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New Delhi: After a
six-year wait for states to implement a Supreme Court order on
police reforms, several former police chiefs are now venturing
into activism to rid the force of what they call "deep
politicisation" and "people unfriendliness".
To press the states and the union government to implement the apex
court order issued in September 2006 after a 10-year litigation
process, they have launched a nationwide movement to convert the
force into a "truly people's police" from the "ruler's police"
that they say it has transformed into.
For the purpose, former Uttar Pradesh director general of police (DGP)
Prakash Singh has mobilised his old colleagues into the movement,
launched on Sep 22, to ensure the executive's stranglehold on the
police is removed and the force has the freedom to act in
accordance with the law of the land. Members of the movement plan
to fan out across the country to create awareness among opinion
makers.
The apex court order asks the states and the central government to
hasten police reforms, which has been a subject of debate for the
last six decades since independence.
"The apex court has issued six directions to the state governments
and one to the centre (for implementation of police reforms). The
states have been dragging their feet on implementation," Prakash
Singh, also a former Border Security Force (BSF) DG, told IANS.
"The petition I filed in the apex court dragged on for 10 years
since 1996 before orders were issued. Their implementation has
dragged on since. Even six years later, the reforms are only on
paper," said the retired officer, who also briefly served as Assam
DGP.
The court orders primarily aim at doing away with political
control over appointments and transfers of police officers and to
leave the work to a committee, and also help in efficient policing
by bifurcating the force for crime investigation and law and
order. It also provides for security commissions at both the state
and national levels.
According to Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde, 14 states since the
2006 order have either enacted new police laws or amended the
existing ones as part of their police reforms.
"The police reforms process needs to be pursued by the state
governments," Shinde said at a recent conference of police chiefs.
According to him, Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana,
Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Punjab, Rajasthan,
Sikkim, Tripura and Uttarakhand have enacted the new Police Act or
have amended the existing laws.
"The remaining states too need to enact the new Police Act,"
Shinde added.
However, Prakash Singh says the changes are only on paper.
"Some states have given affidavits of compliance to the court, but
there is no change on the ground," he noted.
He also maintains that the states have been "smart" in enacting
laws to legitimise status quo. "These enactments are not in letter
and spirit of the apex court directions."
"We are nowhere near faithful compliance of the apex court's
directions. These directions have the potential to change the
philosophy of policing and transform it from ruler's police to
people's police," he said.
Backing these views, E.N. Rammohan, also a former BSF DG, told
IANS: "No state government has implemented the Supreme Court
directives with all sincerity and in letter and spirit."
Julio Ribeiro, former Mumbai police commissioner and Punjab DGP,
concurred.
"Politicians and bureaucrats do not want police reforms. They do
not want to give up their powers to appoint and transfer. They
want these powers to extend patronage to police officers to earn
their loyalty," Ribeiro, who headed one of the police reforms
committees set up by the government 15 years ago, told IANS over
the phone.
His prescription to cure the "poor state of affairs" is "a
people's movement" against executive control over the police and
to transfer that power to the people, so that society could have a
"good, honest, accountable" police force.
N.K. Singh, another retired DGP and co-petitioner in the apex
court, noted that it is easier for small states like Goa and
Puducherry to make progress in police reforms, but the larger
states like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar tend to procrastinate.
"Political non-interference is important to ensure our democratic
institutions are free of criminals," Prakash Singh said.
(N.C. Bipindra
can be contacted at nc.bipindra@ians.in)
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