Police force are state subject in the Constitution of India and facing acute resource crunch. As against 4.4 percent of state budgets during 2011 and 2015, expenditure on police was reduced to 4 per cent from April 2016 to March 2019 making police under resourced and overburdened so much so that its core activities and criminal investigations are compromised.
With the ever-growing public trust deficit in police and the police continuing as instruments of oppression, suppression, bullying, vendetta politics, framing up innocents, misuse by the state governments, democracy in India is in peril. In our system of rule of law based democratic governance, people are sovereign masters as all state organs are accountable to them (people). Added to this, police are also continuing to be brutish, nasty, corrupt and extortionists to the detriment of the people’s interests. Police continues to function under the draconian Police Act, 1861, which worked to serve the repressive colonial power. In the Independent India since 1947 there has been no credible action to bring about needed police reforms despite nine reports on police reforms including two directives from the Supreme Court to this effect. Result has been for all to see; police cannot be trusted.
According to a nationwide survey by Lokniti team of the Centre for the Studies of Developing Societies in 2018, less than 25 per cent of people trusted the police compared to 54 per cent for the armed forces. Reasons for distrust are alluded to frustrating interactions with the police, time consuming, costly and fear for being framed up. According to a latest official data, 30 per cent of cases filed in 2016 were pending for investigation by the police even after one year of institution of such cases. This is alluded to lack of countrywide adequate police strength except in the insurgency infested states. Official data reveals about 28 lakh countrywide sanctioned police force as in 2017, whereas the actual working strength was 19 lakhs, leaving a vacancy of 9 lakhs.This made 144 police force available per 100,000 population in the country against the benchmark of 222 police personnel per 100,000 citizens fixed by the United Nations, making Indian police a very weak entity to maintain law and order. Even at the full sanctioned strength of about 28 lakh police force, there would be 185 police force per 100,000 people, short of 222 police personnel as suggested by the UN.
Police force are state subject in the Constitution of India and facing acute resource crunch. As against 4.4 percent of state budgets during 2011 and 2015, expenditure on police was reduced to 4 per cent from April 2016 to March 2019 making police under resourced and overburdened so much so that its core activities and criminal investigations are compromised. This also compounds the issue of accountability of the police. There have been nine major reports including two directives from the Supreme Court of India broadly suggesting major police reforms to remove political class from unduly influencing police to serve their personal and political interests so that police acted fairly without fear or favour to maintain law and order and did proper and timely investigation of criminal cases and making police accountable.
As for the police reforms the states have developed cold feet to make police a credible, efficient and non-partisan force and an instrument of friendship with the people in maintaining law and order. Police’s power to frame innocents under threat to them, shoddy investigation of cases, partisan conduct and power to torture people in custody needed to be addressed if democracy could be made meaningful. During 2018, the Supreme Court reviewed progress of its directives of 2006 and issued fresh directives. Justice Thomas Committee in 2010 highlighted total indifference of state governments to police reforms. In 2007, second administrative reforms committee noted police-public relations were unsatisfactory. In 2006, Supreme Court issued seven directives to state police forces that included setting up of State Security Commissions and a Police Complaints Authority. In 2005, Police Act drafting committee worked out a new Model Police Act to replace the 1861 Police Act and circulated it to the state governments. In 2003, Justice Malimath Committee suggested changes in the Indian Penal Code outlining ways to improve judicial proceedings. In 2000, Padmanabhaia Committee dealt with criminalization of politics, criminalization of police, nexus between them and police accountability. In 1998, Ribeiro Committee appointed by the Supreme Court to review lack of action by States on National Police Commission reframed a new Police Act. In 1977-81, National Police Commission headed by Dharamvira submitted eight reports on police reforms.
With the growing political class-crime-police nexus and ever increasing role of money-muscle power helping growing number of legislators and parliamentarians with criminal background and their involvement in crimes getting elected, there has been reluctance among political class to bring about needed police reforms in sync with democratic norms. This has hampered growth of rule of law based democratic governance so much so that democracy in India is only elections-centric as arbitrary exercise of power, suppression of vulnerable sections of people and wide scale discriminatory governance are continuing with impunity. The way forward in the prevailing circumstances is speedy police reforms making it accountable, fair and fearless with no political interference in the workings of police and separation of investigation from police to free it to devote totally to enforcement of law and order as also ratification of the 1984 United Nations Convention Against Torture to which India is a signatory but has not yet ratified it by a stand-alone law intended to abolish Sections 330 and 331 of the Indian Penal Code to take awaypower of police to torture people in custody!