HYDERABAD: At at time when civil organisations and Left parties have took to the streets expressing anguish over the recent police encounters in the state, TRS parliamentarian from Karimnagar B Vinod Kumar has urged the state government to initiate reforms in the state police.
“As you are aware there is a strong need to reform the police in our country. Across the nation, including in our own state, they face allegations of corruption, inefficiency and citizen harassment,’’ he said in a letter to Telangana State home minister N Narasimha Reddy.
Vinod Kumar pointed out that there were several reports submitted by National Police Commission (1979), Ribeiro Committee (1998), Padmanabhaiah Committee (2000) and Soli Sorabjee Committee (2006) stressing on the need to reform the police.
However, no state accepted these recommendations following which Supreme Court in 2006 Prakash Singh case ordered the states to implement six directives - either through executive orders or legislation - to start the reform process.
Stating that no state has initiated the process, Vinod Kumar said the new state of Telangana can create history, if it implements the directives. “They (directives) are far reaching and profound and would create a police system that is more efficient and accountable,” he opined.
At a time when the government is planning to recruit more police personnel in the state, Vinod Kumar also suggested an additional reform - that of the recruitment system - for better policing.
“Strangely, the first round of police recruitment in our state is physical test. This is an anomaly considering the standard practice of conducting a written test. The net result is that most university students and other academically inclined applicants are eliminated at the first stage itself and brawn is prioritised over brain. This is undesirable as the job needs indepth knowledge of laws and procedures, whereas physical capacity can be built through training post selection,” he said adding written test must be conducted first followed by physical tests.
Stating that these reforms need Government Orders he urged Narasimha Reddy to pass the required GOs and introduce the Model Police Act in the Assembly at the earliest.