On the Right Side of the Law

Wearing his crisp,new olive uniform,the shoulder straps of which flash two stars and blue-and-red strips,his rank insignia,Sehrawat is enthused about his new role. It’s in stark contrast to his previous one,that of a regional sales manager at Exxon Mobil,an American gas company,where he’d pocket Rs 65,000 a month for managing sales teams in north India. His office,located in a glass-and-steel tower in Gurgaon,was a typical MNC space: carpeted,well-lit and centrally air-conditioned,a cabin of his own,where people could walk in only for business.

Today,his office is the investigating officer’s room,a dark space crammed with a Godrej closet,two steel racks burdened by dusty folders,a few plastic chairs,two steel desks. From being a senior manager,he now finds himself at the bottom of the police ladder,and his salary halved. A sub-inspector is a low-ranking police officer,just above the constables. “He is the backbone of any investigation. All cases begin with the FIR filed by him,a document,which even the higher courts refer to,” shoots back Sehrawat,who says he asked to be “posted in a slum-dense area like Govindpuri with a high crime rate,unlike boring,posh areas like Greater Kailash-I”.

Sehrawat is among the 15 MBAs inducted as sub-inspectors into the Delhi Police in December,after clearing the necessary recruitment exam,which included written and physical tests,and a year-long training at the Police Training College. Fourteen engineers were also among the 344 recruits. “Over the last three to four years,many candidates with professional education and Master’s degrees have appeared for the exam. Though some of them have been recruited in the past,this time,a fairly large number has been inducted,” says SN Srivastava,joint commissioner (Delhi Police-Recruitments),who attributes this influx to “the safety of a government job in times of recession”.

Anuj Chhikara,25,a sub-inspector recruit posted at upscale Punjabi Bagh in west Delhi,is a computer engineering graduate from Indraprastha University. He graduated in 2009,“during recession,with no campus placement.” “I found a Rs 15,000-a-month job as an engineer at an IBM BPO,for which I was overqualified and underpaid,” says Chhikara,who wanted a “secure and reputable job”. A policeman’s job fitted the bill. “I am a Jat and in my community,a thanedar is considered powerful,” says Chhikara,whose constable and sub-inspector relatives “were looked upon with great respect” in his native Jaunti village,near Bawana in north Delhi.

Power and respect,too,drove 26-year-old Jeetendra Singh,of Rithaun village in Gurgaon,to apply as he wants the “name and fame” his uncle,a former deputy commissioner of police,won among his Gujjar community in Haryana. Singh,now a sub-inspector at Sarojini Nagar,south Delhi,did his MBA,from National Institute of Applied Management in Delhi,only “as a backup”. He turned down a Rs 18,700-per-month offer at a well-known stock brokerage company in order to prepare for the sub-inspector exam.

“Jo log dharti se jude huay hain,like villagers,it’s a matter of pride for them to serve the nation,by getting into the armed forces,the navy,or the police,” says Vineet Kumar,from Khera village near Delhi. He is a BTech in printing from Guru Jambeshwar Univeristy,Hisar,who didn’t try for the private sector,and applied for the position of printing engineer in RBI,which he cleared. He prepared for the sub-inspector exam alongside,after having not made it to the army or navy previously. He is currently posted at Lahori Gate in old Delhi.

A sub-inspector’s job is tough. On Christmas and New Year’s eve,Chhikara,for example,was on duty through the night at the Punjabi Bagh club. His room at the police station has a cot and a trunk with his duty uniforms. Kumar,whose home is 35 km from the thana,has met his family only once in the last fortnight. On duty at a busy place like Lahori Gate where there are “many cases of theft from the nearby grain market,and unidentified corpses at the Old Delhi Railway Station,” he is always on the job.

But it’s hardly drudgery. “It’s challenging. When I worked as an engineer,I’d follow a set pattern of working,interacting with just one group of people,and following the same rules of programming. Here,I get to meet domestic helps complaining about their employers,as well as those chauffeured in BMWs. Each situation is different,and that’s the thrill,” says Chhikara,who recently helped nab an auto-lifter. Sehrawat,who grew up watching Byomkesh Bakshi and CID,is excited about having “suggested an important clue to finding the weapon of offence” in a murder.

The training was exciting too. Besides being taught criminal law,forensic science,human behaviour and computers,they underwent physical training,learnt how to use pistols,and control crowds. Sehrawat was a part of the police force that managed crowds at the height of the anti-corruption protests at Parliament Street last August.

All of these new recruits plan to draw on their professional education though. Singh,who has specialised in finance,would like to track “economic offences like cheating and frauds in chit funds”. Chhikara plans to introduce filing FIRs in English “as most sub-inspectors,who are BA,do so only in Hindi”. He helps other cops use computers,software such as CIPA (Common Integrated Police Application),which organises crime records for analysis,and mobile tracking technologies.

Srivastava certifies that the MBA and BTech recruits performed better during training. “They definitely did better than simple graduates. It was easy to teach them subjects like computer and law. They acted as catalysts,helping their fellow trainees,” he says.

It is in this context that Sehrawat plans “to bring about a change in the police force”. “People think low-ranking cops are corrupt. They take it for granted that while they enjoy festivals,we are out on the streets to protect them. People also think we are illiterate. I want to change our image,” he says,adding that he once saw a sub-inspector faltering over a form in a bank,and the bank executive helping him reluctantly. “Sub-inspectors are very demotivated. How can they motivate a victim when they themselves are not?” says Sehrawat. He did an MBA and worked in three companies before appearing for the sub-inspector exam. “I wanted to understand how teamwork,planning,organising and leadership skills work through my education and work,” he says. Now that he’s learnt all of that,he wants to “infuse professionalism” in the police force.