Operational freedom for cops: Panel

MUMBAI, Oct 27: A special committee formed to study the working of police in the country and recommend steps to insulate the force from p...

MUMBAI, Oct 27: A special committee formed to study the working of police in the country and recommend steps to insulate the force from political influences has suggested that cops be given 8220;operational independence8221; and the powers to appoint or transfer police officers be vested in a specially instituted commission.

The report will be submitted to the Union Home Minister L K Advani by Julio Ribeiro, former director general of police and a member of the committee, on Wednesday.

The committee which was formed following the directives of the Supreme Court, in the course of hearing a Public Interest Litigation, was asked to look into three points: 1 ways to insulate the police investigations from extraneous influences 2 formation of state security committees and 3 fixing tenures of police chiefs. The other three members of the four-member committee were: Arun Bhagat, former director general of the Intelligence Bureau IB, Prabhashankara Narayana, a senior advocate of Karnataka High Court, and NirmalaBuch, former chief secretary of Madhya Pradesh.

The report says that police are being used by the ruling parties as a tool to further their own interests. 8220;At times the police is also manipulated to suit the fancies of political leaders,8221; said Ribeiro when he was contacted today on the eve of his departure to New Delhi to meet the home minister.

The report also says that police officers are mostly appointed or transferred on the basis of their equations with their political masters.

8220;Such malpractices in appointments and transfers subvert the system. A police chief should be honest, competent and a man of proven integrity. He should not bow down to the pressure from ministers,8221; Ribeiro said.

In the last three months the committee members have visited Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir and several other states. They have not only interviewed the ministers of the ruling government, but also held discussions with opposition members, various non-governmental organisations and a fewbureaucrats and police officers who were victimised by the powers that be.

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8220;We have also made suggestions regarding a new procedure for selection of DGPs and police commissioners,8221; Ribeiro said. He, however, refused to disclose any details. 8220;The new procedure is entirely different from the existing practice of the home minister making arbitrary appointments according to his party8217;s convenience,8221; is all he would say.

The submission of the report in the Supreme Court, however, will finish only the first part of the four-member committee8217;s responsibilities. Its next assignment would be to suggest modifications to the Indian Police Act. The act which was originally promulgated in 1861 has not been changed since.