Police Reforms: India
Police Reforms: Too Important to Neglect, Too Urgent to Delay

The Petition on
Police Reforms-Salient Features

The subordination of the police, including investigative agencies to politicians and bureaucrats has threatened the very foundations of democratic functioning by:

• letting the people in power or those having clout get away even with blatant violations of laws; and
• resulting in direct violations of the rights of citizens in the form of unauthorised detentions, torture, harassment, fabrication of evidence, malicious prosecutions etc.

A few glaring examples from the recent history of the erosion of rule of law or of major violations of citizens rights resulting from the wrong type of political control over the police are:

• anti-Sikh riots of 1984;
• demolition of Babri Masjid on December 6, 1992;
• assault on the Allahabad High court on September 13, 1994;
• excesses committed on Uttarakhand agitators at Mujjafar Nagar, U.P on October 1, 1994 and
• inaction in registering or pursuing cases of corruption, scams and frauds involving politicians.

The police was blatantly misused for political purposes during the Emergency (1975-77). The excesses committed by the police and magistracy were vividly brought out in the report of the Shah Commission of Enquiry (April 1978).

The Government of India appointed a National Police Commission in 1977 to undertake a review of the entire system and working of the police organisation. The Commission remained in existence till 1982 and submitted eight comprehensive reports to the Government, containing recommendations covering almost all aspects of police organisation and its work.

The problem of political interference in the work of the police and its disastrous consequences on rule of law in this country were examined by the National Police Commission in its Second Report (August 1979). The Commission made the following major recommendations to deal with the problem.

• A State Security Commission should be set up in each state to:

  i. lay down broad policy guidelines;
  ii. evaluate the performance of the state police (CHRI's comments: Present system of evaluation is through departmental heads. Monitoring under such arrangements is sporadic and irregular and not very effective in identifying inadequacies and deficiencies and in bringing about desired improvements);
  iii. function as a forum of appeal to dispose off representations from officers regarding their being subjected to illegal orders and regarding their promotion, and;
  iv. generally review the functioning of the police force.

• Investigative functions of the police should be made completely independent of any extraneous influences.
• The Chief of the State Police Force should be selected from a panel of three IPS officers of that State cadre. The panel itself should be prepared by a committee headed by the Chairman of the UPSC. The Police Chief thus selected should have a fixed tenure. (CHRI's comments: The model Police Act drafted by the NPC incorporates its recommendations regarding the selection of the head of the State Police Force and providing him with a fixed tenure of four years. Under the existing system, selection of the head of the State Police Force and his continuance in office are dependent on the discretion of the Chief Minister/Home Minister. This encourages a very unhealthy race amongst senior officers in the police to lobby for the top post. It leads to erosion of standards of leadership and discipline in the police, besides disrupting its organisational structure and command system).
• The Police Act of 1861 should be replaced by a new Police Act, which not only changes the system of control and superintendence over the police but also enlarges the role of the police to make it function as an agency which promotes the rule of law in the country and renders impartial service to the people.

The National Human Rights Commission in its report for the year 1995-96 has urged the government to take urgent action to separate the investigative wing of the police from its law and order wing and insulate it from political, executive and other interference. It has also asked the government to implement the recommendations made by the National Police Commission in its Second Report, including the establishment of State Security Commission and fixing a statutory tenure for the Chiefs of the Police Forces in the country.

As the government has not taken any action to implement the recommendations made by the NPC seventeen years ago, the petitioners have prayed to the Court to issue orders directing:

• the Government of India to frame a new Police Act on the lines recommended by the NPC to ensure that the police in this country is made accountable essentially to the law of the land;
• the Government of India and the State Governments to constitute National/State Security Commission to ensure that the police functions strictly in accordance with law;
• the Union and State Governments to ensure that the investigative work is separated from law and order functions of the police and that the investigative agencies in the country function uninfluenced by extraneous pressures or considerations; and
• the Governments to follow procedures which would enable only the finest officer to reach the top and to enjoy a fixed tenure.