POLICING CHALLENGES IN INDIA

India has a rather conspicuous place on the society of the Indian police forces. These are the authorities or we can say the executor of the rule of law within the society. Even though, being the same primary agency in restoring law and order in society, there exist a number of shortcomings which they handle on daily basis that require to be addressed. Be it shortage of staff or incompetency on the part of staff available, there exists numerous obstacles that bring doubt in the efficiency of our police forces. India is the biggest democracy in the world. India is ranked the 7 th most populous nation by size and the largest by population officially overtaking china in population this year. We are at an overwhelming figure of 146 crores of floating population with people of various backgrounds therein making India the cultural hub and the 4th largest economy in the world. These awards put India in a quite vital and prominent situation that it was very significant that the police forces should operate in a proper manner yet in many cases, they failed to achieve their full potential because of many factors. Here in this article, we are going to discuss all such problems that our police forces are facing and at the same time prove their point over their presence in the courts of India. We shall also be inquiring on ways in which the law makers, law enforcers and most importantly common citizens of India can get rid of these challenges completely.

INTRODUCTION

1. The important role of serving the justice stays with the police forces at the grassroot level. They happen to be the authority that the aggrieved party run to first during grievances as such they are service bound.

 To comprehend this adequately however we must first be conversant with the various levels of police and their recruitment strategy. The top to bottom chain of command is as follows,

1) Director General of Police: The Ultimate Police Officer in a state. Directs the whole force of the state police personnel, formulates policies and supervises all the activities. They are high ranked IPS (Indian Police Service) officers who are appointed by the state.

2) Additional DGP: Helps DGP and is in charge of very large zones or special branches and is in charge of the state at large. These are IPS Officers who are promoted.

3) Inspector General of Police (IGP): He is the Head of a zone/ range (several districts) and in charge of district SPs, to see that the policies are implemented. These are IPS Officers who are promoted.

4) Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG): Responsible of several districts, liaisoning between SPs and the IGP, major cases and operations. These are IPS Officers who are promoted.

5) Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP): Oversees big/town districts, high profile cases, in charge of the SPs, and the district police. They are either promoted to rank of IPS officers or are State Police Service.

6) Superintendent of Police (SP): He presides over a district and is in charge of law and order, crime prevention and administration. They are recruited directly as IPS or are promoted through State Police Service.

7) Additional Superintendent of Police (Addl. SP): He/she will assist SP and deal in delicate cases. They are either recruited at the position of DSP/ACP itself or at the recruiting stage in IPS.

8) Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) / Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP): He/she is in-charge of a sub-division, oversees a number of police stations and heads major crimes. They are selected through State Public Service Commission or directly through IPS.Inspector of Police: Investigates cases, files charge sheets, supervises ASIs and constables, leads small teams. They are recruited through state level competitive exam.

9) Assistant Sub Inspector of police: Helps SI in investigation, makes statements, collects evidence. They are either transferred to police officer (from constable) or they are recruited after examination in the states.

10) Head Constable: Oversees the constables, keeps record and helps in investigations. After that they are elevated to constable.

11) Constable: The novice, street patrol, law enforcement, limited crime response or service, person interaction. Recruitment exams or physical tests carried out at the state level.

CORRUPTION IN RECRUITMENT

1) Bribery and Collusion- This is also a serious problem which contributes towards deforming our police foundation. The state has always had allegations that it colludes with the recruitment process to reap monetary benefits of their person. The recruitment is three fold, i.e., Written Exam, Physical/Medical Efficiency Test with an interview at the last stage. Most of the time such tests are done by the private firms in conjunction with the government agencies. On this note a large number of individuals pay bribe to such prestigious government jobs, and in some cases vital possessions like land, jewellery is bribed to the power which results in monetization of police jobs. Besides being a heinous offence under the Criminal laws requiring acceptance and giving of bribe, it also contributes towards indulgence of police personnel of low caliber and poor capabilities within the foundation itself.

2) Political and Administrative Influence: Individuals who possesses political or administrative affiliations are favoured when it comes to recruitment. It is because of this very factor that many of the hardworking eligible employees who are very keen in doing their duty of 100 percent honesty suffer. On the contrary, unqualified applicants are accepted with poor work ethics.

3) Scandals and Annulments: The most high profile scamming has even resulted in results being annulled and courts still fighting it out on behalf of deserving candidates. They create a lot of trauma on the candidates and their families which have also contributed to occurrence of suicides.

Our work forces are greatly affected by these types of corruptions. This tendency is general because when a corrupt person has got through the system, he can engage in more corruption and fraud in the system and hence dilutes the core of our police service. This pose a situation of distrust by the masses on Police because in the past police are there to serve peoples interest and concerns, but all these malicious activities topped the charts of police image and reputation like a levin. Therefore, corruption at the grass root level of giving scammers an easy spread has promoted a good number of unworthy candidates which is very wrong. Also, this is because these recruits are unqualified thus they are not disciplined enough, ethical and act in the most un-professional manner possible with the common people. Thus, recruitment corruption among the police officers of lower rank is a serious problem in India, and it impacts the image of the police, the efficiency and integrity of the police force. This triggers a vicious cycle of corruption in recruitment whereby the recruited ill people are known to another round of corruption in the system that discourages the war against crime eroding the trust of the populace in the Police.

INADEQUATE TRAINING OF POLICE PERSONNELS PRIOR COMMISSIONING

1) Obsolete and Insufficiently Equipped Training Facility: Majority of Indian Police academies experience a lack of good infrastructure, latest technology and finances. As time goes by, it is highly essential to keep updating the academies to make sure that they are provided with overall development of the police cadets. On a sadder turn of events, this is not the case and though it is the role of the state to make sure this is not the case, still, most of the academies are still behind the times.

2) Academic and outdated Curriculum: The old curriculum which became the practice of independence age is still applicable at a number of training institutions up to date. Laws have changed a lot since then where many have been repealed, some have been imposed then the curriculum that has been imposed is the old outdated curriculum. The given curriculum does not solve the topical issues of such nature as cybercrime, crowd control, communal violence, and terrorism. In many police academic curriculums, least importance is given to how one can work hand in hand with a forensic department that is now compulsory in a criminal case as per Bhartiya Sakshya Adhiniyam (BSA). This should be adjusted to make the police personnel have priviness to current trends in the society. The curriculum must be correct so that they will be ready with the situations in the world today and be ready to react and investigate in complex crimes.

3) There is no priority on Soft Skills: Although their training on the procedural aspect is given importance most of the times the police department is never trained on improving their communication skills. The most important of them all is the communication skill on their part as they are the mediators between the law makers and common people. Unless their communication skill would be good, then it could result in abrupt rise of incidents among ordinary people. Another reason is that due to the absence of soft skills of the police officers, they may be unable to address tactical scenarios where high-profile individuals are implicated.

STAFFING SHORTAGES

1) Effect on the Quality of Investigations and delivery of justice: Inadequate staff means there are overworking policemen and this manifests to a low quality investigation and delayed justice. The crime investigation report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) on Delhi Police indicated that 35 percent of tasks can not be executed in 72 of its police stations with the shortage of the manpower, leading to long working hours and less investigation into the crimes. This structural understaffing is also a leading cause of the low rates of conviction as has been observed by the Law Commission where in IPC cases conviction rates were comparable to only 47 per cent of such cases owing to inefficient investigations.

 2) Resource Constraint and Operational Challenges: Deficiency of human resources and inability to ensure order and manage specialist work troubles governance capacities of the police. Consider an example where the Punjab & Haryana High Court ordered the Haryana government to put on police officers to help the CBI since the latter lacked personnel considerably due to staff shortages as one of the challenges during the operations. This deficiency is not only in normal policing but also in special investigative work that needs specialized people.

 3) Administrative Decisions and Legal Scrutiny: The lawyers courts have acknowledged the aspect of shortage of staff as a contributor to the administrative decision but have as well given restrictions. The court also did not interfere with transfers on the ground of shortage in a 2019 case which involved the transfer of staff due to staff shortage in Narsinghpur, but warned that transfers based on shortage cannot be arbitrary without the requisite attempts to fill up the posts by the state. This shows that judges are in touch with the problem of shortage but also that government needs to be accountable in terms of managing personnel.

 POLITICAL OBEDIENCE

1) Violation of Autonomy and Impartiality: The political interference in the work of the police violates the independence of the latter, resulting in violations of impartiality in decision-making, prioritization of cases where there are political benefits and distortion outcomes of investigations. This casts doubt on the principle of fair enforcement of law and undermines credibility of the justice system among the people.

2) Manipulation and Pressure: Police is frequently pressured to take action against political opponents or secure friends, which negates any form of professionalism and accountability. As one illustration, a report published in 2019 determined that 72 percent of the Delhi police officers reported political pressure when carrying out an investigation.

3) Corrosion of the Rule of Law and Accountability: Police recruitment, superseding and police performance are sorted out on political preference leading to abuse of power, acts of arbitrariness and selectivity in law enforcement. In Prakash Singh v., the Supreme Court stated that: Reforms were made by Union of India under the motive of keeping police free of politics, which illustrated the negative impacts of politicization to police.

KEY CASE LAW AND RELEVANT POLICE REFORMS DISCUSSED

Prakash Singh & Anr. vs Union of India & Anr. (Writ Petition (Civil) 310 of 1996; Judgement dated 22 September 2006 by Supreme Court of India). It was a writ filed by former IPS officer Prakash Singh who wanted electoral reforms of the police system in order to make it independent of politics and improve accountability.

Some of the major reforms were ordered:

1) State Security Commission in order to make the police independent of political influence. 2) Minimum of two years of fixed tenure of DGP and senior officers to curb arbitrary transfer. 3) Breaking up of Law & Order police and Investigation in order to professionalize it.

4) Police Establishment Board to take care of transfers, postings and promotion up to the rank of Deputy SP.

5) Independence inquiry on police misconduct by Police Complaints Authority.

6) At the central level, senior appointments need to be done by National Security Commission. 7) Legal Basis: Actions on the base of the Article 32 and 142 of the Constitution to provide binding directives regarding police reforms.

8) The Supreme Court have repeatedly kept track of the implementation status and given notices of contempt to defaulting states and refused review petitions seeking its immediate implementation. It is not the first time that Subsequent Judicial Monitoring and High Court Interventions have taken a peek into the matter.

Examples: Allahabad High Court struck down illegitimate transfers without the approval of Police Establishment Board in Uttar Pradesh and pointed out that the transfers should be carried out as per the Prakash Singh directives. Madras High Court moved the appointment of one of the DGPs on the basis of non-adherence of laid down selection procedure by the Prakash Singh, in his directions, to comply with the directions of recommendations by the UPSC panel. Such examples enforce the orders of Supreme Court and make sure that reforms are implemented at state level.

Objections and Explanations after Prakash Singh: In 2019, the Supreme Court had to address the objections to state Police Acts which were not in conformity to the Prakash Singh guidelines repeating the demand of realization. The Court has shed some light to the reforms and pointed out that police autonomy and accountability is a constitutional necessity. Thus, Prakash Singh case stands out as the guiding law requiring wholesome police reforms in India to reduce political intrusion and enhance professionalism. Later High Court decisions and Supreme Court clarifications have strengthened these reforms which still face implementation difficulties.

ADEQUATE SOLUTIONS

1) Depoliticization and Autonomy: Establish a State Security Commission in all states to keep politics out of police consequently as required by Supreme Court in the Prakash Singh case.

2) Have a constant minimum duration of leadership so that transfers are not arbitrary and there is independence in decision- making among police leaders.

3) Transparent Administration: Give the Police Establishment Board, as it is, the authority to make transfers, postings and promotions, without the political executive.

4) Require the written (public) records of any government action in police business, subject to judicial review.

5) Modernization and Capacity Building: Recruitment of manpower under a fast-track system to cope with shortage of manpower and better working conditions.

6) There should be a modernization of the equipment, forensics facilities, digital tools, and ongoing training to boost capabilities of investigating and the operations part.

7) Accountability and Community Engagement: Establish an independent Police Complaints Authorities at the state and district level to listen to matters of grievances by the people.

8) Encourage community policing and performance assessment after regular intervals on the basis of clear and pre-accepted standards.

9) Legal and Structural Reforms an amendment of the Police Act of 1861, inspired by the colonial policies, and an adoption of the Model Police Act (2006) to institute these changes in the law. Therefore, the problems of Indian policing are buttressed by a mix of law enforcement, administrative changes and police modernization coupled with concern of community. All this is necessary to allow the recovery of autonomy, effectiveness, and confidence in the police by the citizens.