Policing the Force

The year 1998 will go down as one of the worst years in living memory for the Mumbai police. So much wrong-doing by the police has been revealed that it is hard to believe this was once a proud force with a good record. The Srikrishna Commission on the riots of 1992-93, the Gundewar Commission on the killings in Ramabai Nagar and the report by the Aguiar committee on encounter deaths prove beyond any shadow of doubt that the rot is deep set. Drastic reform is urgent. Many areas need attention: morale, politicisation of the force, equipment, training, manpower, supervision. One very important aspect of police mismanagement is brought out clearly by the Gundewar report which was tabled a few days ago. The police is unwilling or unable to police itself. This is a terrible state of affairs and must change.

Police and other commissions have made valuable recommendations. The state home ministry no doubt issues innumerable directives. But for significant change to occur, police chiefs must take the initiative toenforce the rules and enforce discipline. First must come the admission to themselves that there is a serious problem in police administration starting at the top. No reform will be possible as long as the practice of covering up wrong-doing in the force continues. All members of the force must be accountable for their actions. It is amazing that a commission of inquiry was needed to find that Police Inspector M Y Kadam’s orders and the resultant firing in which 11 Dalits died and 26 were injured was “unwarranted and indiscriminate”. One is compelled to ask why the police was unable to come to this conclusion on its own much earlier. The facts of the case were not complex. The firing occurred at one location over a short period of time. Witnesses were forthcoming, plenty of data was available.

What are departmental investigations into such ghastly incidents meant for if they cannot pinpoint misconduct? It is disturbing to find the police authorities trying to shield guilty officers with shallow argumentsand distorted facts. The overwhelming impression is that crowd control rules are not important, the police manual is irrelevant. All that matters is saving somebody’s hide. This is shocking and must stop. Let the police start policing itself in 1999.