
pursuit of their professional interests and seld they jump on the indignity of
involving themselves with the vicious triangle of crime, politics and the police. It
is that their wealth flows to the spendthrift chests of the troika and operates as
catalyst in reducing the normal life of free citizens to a welter of uncertainties and
unending hardships. However, their anfractuosity in the process of atrophy is rather
distant and indirect unlike the trio of crime, politics and the police Politicians
protectcriminals from the grip of the law while criminals reciprocate by acting as
their henchmen in handling underground activities. The police goes officiously to
politicians en revanche for job protection and strikes an understanding with
criminals to ease personal financial interests. Thus works this nexus of vile
power-brokers, preying on innocent people, bloating itself on the blood of the
hapless masses.
Power and wealth
In a blinkered system like ours, where power and wealth are the ultimate virtues,
where power and wealth in themselves stimulate mutual growth to the exclusion of
all other dimensions of life, it is no wonder, the people of this poor country succumb
to the trappings of power and wealth at the cost of all virtues, values, pride, dignity
and human decency. In an increasingly competitive and complex world where every
day more mouths are added to share limited resources, where the principle of the
survival of the fittest operates to its immane logical end and where the basic needs
of survival and decency can be assured only with power and wealth, people
naturally go all out to ramp the ladder of power and wealth by whatever means and
cost. In the process, justice and morality become casualties and criminality raises
its ugly head as an instrument to achieve otherwise impossible objects. This is how
politics and crime knit together in the fabric of Indian public life.
Police and politics
The story of the police is somewhat different. As the catchpole of the nation's
administration, the police enjoys tremendous power over vast fields of human
activities with responsibilities to life and death of the hoi polloi as well as
dignitaries. In this sense, the police is the cutting edge of the state power and its
ultimate bearer. No power can be its own sans the police on its side as an executioner
and loyal watch-dog. This is why, politicians felt the need for wooing police to their
side in their activities. The police of independent India has become an easy prey to
the power baits of smarter politicians by the reason of their failing strength of
character and talent. Their greed, unsound social background, lack of commitment
to good values and failure to comprehend police virtues in the right perspective
make them willing partners in whatever politicians do or intend to do. They refuse
to look beyond their political masters with their dispensations of job favours; and
so law, justice, righteousness, professional ethics, morality, decency, human dig-
nity, common good of people, national interests and even conscience, otherwise
common to any human being, have become invalid nonsense to them. The police,
sans sound character and personal integrity is no more than a country dog which is
what the Indian police has become in free India. The politicians, inebriated with
new power, smartly brought these weaklings to absolute submission and hold them
on a tight leash to be their personal watch dogs and personal gendarmes in requital
for favourable job placements, undue promotions and other largition from time to
time. Nothing is valued higher than this largess and its dispensers by the new police
of India. It is how the police was involuted in the conspiracy against decent public
life in India.
Police and crime
It was a hop and skip for the police from the plangent world of politics to the
mysterious world of crime and the underworld. The police became a weapon of
politicians to bring about the subjugation of the crime world to prise their resources
for the political ends. They thus made good use of the decreasing strength of
character of the police in forging a nexus between the police and criminals in
furtherance of their own telos. With a weak spine to hold itself and hapless in the
face of odds, the police is only too pleased to follow the footsteps of its political
masters as the cardinal principle of policing. In changed circumstances, discipline
and subordination which form the basic connecting link of the police hierarchy, lost
all their shades of meaning and are interpreted as dunny and blind subservience to
those who have power, seeking personal interests. And politicians easily led the
police to the despicable cul de sac of the nexus with criminals, the very people
whom both are supposed to control and bring to book for antisocial acil-'ities. With
politicians as the custodians of power en wrier to the hilt to support, the police
plunged lock, stock and barrel into the lucrative crime world; the consectaneous
wealth and comforts were in no way less sweet than the hard-earned money of
law-abiding society. This is how the nexus between the police and crime world was
established.
Dangerous nexus
The trio of manipulators is a dangerous force to reckon with, in the Indian
democratic situation. Cohered as a tight-knit power-block, they have permeated
into all conceivable facets of Indian public life with the sole intention of garnering
all the benefits and pilferages of the inefficient public administration, for sharing
among themselves in line with the proverb that one who dines well in a whore's
house is wise. The tragedy here is that the vice is perpetrated by those whom the
public trust as their benefactors and protectors. The amoral side of this operation
does not seem to have affected either the police or politicians in any way and the
vile cabal against the Indian public goes on unabated. It seems that all actors in this
tragic drama think that Indian democracy is a free-for-all field to grab to the
maximum in a world where all look for themselves and only those who grab the
most survive. This approach is certain to undermine not only the democratic setup
of the nation, but also its very social fabric. The blame for this sad end should
squarely be borne by the ugly troika of politicians, criminals and the police.
Dilemma of Indian politics
Not that politics is all bad. It is, by definition, governance of state through
popular leadership. The malaise of the present Indian politics lies in its tilt to
popularity at the elimination of 'leadership' and more dangerously, 'popularity'
being made a serious business proposition to be attended to by spending hard cash as an investment to earn returns in multiple proportions. How popularity can be
won by investment remains a mystery of the democracy. However, sine dubio,
popularity is won on the field pro rata to an investment in Indian situation. It is res
judicata that nothing means as much to the Indian electorate as the money and
power to prod them to cast their votes for a particular candidate. The history of
independent India makes it patent that honesty, patriotism, quality, service, excel-
lence and even charisma have become casualties vis a vis money and power on the
Indian election stage. In this situation, a vicious equation is formed wherein
political power is equated with electoral popularity, which in turn is equated with
money and power, which can be had only through political patronage. The vicious
circle has helped to create a block of manipulative extortionists as divided from the
passive common public. Politics too has its honest and patriotic people who are
committed to the commune bonum. But, sadly, they are caught in the grind of a
system which does not let them surface to prominence unless they come to terms
with it and adopt the venal proposition of winning elections to make money to win
the next election. Only those who correctly grasp the inner dynamics of this and
adapt to its mechanics can hope to make a headway. Others are bound to sink. When
the system itself made the election a venal mechanism, corrupt practices that rope
in criminals and police cannot remain far away from the scene.
Criminalisation of politics
Whom should we blame for this hapless position? Certainly not the politicians
or their auxiliaries like criminals and police who are unfortunate by-products of the
grind. They are created by the situation, arising from a system which is misfit to
(he people to whom it was devised. The blame lies either on the Indian people who
are impair to the democratic system evolved for them, because of their unen-
lightened and venal conscience which is so dim-witted that virtues like honesty,
service, patriotism, quality and excellence can make no dent on it at all; or it lies
with the political system devised for them which failed to take their psychological
makeup into account and ipso facto led to the problem of maladjustment in national
life. Otherwise, how can we explain criminals and goondas winning elections with
impunity even while rioting and murders were committed at their behest on the eve
of elections itself. The fact is that the chance of winning an election often is pro
rata to the aura of a tough image built around the candidate. It is these people who
win elections and rule this country! It is these people whom the Indian electorate
prefers to invest with powers to safeguard their interests! Obviously, the Indian
electorate lacks the foresightedness and vision to understand the consequences of
its irresponsible decision. It is yet too immature to take decisions about the interests
of the nation and see how national interests are closely linked to its personal
interests. It is yet to broaden its perspective to include the life of the nation as an integral part of its own. Long term and rational decisions are alien to its nature.
Immediate selfish interests and a parochial outlook continue to be the driving force
of all its actions and decisions, whether it be on the matters of national importance
or personal concern. In most parts of India, it is money, arrack, sari, threat, fear of
landlords or the blazening propaganda of a candidate that influence it to decide as
to whom to vote for. How can the avenir of this country be safe in the hands of such
an electorate and its elected leaders? How can an indifferent and irresponsible
electorate provide honest and efficient leadership to the nation? This weakness of
the electorate has ultimately left Indian politics in the heath of violence and
manipulative extortions, with the instruments meant to protect them mowing the
field. Saner elements in politics, who found survival difficile, have left the field,
giving way to the elements which are more suited to what is required in the field.
It is how politics has become a pit of junk from a class of dedicated and virtuous
leaders. The credibility which is the pith of any political life is the biggest casualty
in Indian politics. People are more and more disillusioned with the extant political
institutions and the percentage of the electorate that takes the trouble of going to
polling booths to cast votes is steadily decreasing from election to election. It is an
open secret that an election is an opening for a candidate to invest money to reap
wealth, comfort and power for the next five years. And how he reaps the wealth,
comfort and power again is not a mystery at all. It is corruption and misuse of public
money. If he is ambitious and intends to promote his career interests, there is no
way out in the existing system but to resort to pulling strings and pursuing other
more deadly methods, often with the active collusion of the officious criminals and
police.
Political murders
Political murders are common features these days in India. When a political
adversary grows to be an irritant, too serious for corn fort, he is seen to be eliminated.
No career politician wants to stain his name with a murder case and get his name
registered as a criminal in a police station. He does the work through his faithful
underworld henchmen whom he keeps in good humour always for being available
for such a need, by providing them political support and protection. For this, he
keeps the police at his side. This is easily done by intervening in police postings
and helping to get early promotions for favoured ones.
Booth capturing
A candidate for an election may even resort to booth capturing through his
criminal aides to facilitate his victory. This operation requires thorough planning
and training of the men involved, apart from the willing cooperation of the police. An attempt at booth-capturing can succeed only with the intrenchant nexus between
politicians, criminals and police for synergy.
Political patronage
The unhealthy nexus often leads to and facilitates other forms of crime. Cases
of rioting, assault, kidnap, rape and blackmail, involving the supporters or relatives
of politicians, criminals and police in furtherance of a political cabal are other usual
forms of crime that result from the vicious nexus. Often, criminals and police are
employed to create disturbances or inspire sensational crimes in furtherance of
political goals. The losses of life and property involved in the wily schemes seld
touch the conscience of either the politicians, the criminals or the police who are
responsible for these dastardly acts. The political patronage and the nexus with
police desensitize criminals to the process of law and justice; they are thus
emboldened to commit more daring and ruthless crimes that endanger the life and
property of the plebeians. The police, in its links with politicians on one hand and
with criminals on the other, is in its new avatar as the protector of vested interests
with no more commitment and passion for law and justice. It has become a
discredited force, a willing instrument of power-brokers in a ruthless and violent
cabal of power-games with no heart for the common man and the common cause.
This is the requital the Indian electorate gets for letting its political system putrefy
by its nonchalance and irresponsibility.
Politicisation of crime
The overworld is just the tip of the real, raw world. There are more things hidden
in this world than there are seen. This is soon realised by opportunist Indian
politicians who seize the first available instance to enlist the support of criminals
and underground operators for their nefarious designs. This in turn is a god-sent
benison for criminals to restore their lost credibility and social standing with the
help of their association with the custodians of power, apart from the security and
protection from the police that ensues from the association. They promptly grab
the opportunity to their advantage and show how useful they can be to politicians
in their career-promotion designs and wreaking of personal vendettas. The ex-
perience and professionalism of criminals is handy to politicians to execute their
nasty operations without attracting the stigma attached to them.
The vast army of criminals has become a ready resource to them for use
whenever need arises. This has given a sense of confidence and security to
politicians, who are otherwise vulnerable in their highly uncertain, challenging and
competitive environment. Often politicians have so much relied on criminals that
the latter have became their most trusted lieutenants, even getting elected to legislature houses with their help and blessings. There have been instances in India,
where prominent politicians have refused to disown their notorious criminal friends
in public even after reaching the vertex of their political career. This shows the
sway held by criminals over politicians in the Indian situation. It is a fact that no
syndicate of organised crime in small and big cities anywhere in the world can
survive even for a day without political patronage. Ergo, all syndicates of organised
crime and their menace are the direct outcome of the intrenchant nexus between
politicians and criminals, indeed with the police as bystanders.
Place of crime world
No criminal can take lightly the need for political patronage in running his crime
syndicate. Be they smuggling syndicates, gambling houses, narcotics dealers or
plain hoodlums, the only way to survive is to have comfortable political protection
at the right levels. The crime syndicates en revanche, pay a good percentage of
their criminal gain to the protectors. Thus, it is an arrangement to mutual advantage.
The crime world also provides hoodlums as volunteers to perform challenging tasks
during the election campaigns of their political patrons, apart from liberally financ-
ing these campaigns. How can a politician, after he gains power with the help of a
criminal, ever let down the criminal? This symbiosis of politicians and criminals
which has emerged from the extant Indian political system is the root cause of all
the complications discussed until now.
The very fact that politicians are prepared to risk their reputations rather than
distance themselves from the crime world, shows how highly the world of crime is
regarded by the politicians in their scheme of things. Politics and crime have
become the two faces of the same coin in the present state of affairs and a saying
goes that there cannot be politics without crime and no crime without politics. In
the present Indian situation, it is true that the lotus of politics can blossom only in
the offal of crime.
Importance of violence
The need for organised violence is so high on the priorities of the Indian politics
that all political parties have created youth and volunteer wings to accommodate
young hoodlums as a fighting and street-smart force to further the interests of the
political party in street-fights and gang wars. Those who stand out among the
recruits to these wings for their exemplary courage and toughness are provided with
fast promotional avenues to reach the top and the fact that a very high percentage
of ministers in Indian Governments are the fighters from this arena gives a glisk to
the high priority of violence and crime in the present Indian political setup.
Criminalisation of police
It is an irony that politicians, whose patronage criminals sought to ease them
from the straints of the police, brought the latter closer to each other, building a
bridge between them. The understanding reached between criminals and the police
goes a long way in criminalising Indian public life and blunting the effectiveness
of the policing. Though the nexus between criminals and the police is not a new
phenomenon, that what was an exception once has become a rule now and what
was a rule once has become an exception. The criminals overawed the weak police
with their connections with powerful politicians on one hand and lured the police
with easy money and comfort on the other and thus tilted the balance to their
advantage from the mouse and cat disadvantage they once suffered not long ago.
Though criminals played their political cards with adroitness, their real target a tout
propos was easing themselves from the pressures of the police. This, they achieved
with little cost by deftly flaunting their political connections to a weak and
crumbling police. Criminals did business with officious police for huge grists to
their coffers of professional interests without giving away anything substantial in
return, save trifling throw aways. This itself, however, was an unimaginable
bonanza to the lowly police of all ranks who had never seen life with open eyes
outside their regimens.
Crime and Indian politics
If some are born criminals, some choose the path consciously and some others
are constrained to follow the path. While faulty financial and social policies forged
by unenlightened politicians are responsible for forcing several helpless people to
the path of criminality on the one hand, their opportunistic, politically-motivated
demarche more often drives sensitive people on the path of revolt to inclip the fold
of terrorism and violence. Naxalism, Sikh terrorism, the ULFA movement, Kash-
mir separatism, Hindu and Muslim militancy and even sympathy in India for the
LTIE cause are direct outcomes of the nonchalant political handling of the national
issues.
India has seen isolated political attempts in the past. to lure people out of the
clutches of the crime world and rehabilitate them; these, however form exceptions.
The famous Chambal experiment initiated by the late Sri. Jayaprakash Narayan had
some success in spite of discordant vibes raised by the machinations of certain
politicians in the area.
Political kidnapping
Political kidnapping is an international phenomenon that comminated the world
of diplomacy in excelsis in the 1970's. The menace trickled onto the Indian scene
though slowly, decisively in the 1980's. The realisation that political ends can be
easily met by the malengine of the kidnap-drama opened up an aboideau to the
terrorists who were acharne to meet per saltum their political telos. The increase
in terrorist activities in India, perchance, as an outcome of the suspected" balkanisa-
tion of India" policy adopted by some foreign countries, made political kidnapping
an ubiquitous reality on the Indian political scene from the latter half of the 1980s.
The terrorists of Kashmir and Punjab set the tone in India which was picked up by
the People's War Group and the ULFAs in the 1990s. The inexperience of Indian
political leaders in tackling the problem complicated the matter. While most
countries around the world explicated a policy of stubborn refusal to yield to
kidnappers' demands under straints a tout prix the Indian leaders goofed by
displaying their weaknesses while people close to them were abducted, in yielding
to demands as a quid pro quo in releasing a large number of dangerous terrorists
who were arrested at huge cost and loss of lives. The situation has been further
complicated by adopting a policy of double standards in sacrificing the lives of
lesser mortals in some other cases. It is obviously sending a mauvais depeche to the
would-be terrorists that the closer the proximity of the kidnapped to a political
leader, the bigger is the chance of meeting their political ends.
The reclame attached to the kidnap-drama and the arousal of the public interest
in the developments that follow is another dimension of the political kidnapping
that brings an identification and gives an image to a terrorist outfit as nothing else
can. It has become the fashion to initiate a terrorist outfit with a kidnapping
operation. This chevisance in the inchoate drama proves the strength and resource-
fulness of the new outfit and its locus standi among such other outfits, in the way
that the murders committed by a recruit decides his place in the Mafia. The finesse
displayed in executing the operation to a successful end decides the future of the
organisation apart from the advantages of the ransom money and release of
compatriots. Interestingly, the first experiment of political kidnapping in the Indian
scene was conducted in a foreign country in the form of the egregious abduction
and killing of Mr. R.H. Mhatre, a junior diplomat in the Birmingham consulate in
the first week of February, 1984 by JKLF militants.
Political kidnapping and murder is tout court the most heinous crime that often
involves the cold-blooded murder of absolutely innocent people for political ends.
The mental agony and postliminary destruction involved to the maledict hostages
and their near and dear ones because of the misguided entrainement of a handful
of greenhorns naturally make kidnapping an infructuous political tool at the end.
The considerable fall in the incidences of political kidnapping on the international scene of late is an indication of the increasing realisation of this fact. Crime scarcely
survives in the situations of haute politique like diplomacy and relations between
nations. High thinking by enlightened people functions as a catchpole to check the
criminal tendencies from being perpetuated. Political kidnapping on the Indian
scene is also bound to be a temporal phenomenon as seen other where in the world.
A disturbing trend in political kidnapping is the possibility of professional
criminals like smugglers and drug pedlars resorting to political kidnappings at the
hest of their illegal profession in the guise of political kidnappers. The accrescent
dependence of terrorists and professional criminals on each adds to the complexity.
This unhealthy situation is already true in India as it is in many other countries, a
pernicious cohabitation that's a zotic commination to peaceful international order.
. The kidnapping of Romanian charge d' affaires in India, Liviu Radu on October
9, 1991 on his way to office by the Sikh militants is the first instance of a high
ranking foreign national of diplomatic corps being kidnapped by Indian militants
to meet domestic political goals. This succeeded, a series of similar kidnappings of
Indian and foreign officials by the People's War Group, the ULFA and the Kashmir
militants. The abduction of Mr. K-Doraiswamy, an aine director of the Indian Oil
Corporation by the JKLF militants and his postliminary release in exchange for
nine arrested Kashmir militants hit headlines in Indian newspapers by the reason
of the 'Stockholm syndrome' noticed in the hostage after his release. His empathy
with his captors and their cause and sympathetic references to Azad Kashmir,
liberation struggle, misguided boys etc. after his release rather than a degout to them
were explained in the language of the cooperative behaviour se defendendo of the
pusillanimous hostages of a bank robbery in Stockholm in 1973, and is indited in
psychology texts as "Stockholm syndrome". The tendency of a diffident hostage to
cooperate sans gene as the only dernier ressort and even aid his captors at the
damnurn of seity may well-nigh turn out to be a malengine in the hands of
resourceful criminals to force a change in political attitude in the symbiotic world
of the criminals and politicians. The salutary references of Mr. K. Doraiswamy to
his captors au serieux also throw light on the possibility of his being conducted
maestoso, non obstante his otherwhere political affiliations, ipso facto suggesting
that political criminals more than often are gens de bien of high principles and a
selfless goal to achieve. It is why these criminals come under a distinct class and
command furibund aficionado from specific sections of the society, it be Subha and
Sivarasan of the LTTE or Sukhadev Singh (Sukha) and Harjinder Singh Jinda of
the Sikh militants.
The Operation Rhino against the ULFA activists is a direct offshoot of a series
of kidnappings of Indian and foreign nationals and killing of some of them by the
ULFA militants in Assam. The People's War Group in Andhra Pradesh is going
progressively active in kidnapping government officials to bring the state govern-
ment on its knees. The government of Andhra Pradesh is yet to take the gauntlet by the horns. The kidnap dramas excoriate criminals, politicians and the police to a
war of nerves and those who have steel nerves in them emerge successful in the
end. The political kidnappings are further complicating the welter created in the
Indian and international mise en scene by the rise of kidnappings for ransom sine
compe scere by misadventurous individuals or groups lucri causa. The sema of
kidnappings becoming the piece de resistance of organised crime as a means of
making a fast buck is already evident on the Indian scene as more and more reports
of businessmen, industrialists or their relatives and children being kidnapped for
ransom appear in newspapers in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Punjab, Delhi,
Calcutta, Bombay and even smaller places. Ascensive anfractuosity of egregious
mafia gangs in these operations is a pollent possibility. The relevance of the police
comes into the picture in their ingine to check these pernicious developments. The
triste reality is that the Indian Police has failed to rise to the occasion till now.
Police as a link
It can be categorically said that the business of crime cannot survive anywhere
if politicians and the police join hands to bring the crime world to heel as is expected
of them. Alas, it is not to be in a world of opportunist politicians and muticous,
weak police, both with an eye on the spoils of the crime world. The police, actually,
is the weak link in the troika of power-brokers. It is just a significant link between
the major players of the drama, namely politicians and criminals, and functions as
an instrument of politicians to bring criminals to their grip and to tighten the prise.
The role of the police as a law-enforcing agency and its consequential hold on
criminals makes it a handy instrument for politicians.
Politicisation of police
The police is imprimis an executioner and odd job boy of the government. This
image of police is effectively made use by politicians for all conceivable personal
and official purposes. While low-ranking police are put to use as body guards,
gunmen, messengers, watchmen and odd-job attenders, high-ranking police are put
to the travails of the same odd jobs in higher forms. It is a triste commentary on
the present police that while low-ranking police do the job as an unavoidable duty,
high-ranking officers compete and fight among themselves to get and attend to the
odd jobs of their political masters. This they do, even while they are fully aware
of the criminal antecedents and police histories of some of their benefactors. Where
is the passion of our police for law and justice, the fighting spirit against crime and
lawlessness that should be the cardinal professional emotions at all levels? It is just
that our police has no more commitment to justice and social cause and nothing
seems worth the effort, save career promotions and creature comforts.
Not that the police force is devised to be the personal handmaid of the
politicians. It is to be the ultimate power-bearer, the moving force of power on the
field. This necessitates discretion and exemplary personal dignity to be its primary
traits. It has to be a cornucopia of strength of caractere and probity and stand up
as a model to less fortunate people of the country. This beau ideal is also relegated
to oblivion in current Indian policing where all-out self-promotion by devious
methods is the norm.
Subservience in police
The present police, particularly at higher levels, condescends to any mean level,
even at the cost of personal pride, human decency, individual dignity, social
standing and professional ethics, just to get a pat from its political masters. There
are instances wherein police officers of higher rank exposed their careers and lives
to deadly risks by pursuing deviant methods to please politicians. The mishandling
of the Bangalore bandh on December 13,1991 wherein violence was let to spread
and intensify till it went out of control in the evening is a point in issue. These facts
only make out apoint that a normal man, once he enters the police service, somehow
unconsciously assumes to role-play the canine nature and gives a go-by to human
instincts, conscience and such noble traits which are exclusive to the human animal.
The question is should the police be so? Is it imperative to shed human qualities
and assume canine instincts to join the police service? Is it true that policing can
be effective only with the canine instinct of blind loyalty and instinctive obedience,
deprived of all individuality, conscience and rational judgement? The answer is a
categorical 'no'. On the other hand, policing can be genuine policing only with the
strength of character, tempered with rational judgement and healthy exchange of
ideas at all levels.
Voice of reason is silenced
It is not as if all people who join the police are always weaklings. Saner elements
made up of stronger fibre too once in a way enter the police. However, numerically
superior leeway swimmers with their stronger positions, by courtesy of officious
politicians, strangle the reasonable voice of the enlightened few who enter the
service. If some among such a minority are found to be implacable and refuse to
be illaqueated, they are easily crippled by murky malengines that bring mayhem
on their career prospects. The police displays an extraordinary unity of purpose in
executing the telos of eliminating the common enemy of its personal ends, though,
otherwise, it is as polarised as any conteck-ridden organisation. Career-long
enemies become friends and most inefficient officials become thorough profes-
sionals in fulfilling this task. Most of the righteous few yield to the straint and fall in line with the majority pursuits. This success has made the police think that its
weapon is inviolable, though foul and dangerously wrongful. However, sadly, it
has forgotten that all are not the same and that there are exceptions for everything.
It is quite possible that none of such unethical methods affect the few exceptionally
strong-willed, noble individuals, but obsign their resolution not to yield to the
pravity and fight out a tout prix. I know at least one bright senior officer, still in
service in the Kamataka police, who bore all such humiliations valiantly and refused
to give away even an inch from where he stands jusqu au bout with stately grandeur
even at the cost of his promotion.
Casualty of individuality
A police official who commits his time to the services of his favoured politician
is aware of his weak position that it may embarrass him when the concerned
politician loses his power. This consciousness sensitises him to the need of garner-
ing support from all around, including subordinates, colleagues and seniors. Any
source of plain speaking among subordinates is taken with serious apprehension
and everything possible, either legal or illegal, is plotted to keep such a source in
place. It is ruthlessly hit in its most sensitive parts to bring it to its senses. This
approach has led to a myriad number of casualties: really bright, outstanding,
conscientious and four-square officers who inadvertently joined the police. Either
they are made to blunt their sensitivities and calibre to adapt to the ground reality
or pack-up right away. The travails of ploughing the field for a fresh approach is
not only not allowed, but even the thought of such experimentation is roughed up.
Is the police department doomed to be the cold-storage of musty, old skeletons
without room for resilience? Those who reached the top with the support of
opportunistic politicians think so.
A political instrument
In an atmosphere where placements and transfers are decided by the needs and
wishes of self-seeking politicians, no police can efficiently function nor can it be
free from the vice prise of the politicians. It is not surprising that power-esurient
politicians more and more grab powers that are legally and traditionally invested
with the police department when the top brass lack the strength of character and
conviction. This leads to a position wherein the police department becomes a
chessboard on which politicians move their pieces to checkmate their adversaries
and win the political game in their favour. In other words, the police sans effective
leadership is becoming more a handmaid of politicians by moving away from its
sacred role as the guardian of law and justice and protector of the society and the
common man. The credit of bringing the police from its height of power to the present level of absolute submission should go to the superior strength of per-
sonality of wily politicians who bent the police on their own terms with selective
use of stick and carrot. This police is not the police and what it does is not policing
in the proud sense of the term.
Changed role
With the increscent involution of the p »lice with glidder politicians, the con-
ception of the police about its own role has undergone a large-scale change. No
more does it look at crime control and maintenance of order as its first duty. With
this, the concern for crime control received a setback and crime control and
investigation have receded to the last priority except when politicians are interested
in them for a specific purpose. Only crimes that disturb politicians foment police
to galvanic and meaningful action. Other crimes receive no priority. The very
definition of the gravity of crime is adapted to suit the new conception. Those
crimes which are tolerated by politicians are no more crimes. The self-image of
the police as 'a fearless arbiter of crime' is changed to a solicious servant in
attendance at the pleasure of a politician master. This blunting of the crime card
of the police has made it less awe-inspiring and less deserving of respect from the
criminals. The police has more and more realised that criminals, particularly those
from organised syndicates are personal friends of its political masters and it is no
match for the criminals in terms of wealth, influence and social standing. The men
of the police see those criminals on equal footing with their political masters and
learn to treat them with awe. They find it absurd to act with authority against the
immarcescible criminals who are too high for the small stature of the police. It is
unfortunate that the police of the present day has never realised its infinite stature
as a law-enforcing agent vis a vis all others including criminals and politicians
whom it is empowered to search, arrest and take to court if they deviate from their
rightful path. Sadly, the trifling wealth and the concomitant "big-man" image of
others appears to the present police as more appealing than its own awful police
authority.
Reversal of functions
The very possibility that policemen trade off their awful authority lucri causa
is an astounding phenomenon. Undoubtedly, the poor salaries and inadequate
working conditions have brought about this sad state of affairs. The hafthas and
such periodical shares of the spoils from criminal activities often are the mainstay
of the well-being of many police families. This triste glissade has unfortunately
permeated even to the highest levels in the police as reported in a shameful case
from Karnataka sometime back in 1990 wherein a IPS man and his wife on the day of the former's retirement were taken to the court of law by the public on the
complaint of defrauding the public by selling tickets in the name of a spastic society
charity show and collecting money eo nomine. The event made big news with bold
| headlines splashed across newspapers at the time. That apart, the importance of
various police jobs is determined in police circles on the basis of the potential of
the posts for attracting illegal money from the crime world. And jobs with potential
for such gains are most sought after and the concours for such jobs is so high that
often postings to such jobs are bought by paying money in lakhs. Indeed, the
investment is made with the esperance of making it back several times over within
a short period thereafter in synergy with the crime world. It is the reason why law
and order posts, traffic policing, postings in the food enforcement cell and even
certain vigilance jobs outside the police as in the KEB for instance are known as
jobs to be earned by beating out cut-throat competition while many other jobs are
known to be punishment postings and are largely detested. It goes without saying
that judging jobs on the basis of the gauntlets they provide or on the opportunity of
service is now a matter of yore. It is the crime world with the wealth it appropriates
to each job that decides the importance or otherwise of the police jobs and ipso
facto controls the type and calibre of officers in each job. In other words, it is the
criminals who invisibly control the police ab extra rather than the police controlling
the criminals. This reversal of functions has lots to do with the low morale of the
present Indian police. Its members find themselves at the mercy of criminals whom
they are supposed to trammel and bring to book. The police is no morg confident
that it is mentally and organisationally equipped to treat criminals in malam partem.
Weakened police
The increasingly powerful and modernised crime syndicates vis a vis the age-old
police force have made crime control a misnomer in the Indian context. The
decreasing percentage of the police presence due to its failure to keep pace with the
population growth in the face of the increasing crime density, the disadvantage of
the police in re the speed of communication, transportation and weaponry before
the ultra-modern machines of the crime world, the advantage of criminals in terms
of the choice of time and place of operation and concomitant superior numerical
strength and ability to produce surprises and the highly skilled and motivated cadres
of the criminal world pressing down a demoralised and indifferent police give
criminals an edge over the police in their encounters. Consequently, police
fatalities in such encounters are increasing. This holds good for terrorist groups,
too. Ergo, the police in India is no longer keen to actively interfere with the activities
of the crime world. The understanding between the criminals and police is that
both confine themselves to their respective fields and avoid embarrassing each
other. The police is duly paid for its silence while stray troublemakers who jump in medias res are silenced. The Indian police is sane enough to quickly realise that
its interests are safe in silence while an uncalled-for tangling with the crime world
may invite a host of complications and comminate individual job security and lives.
Police leadership
The albatross of the atrophy of the present Indian police solely rests on the
incompetent police leadership of independent India rather than on anything else.
Unimaginative organisational planning, uninspiring operational guidance and con-
trol and lack of leadership conviction in modem police leaders has led to utter chaos,
resulting in a random chorisis of the organisation without any conceivable planning
or application of mind to the needs of effective supervision and control
mechanisms; dangerously ineffective recruitment, ineffective training, misuse of
the facilities of confidential assessment of subordinates and the degeneration of
control and supervision machinery are symptomatic organisational maladies. The
present Indian police force is utterly demotivated from its professional objectives
and police jobs are considered only as devices that provide rank, power, social
status, sundry comforts and a comfortable job to fall upon when an urge to work
arises. How can the people of India depend upon a police force of this sorry state
of affairs for their security, protection and orderly living?
Organisational growth
How deeply the police is self-centred even within its own organisation and what
care and concern the police leaders show to evolve a perficient and planned police
organisation can be assessed by the trend of evolution of the police organisation as
an increscently top-heavy setup and the speed with which promotions are affected
at different levels. In states where there were only two officers of the rank of
Inspector General of Police, for say forty thousand men and officers about ten years
back, there are now nearly twenty officers of and above the rank of Inspector
General of Police, for say fifty thousand men and officers: thereby the last ten years
account for 25% expansion in the lower levels against 1000% expansion at higher
levels. What these people at the top do for policing apart from being a drain on the
state revenue and a strain to officers down the levels with conflicting instructions
of dubious merit? Almost nothing. It is unfortunate that none in the police
administration realises that it is not the rank, but the real human stuff inside that
decides the height, excellence, merit, intelligence, honesty, integrity, respon-
sibility, work knowledge and human qualities of a person. Promotion to higher rank
serves no purpose unless the higher rank provides a really higher agd challenging
job content and a suitable man is perforce selected to meet the increased challen-
ges.This is not the case in present police promotions where sinecures are created to facilitate promotions to satisfy in-group instincts. Most of these jobs are without
any job content and responsibility and often are places to relax from the pressures
of family life. However, the same courtesy does not extend to the more unfortunate
ranks at lower levels including the constabulary. While vacancies at the topmost
level are filled up by promotions strictly overnight, promotions at intermediary
levels are effected in weeks or fortnights or months, depending on the rank in the
police hierarchy. It is years in the case of the constabulary. There are cases where
vancancies of Head Constables and Assistant Sub-Inspectors or Sub-Inspectors are
not filled up for several years, depriving the constabulary of their de jure promo-
tions. There are any number of instances of men in the constabulary, retiring
without a promotion non obstante their eligibility and seniority for the existing
vacancies, which are not filled up from many years. Policing is a job, performed
mostly at lower levels with decreasing involvement upto the level of Superintendent
of Police. Beyond that, it is tout court a supervisory task and in a police force with
no supervision to speak of, higher ranks are just de trop. Any move to expand these
ranks and any undue haste to promote to these levels cannot be called honest
decisions in the functional or public interest. Unfortunately, the Indian police is
doing just that and there is none to put it back on the right track.
Management of human resources
The position is worse in recruitment. Selection has become a misnomer. It is
random at best and high business at its worst. This approach to recruitment may
turn out to be a highly dangerous situation for both the governance and public life
of India. Policing is a highly sensitive profession and requires only specially
equipped people to handle it. It demands certain specific traits in its officers which
cannot be learnt by any amount of training. The police being the ultimate power-
bearer on the street, the public look to it as a a model and its mien decides public
trust in the government In the circumstances, the wrong selection to the police is
bound to be fatal to the national life. India is deeply mired in such a dangerous
situation now. There is a price fixed for each rank of the police. How can a fresh
recruit who enters service by paying a bribe be expected not to reap returns from
his large investment? What can be his mental picture of the service he enters? It is
absurd to expect professional policing from such a recruit. Those who permit such
nasty doings in the police or involve themselves to bring the organisation to its
painfully slow sphacelus are the butchers of a great tradition.
Even when there is genuine scope for proper selection in recruitment, nothing
is done to rope in the really competent. It is either because none bother much to
have a really competent person in the slot or because of the incompetence of the
persons entrusted with the job Of selection. The common aim of the police in
recruitment now is to complete the job without inviting legal hurdles at the best.
Sometimes, even rules are overstepped to cut short procedures and do away with
cumbersome work. Even sensitive posts at the lowest level like police drivers are
filled up arbitrarily and quality suffers as a result. This is equally so in matters of
transfers as discussed in detail elsewhere.
Line of command
Everything is not right in the spine of the police organisation namely the
hierarchical order - itself. The importance of honesty, integrity, hard work and
excellence is replaced with personal loyalty and usefulness for personal odd jobs.
This is the outcome of the natural devolution of personal loyalty to politicians at
higher levels on the ladder. Those who do not come up to the expectations of
personal loyalty, fall out of favour and are eliminated from the line of command as
persona non grata. This pravity has a more demoralising effect in a force of line
of command than meets the eye. This trait in the organisation results in the
deflection of brighter, proud and four-square officers to insignificant jobs to the
advantage of the opportunistic ones who are insecure and ergo tend to make up
their famishment with personal loyalty to those in power. It is the main contributing
factor for the slow degeneration of the present Indian police.
Quality is suppressed
There are some unwanted under currents in the Indian police that make pride,
efficiency, excellence, originality and such superior qualities the objects of fear and
hatred. Perhaps, these superior qualities do not go pari passu with the line of
command by the reason of the insecure feelings, these superior qualities rouse
higher in the line. The fear is not based on reality in a disciplined force like police
where the line of command functions a tout propos without reference to personal
traits. The question is why this fear surfaces in the modem police while the
pre-independent police with all its better manpower could run without it. The
possible answer is that the line of command is a perfect mechanism in a disciplined
force when the force indulges in dejure professional duties. However, the line of
command becomes increasingly strained when it is used for personal ends as of
late. Ergo, ultimately, it is a vicious circle wherein poor leadership leads to
elimination of quality and that in turn results in poorer leadership which slowly
blights the police organisation to its triste logical end.
Police brotherhood
The police is a sacred confrerie of those who choose policing as their profession.
It is here, as brothers irrespective of caste, creed, social standing, rank or personal
traits, they live as one, in the interests of the common objective of crime control
and maintenance of law and order. How can this ideal which was once a strikingly
kenspeckle reality survive in changed circumstances where there is no common
cause except personal advancement at the cost of everything? Consequently,
groupism is abounding in the police force and jealousy has become a characteristic
feature of the ranks. There is no mutual warmth among police personnel. The
police force, once a smooth silk fabric, is now in shreds with each group pulling on
opposite sides to the detriment of the unity, essential to its survival in view of the
natural job hazards. Indifference to the other's predicament is a rule in the police
these days. Often, those in the police contribute to each other's misfortune because
of accidental bad blood or just fun. No confrerie is patent anywhere in the present
Indian police.
Lack of planning
The police, by the nature of its jobs, is required to walk hand in hand with
modem advancements to keep itself fit and functionally effective. The general
reluctance of the Indian police to adapt to new ideas and the ungainly handling of
modernisation projects have resulted in its falling en wrier in terms of modem
machines and organisational techniques in comparison to the syndicates of or-
ganised crime which keep themselves pan passu with neoteric findings and
inventions to keep themselves in excelsis of the effectiveness. En attendant,
modem communication, information, transport, office and armament gadgets are
bought for the police on the advice of some sales agents without creating the
adequate infrastructure or trained personnel for their use and without assessing the
real need of such equipments in the existing police situation. As a result, the gadgets.
so bought, fall apart with desuetude after the initial entrainement cools down. Such
a light-hearted approach to modernisation results in the police becoming more and
more an obsolete unit, apart from putting an unproductive burden on the state
exchequer.
The police is one of the most vital instruments of the public administration and
works as a link between the executive arm and judiciary. It is the ears, eyes and
limbs of the government. No government with a failing police system can survive
whatever be its other assets. It is against this background that the glitches bedevill-
ing the present Indian police should be viewed. Any complacency at this stage
about the existing police system may prove too costly for the unity and well-being
of the country and the health of its governance.
Professional policing
The police of India imprimis, should be extricated from the clutches of criminals
and politicians to make it a professional policing outfit with objectivity and
commitment to its task as the cardinal gospel. Both criminals and politicians have
stakes in the style of functioning of the police and neither of them, the criminals
with their easy money and the politicians with their easy power, let the police slip
from their grip. There is no point in beginning the cleansing operation from the
sides of the criminals or politicians. It has to begin from the side of the police by
insulating it from the vile influences of criminal wealth and political power. If this
bifarious object is fulfilled, all others fall into place by themselves. Once the vile
shadows of the criminals and politicians are removed from the face of the police,
it is certain to resile to its old professional self - a highly committed, motivated and
efficient force. But the golden question is how to achieve this end and save the
police from these two debilitating influences.
Independent police
In a free society like India with a democratic political system in the saddle,
interaction between various strata of society is a natural phenomenon and efforts
to raise barriers between blocks is bound to be infructuous. Yet the gauntlet of
saving the police from dangerous influences should be courageously taken up in
the national interest. The fact of the police being a disciplined force is both an
advantage and disadvantage in this stupendous challenge. It is an advantage because
the weapon of discipline, if discreetly employed, can be used to block the police
from undue interaction with unwanted elements. It is a disadvantage because the
police with its trained response may find it difficult to isolate itself from the personal
behests of its political masters. It is left to police leaders to devise appropriate
techniques to make the best use of the existing advantages in this sacred and
patriotic task. To begin with, somebody among the police leaders should decide to
bell the cat. Who can do that while all of them are willing partners in creating the
vested nexus that helps them to ascend to their present high positions in the
hierarchy? Yet, the world is not as bad it is painted. There have to be exceptions
for everything and thus, good people among the police too, who by the quirks of
dextro tempore avoid the long arms of Satan and survive to reach the place where
they rightfully belong. These breaches in the otherwise swarth layers of clouds
throw rays of hope upon the future of Indian police.
Police authority
The first and foremost job to be done is to free the police from the unhealthy
influence of all hues of politicians by making it responsible to an independent
authority with absolute power to take decisions on matters pertaining to policing
and police organisation. The authority should be a professional body with men of
proven probity and quality as members, who have reached a stage from where they
need not sacrifice their convictions to appease those in power. A working arran-
gement is to be devised by which the authority is responsible directly to the
legislature and functions as an independent authority like the judiciary, Comptroller
and Auditor General or Election Commissioner.
Core group
The damage already done to the police by the ancien regime can be undone by
overhauling the recruitment procedure and investing utmost care to ensure that
really the best from the job seekers are let in to the service. Any interference in
matters of recruitment should be promptly and decisively resisted. To make
recruitment an efficient operation, only highly qualified officers of proven probity
should be entrusted with the task with the absolute authority to take decisions within
the framework of law. The ugly head of bribery in recruitment should be ruthlessly
crushed and the unhealthy tendency of making recruitment a business should be
curbed tout a fait. Infusion of good blood at least at this late hour is certain to undo
the damage done till now and bring the ancien regime yet extant inside to its senses.
Indeed, the recruitment should be followed with a sound training that sensitises the
recruits to their professional ethics and motivates them to their sacred duties and
responsibilities.
Contented police personnel
Police jobs should be made attractive with good salaries and satisfactory
working conditions that give the strength to resist the bait thrown by the criminals.
It is proved by social scientists that the incidence of bribery is inversely proportional
to the financial strength of a social group. Therefore, better salaries and eximious
working conditions definitely make the police less sensitive to these lures. This
would be a major step in prising the hold of criminals over the police. The measure
must be closely followed by a perficient and strictly professional policy of place-
ments to ensure the right man comes to the right job with merit and honesty being
duly rewarded. Measures to ensure an unbiased assessment of the work and
character of subordinates strengthen and place the police organisation on sound footing. Those who are empowered to assess subordinates and their work must be
made answerable therefore and any unscrupulous and random discharge of their
duties should condemn them forever for the misuse of this sacred responsibility to
the future of the organisation.
Fair play
Creation of a high power core group of people who are adept in assessing men
and character within the aforesaid police authority may help to create a feeling of
confidence and job security and prod them into discharging their official duties
fearlessly. This group which oversees the work of police personnel from a distance
should be made ultimately responsible for all career decisions. The responsibility
of officers in assessing the work of their subordinates which forms the major
embarrassment of the present Indian police must be limited to giving their opinion
about performance to the core group; the expert core group processes the opinion
by its own research, expertise and discretion and takes responsible decisions on its
own. The group must be made responsible for development planning of the police,
work assessment, job analysis, recruitment and management of human resources.
Institution of such a core group to oversee the career development of police
personnel without personal bias may bring revolutionary changes by committing
the police to its work ethics and professional ends with due single-mindedness.
Mental quality
It is a tragedy in the current Indian police that there is no relation between the
efficiency and performance of an official and his standing in the organisation. The
police officials are so indifferent to the performance of their subordinates and their
work turnout that they are absolutely in the dark about the standard of work turned
out under their supervision. Another reason for this sad affair may be that they are
unqualified to assess. This situation leads to random assessment when a senior is
statutorily bound to assess and in the process, talent withers and opportunists
overtake high-calibre workers on the hierarchical ladder. This tragic melange can
be brought to order by exposing police officers periodically to motivation courses
where they are taught about the work they are required to perform, its importance
and how to discharge their duties. There is an innate trait in the police that makes
people entering it shut their minds and distance themselves from all hues of mental
activities. Police training must endeavour to break this trait and coax trainees to
open their minds and reflect on all matters before making decisions. Often, the
habit of reading becomes a casualty, once a person enters the police. The police is
in no way antipodean to mental and scholastic pursuits. It is a mystery what there
is in the police that binds its men to let their minds and hearts languish by desuetude. Police researchers must look to this matter to mould the police into an organisation
which acts and thinks before resorting to action. Before this happens, police
training has a major role to make a recruit a thinking animal with a heart to feel and
an intelligent instinct to follow.
Professional knowledge
This negative approach to reading and thinking has resulted in poor professional
knowledge in the police, particularly at the higher ranks. Work knowledge is
generally limited to what is remembered from previous work experience and bits
of what is learnt from books during police training, decades before. Their defective
conception about supervision compounds the situation by depriving them of the
benefit of learning new things during supervision of work. The style of supervision
in the police should be seen to be believed. All orders to subordinates emanate
from a perfect void. The orders warrant subordinates to feed them what is to be
done in a given situation and the reply received is returned to the same subordinate
as an order to perform. The best style of supervision in the police is no more than
holding a meeting of subordinates wherein the latter are allowed to arrive at a course
of action to meet a given challenge, and the decision is returned to them as an order
to perform. This style of ineffective supervision must stop if quality is required in
police work. The system of overlapping supervision because of multiple ranks,
where none really discharges his supervisory role must be scrapped to make the
police a meaningful organisation. A thorough overhauling of police training
programmes and application of modem organisation techniques to bring in effective
check and control mechanisms would go a long way in ameliorating the ground
realities in the police.
Universality of crime
On ultimate analysis, crime is a universal phenomenon. All living beings are
criminals in varying degree. Criminal thought is a part of the natural function of a
healthy mind as is the moral restraint that prevents the criminal thought from being
acted upon. External restraints brought about by the fear of law, custom and adverse
reaction reinforce the inner restraint to prevent the committing of crime. However,
as the force of external restraints weakens for diverse reasons and the proportion
of gain to be made in committing a crime overweighs the risks involved in the
balance sheet of the operation, the lure of crime increases and the deed is done. It
is the social situation which controls the external restraints to make committing a
crime an asset or a liability and thereby decides the proliferation or suppression of
crime with human nature being what it is always. Criminals are criminals because
society gives them easy openings to thus meet their needs. Politicians love to befriend criminals rather than bring them to book because the society they live in
makes their lives comfortable with criminals as friends rather than as adversaries.
Policemen find the crime world sweeter because it is how things stand for them.
The remedy for the proliferation and endearment of crime lies in changing the social
dynamics to make crime a liability to criminals and criminals a liability to
politicians and the police. In the existing nexus of politics, crime and police, crime
is an asset to criminals and criminals are an asset to politicians and police.
Criminals should not be construed as a separate block of citizenry. They are a
cross-section of people from all fields of life who have moved beyond a commonly
accepted degree in their criminal tendencies. Criminality may be prolific in certain
civilised fields like commerce and industry in the form of tax evasion, violation of
foreign exchange regulations, hoarding etc; such crimes are generally not taken
seriously in spite of the public awareness of the crimes, with the social standing of
the criminals remaining unaffected. Government servants too come under this
category of criminals because of the unconfined corruption in public life. It is a
fact that Indian public life is a vast field of criminal activities and politicians and
police, though the custodians and protectors of the Indian public life, form part of
the crime world. However, knowledge of the involvement of politicians and police
in this nasty world stirs the public conscience, for the reason that they are supposed
to be the people on whom the public relies to save them. But, it cannot be because
they are also part of the society which makes public life a nasty affair and nourishes
it.
Crime and national economy
A word about the effect of the nasty nexus between politics, crime and police
on the national economy. Unity gives strength. It is true about the nasty nexus
also. The only telos of the nexus is gain by synergy, the synergy which brings
confidence and courage to the troika in its nefarious activities, thereby inducing it
to more daring and innovative criminal activities. This results in proliferation of
crime, apart from affecting the quality of crime by opening up new avenues for
operation. As the ultimate end of all crime is illegal gain and the incidence of crime
is directly related to increase in black money in the national economy, the prolifera-
tion of crime invariable results in inflation and the weakening of the national
economy.
More dangerously, it results in a polarisation of the society into criminal rich
and honest poor and destroys the country's moral fabric. The increscent incidence
of easy money, material comforts and political power of the criminal rich ultimately
leads to internal strife, emeute and popular terrorism.
Social polarization
The indulgence of the rich and powerful in crime popularises criminal activities
by bringing an aura of status to them and negating all inhibitions in the popular
mind. Society easily accepts the example of the wealthy and powerful for making
an easy buck to lead comfortable lives in the world where life is becoming
increasingly difficult because of the spurt in black money, caused by the prolifera-
tion of crime. While decent life becomes impossible by honest methods, the need
of survival forces honest citizenry to accept crime as a way of life as the last resort.
This would be where politicians, criminals and police lead the country.
Easy money and easy wealth have a tendency to inflate. Criminals tend to spend
lavishly. This ends up in a spurt in prices of land, building and essential com-
modities while honest men have to toil hard for an extra quarter. Crime begets
money and money begets more money and more money begets power, comfort and
everything. In the crush, honest man is lost forever. The ocean of criminal wealth
around him which is beyond even his wildest dreams frustrates him and ravages his
sense of morality and righteousness. It turns him violently against all human values
and decency, leading him to a world of crime and violence. It is what we see in
Punjab, Kashmir, Assam, in far away Srilanka or even in Naxalism where it is
hidden in the guise of political ideology. It is an irony that politicians and the police,
who create the demons, eat their own pies by falling to the bullets of the grievously
hurt, self-righteous, once innocent people. It is said that even the dacoits in
Chambal are symptomatic of this social and economic malady.
It is true that crime cannot be eliminated from any society as the tendency to
commit crime is ingenerate in human nature. However, crime can be supressed by
appropriate straints. What straints and how they are to be applied are ironically
decided by politicians and the police. If they come out of their indulgent interests
to commit themselves to their professional objectives, they can certainly save India
from the present predicament. Not that every politician and every policeman can
come out to achieve this noble task, but there certainly are noble elements yet
surviving as exceptions among them, who should take up cudgels in favour of the
Indian polity and sacrifice their lives and careers, if necessary, to make the
renaissance of Indian police and Indian public life possible. The question yet to be
posed is whether the inveterate vested interests will let these sacrifices bear fruit.
Let us hope for the best.
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