4 min readMar 5, 2026 06:13 AM IST
First published on: Mar 5, 2026 at 06:13 AM IST
Take an anonymous survey of police officers on how many times they have faced pressure from political leaders, especially those in power, and citizens will realise what terrible damage has been done to the police and other investigating agencies. FIRs that are ordinarily difficult to register get recorded when those in power desire them. Often, the full state machinery is employed to arrest opponents and chargesheet cases, however weak the evidence may be. This is because they are confident that the cases will only come up for hearing years later. The careers of those arrested or prosecuted will nosedive but neither the investigators nor the politicians who pressured them will be held responsible.
In these circumstances, no one expected that former Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal and his associates would get relief so early, at the stage of the framing of charges. This is just the start of a case in court. Had the charges been framed, it would have taken years for the AAP leaders to be exonerated. By then, a media trial would have held them guilty and the public would have believed the story.
One also wonders about how those accused in this case were remanded at various intervals. These custodial remands by different courts were not for short periods. The former CM of Delhi and his associates were in police and judicial custody for months. It is a sad reflection of the current state of the judiciary and of the investigating agencies.
Let’s face it, criminal cases these days are not only registered but even closed at the instance of political leaders and parties. Investigation is guided by instructions from “above”. So powerful have politicians become that they do not blink while giving illegal instructions. Investigating agencies are expected to find “ways” to comply and camouflage illegal directives as legal ones. Officers who do not oblige are disassociated from such important investigations. It has been going on for a long time, irrespective of the party in power, although it has become blatant of late. The result is that investigating officers have lost their will to resist these diktats.
Interference in investigation has assumed dangerous proportions. Earlier, an officer would make a “diary entry”, recording the instructions of a political leader in either his own weekly diary or the station diary. This would help him document such oral orders. However, these directives have become so rampant now that officers merely comply.
Besides, due to long delays in trials, the agencies and officers do not face consequences for their unprofessional conduct. The snail’s pace of criminal trials benefits those who have exploited the system. Why would they invest in recruiting and training officers? Their interest seems to be in harassing their opponents through neverending cases.
It is no surprise that we have a very low ratio of judicial officers to citizens. The Law Commission in its 120th report had directed a judge-to-population ratio of 50 judges per million but as of 2026 it is only around 22 per million. A fast-track, efficient criminal justice system does not suit politicians, though they make perfunctory noises once in a while.
It has therefore come as a pleasant surprise that a judicial officer analysed the Delhi case and its evidence at the charge-framing stage and discharged leaders of an important party that had crusaded against corruption. Imagine the relief of those discharged.
Politicians must realise they will not be in power for eternity and their successors can use the same tactics to harass them, maybe refining them further. The lesson is to understand that functional autonomy of investigating agencies is for the good of all. And that a prompt, productive and effective judicial system is crucial to rein in a powerful executive that often crosses the red line. Instead of relying on a few fearless, independent-minded judges, we need a well-resourced judicial system that delivers instead of being burdened by decade-old criminal cases.
The writer, IPS (retired), has worked in the CBI
Politicians must realise they will not be in power for eternity and their successors can use the same tactics to harass them, maybe refining them further. 
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