A politician knows his language of ambition, priest exploitation, and a policeman his master’s voice. When the three join hands, like they did in the Ram Rahim case, it can inflict collateral damage. The entire event is a solid proof that police reform that was first started by the British has not moved even an inch in the last 100 years. The sheer inaction in the first few hours of Panchkula mayhem and brutal reaction thereafter shows that the police mindset hasn’t changed with time.
The AHL Fraser Commission appointed for reforms in 1902 had said: “The police force is far from efficient, it is defective in training and organising, it is inadequately supervised, it is generally regarded as corrupt, oppressive and it utterly failed to secure the confidence and cordial cooperation of the people.”
Almost 115 years later, PM Narendra Modi had to remind top cops of the country that the “police need to explore methods for improving the image and acceptance of the department to counter prevailing trust deficit.”
The response of bureaucrats in the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) was typical and expected. They decided to set up a special task force that should submit a set of recommendations, which would be implemented by the state.
But before they come out with another volume on police reforms, they should first burn all historical recommendations and start afresh. Because one may ask what happened to those past reports? The answer is simple: Nothing. The inertia of the successive governments had forced the Supreme Court to issue a direction that police reforms should be taken as a mandatory transformation.
Months before the Panchkula court appearance of Ram Rahim, the PM had flagged another point in a closed-door meeting: “Video conferencing may be increasingly used for court appearances.” After the PM’s desire, MHA had issued a missive to all the state DGPs to implement it in consultation with state authorities. Why was this not implemented in Ram Rahim’s case?
Police authorities allowed his grand procession to the court with a convoy of 200 vehicles. The spectacle only added more fuel to the simmering fire. PM Modi in that secret meeting gave another piece of advice: “Police to focus on regular patrolling and constabulary-based intelligence generation that can act as important force multipliers towards visibility on the ground and towards its positive public image.” What the public witnessed in Haryana was just the mirror opposite. The Haryana Police completely failed to act as a force and only helped in ruining the image of police.
As far as financial resources are concerned, the government in 2015 had tabled a response in Parliament revealing around Rs 3,400 crore was released to the states during 2011-14 for modernisation of their police forces. So, what is it that prevents them from shedding the Raj legacy? The answer is IPS and political leadership. Both the tribe should be held accountable.
Not long ago, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh had held a closed-door meeting with senior IPS officers to discuss the issues related to training to make the police smart. Singh had a simple desire: “DGPs must encourage domain expertise among police officers and they should pay attention on practical training of personnel.”
Forget about establishing transparent, merit-based methodology for public recruitment and use of technology for earning public trust, they cannot even erase the 100 years of conditioning in the existing police force.
Modi had another desire that a suitable mechanism may be developed in the police hierarchy so that top-down flow of guidance and bottom-up flow of ideas is ensured. This reform seems to be a foggy dream Indian police do not want to wake up from.