Crime and the system

Providing the police with autonomy is the first step to getting a more professional force

The failure of the police to pay the required attention to the complaints of the poor parents of the missing children of Nithari comes as no surprise to me. I have seen the edifice of the police structure crumbling in my 34 years of service in the IPS UP cadre and have, in fact, suggested reforms in my book, The Crumbling Edifice: Experiences and Thoughts of a Police Officer.

The manner in which police officers handle reports about missing persons is indicative of the mindset of the policemen at the cutting edge of policing in this country, their style of functioning and their response to the complaints of common people. It is trite to say that non-registration and minimisation of crime has been the norm at police station, as it suits both police officers and the political leadership to show an improvement in crime levels. Policemen hardly have the inclination or time to pay attention to time-tested methods to prevent or detect crimes.

Gathering of intelligence about crimes is the prime duty of the beat constables and their immediate supervisory officers. In the Nithari case it is apparent that this basic police work was neglected. Generally, supervisory officers are no exception to this. They have little touch with the ground reality and work primarily on the basis of information fed to them by their subordinates, political leaders and other influential persons who have access to them.

The second malady is the attitude and behaviour of the policemen with the aam aadmi. They are generally indifferent, curt and contemptuous in their manners. Another problem is the general corruption at the thana level. There are complaints that the lower functionaries demand bribes even for performing their duties. It is common knowledge that because of their low salaries and lack of adequate resources they have to depend on local thugs to meet even daily official expenses. It was quite possible for a man like Moninder Singh Pandher to lavish hospitality on local policemen and remain free from intrusive police attention.

It is expected that, with the CBI stepping in, the criminals involved in the beastly acts at Nithari will be nailed. But the matter of larger concern is to go into the root causes of police abdication of their statutory duties and take remedial action. The Supreme Court gave directions for reforms in the functioning of the police on September 22, 2006. It does make sense for the whole process of registering crime to be entrusted to an independent and reliable agency, as I have argued in my book. Ultimately, any reform will have the desired results only if police personnel at the operational levels are of the required calibre, trained to function in a democratic set-up and adopt modern methods for the prevention and investigation of crime.

The writer is a former director general of police, UP and Manipur