A senior police officer from Uttar Pradesh, Amitabh Thakur, is recently in the news, after being suspended for being ‘an activist’, among other things. In this ongoing episode, the various charges and allegations flying back and forth include an FIR lodged by Thakur’s wife (a genuine activist in her own right) on illegal mining activities of a state cabinet minister (who is ‘absconding’ at the time of writing this piece!), the ‘dying declaration’ recorded by Thakur of a journalist covering the alleged illegal mining activities; as also the ‘threat’ by the senior-most politician of UP to Thakur to ‘mend his ways… or else…’. It is not clear if a civil servant or a senior police officer can be permitted to be an ‘activist’—the term has acquired pejorative connotations, like ‘Naxalite’ or ‘terrorist’. Be that as it may, the departmental proceedings will go on apace; one can be reasonably sure that the facts regarding the allegations against the minister will quietly be obscured; and the likelihood is we will never know the full truth—this is the way of public affairs in most state governments.
In another context, N R Narayana Murthy has only recently discovered that India, over the past 60 years, has not created or inspired one major innovation or invention that is used by the rest of the world. This late realisation from a businessman is welcome; the average Indian businessman is so wedded to his goal of profit-making, particularly by toadying to the government of the day under all circumstances, that it is refreshing to see a change. Narayana Murthy also wondered why this is so—the answer is writ large. The Indian governance system is terrible, having seen steady secular decline over the decades; the fundamentals now are in very poor shape—poverty is rampant, education at all levels is abysmally poor, public health in India is among the worst in the world; in the world corruption league, we are close to the top. The grip of the political class is all-encompassing, throttling every aspect of our national life. For Murthy’s edification, this is the basic problem—we are likely to continue to be non-performers for the next 60 years also.
Since Thakur is a police officer, the remainder of this piece focuses on ‘police reforms’—as a sub-theme of overall governance reform.
The beat policeman is seen today as a lazy, apathetic, demoralised, corrupt, inept parasite, whose main job is to extract ‘safety money’ and to auction FIRs. He is no more seen as a friend of the public. The reasons have been gone into in countless reports by various commissions; correctives are possible, but these do not suit the state political machinery. The average policeman’s main job is seen by the politician to provide VVIP cover, and act as his accomplice; this is the crux of the failure of the police system.
Up until the 70s, the district superintendent of police (SP) was totally in charge of supervising the work of the 20 or so police stations under him. He would, with a hawk eye, ensure quality of investigation and that policemen acted fairly, promptly and adequately in a local situation; he would rapidly investigate corruption and deliver local judgement and punishment. These powers have summarily been hijacked. Transfers and postings of the thanedaar are now done from the Chief Minister’s office, on purely political considerations—generally on the prompting of a local goonda or politician. If the SP starts exercising authority, he will be summarily transferred. Politicisation of the police services, as indeed all civil services, is a spreading cancer eroding the vitals of governance.
In the Prakash Singh case, the Supreme Court judgment ordered major reforms including establishment of a police commission in 2006; in 2013, the apex court asked for a minimum of two-year tenures for police officers in the interest of good administration. It is noteworthy that nearly every state is in total and continuing contempt of these apex court orders; this is the measure of the compulsion of the political class and their dependence on the police for personal and party needs.
The quality of registration of cases, investigation and prosecution is in abysmal shape. It would not be possible to describe the terrible ground reality that obtains in this regard. There is no force which is at work, either from the executive or the judiciary, to modernise these key aspects of law and order/justice machinery. The condition of state CIDs is pathetic; these openly are handmaidens of the ruling party in every state.
The above summarises the reasons for the sub-standard performance of our police system. While most national administrative arrangements have run down, the decline in the police sector is the most noticeable and serious. All police reform issues can be well addressed for dramatic improvement in a short period if the will is there; that does not suit our political class. The movement is continuously downhill; the citizen bears the brunt—sustainability is suspect. This is the reason we will not know the full facts of the Amitabh Thakur episode.
tsrsubramanian@gmail.com
Subramanian is a former Cabinet Secretary