Ayush Kishore, KiiT School of Law, Kalinga Institue of Technology, Deemed to be University, Bhubaneshwar
Introduction
The police is an organization of the government, which is responsible for the maintenance of law and order in society. Police are mostly regulated by the government and responsible for reporting to the government. Although, there are some countries, where police are owned by non-government entities. But, in the area of India, recruitment, salaries and wages, allowance, maintenance, and all kinds of help and support are provided by the government.
In India, since the subject of police is mentioned as a second subject in the second list of state list of the seventh schedule, by Article 246 of the constitution of India. The local law and order, public order and police are regularised by the state government.
Due to this, the working pattern of the police is not similar to Pan-India. Different state police have different challenges to face. Some of the states share international borders, some states have to tackle coastal issues, while some states are completely landlocked. It is also relevant to look into the cultural aspects and internal politics of the concerned state. Therefore, policing patterns in all the states are not uniform in Pan-India.
The word khaki is synonymous with the police because the color of the uniform worn by police personnel in India is known as khakhi. Although, during British time, it was both white and khaki. The service rule prescribed that the English should wear white and khaki to the Indians. But, the white cloth material was not easy to handle, it got dirty easily and was difficult to maintain. Hence, the white men, out of helplessness made it Khakhi for themselves too. Hence, this British legacy made the uniform word Khakhi synonymous with police personnel in India. This paper focuses on the sociological theories of police. This paper focuses on the social aspect and opinions of sociology scholars about the police. This paper focuses on the real-life issues faced by the police personnel. This paper concludes with the solution and reforms in policing in India.
The role of police in the society
The police play a very crucial role in the society. The society is not free from crimes and criminals. The police is a law enforcement agency of the state and sociologists consider police as agents of social control. They have theorized the role of police in society from two perspectives. One is conflict perspectives and consensus perspectives. This is based on discretion and its impact on the measurement of crimes, through the view of statistics.
Sociologists have classified it into two different approaches. One is consensus policing, which is basically a community-oriented approach, mostly believed by the functionalists and conflict policing is more Marxist belief, which considers police as an outside hostile force, rather than part of the community.
History of policing in India
The history of the police as a regular force in India was first developed in the year 1861 when the first time the police laws and the service rules were codified. Although, it was promulgated with the purpose of serving the colonial interests. Before this, there was just a military police. This was by the initiative taken by the then viceroy of India, Lord Curzon. The police commission of 1860 recommended establishing a regular force in India, to look into the local law and order in cities and towns, which the military police lacked. The policemen were paid with low salary but had great power. This made them cruel, rude, and tough. This is the reason that the procedural laws in India have inherited trust in courts, but a high level of checks and balances in the police as an entity.
The police system was again reviewed in India, in the year 1902, by the Fraser Commission. The commission emphasized the corrupt practices of the police and the oppressive character. It was not enjoying the trust of the public. The people were clearly unsatisfied and the feelings and trust of the people were seriously injured.
The commission was made by the colonial government to look into the functioning and working of that force, which was formulated and regulated by the colonial government itself. The duty of the police in those days was not to prevent and detect the crime, it was like an ancillary function. Rather, the main purpose of the police was as an instrument of the colonial government to oppress the people. Some sociologists and criminology scholars believe that still we are following this British legacy.
That time it was called as ‘The Royal Imperial Police’. But, after independence, the Imperial Police was formally replaced by the ‘Indian Police Service’. The IPS is one of the most royal jobs in India. Before 1893, the officers were appointed, but the IPS were recruited through the Civil Services Examination, held every year and conducted by a constitutional body, the Union Public Service Commission. IPS are the senior police officers, and they have to report to the state government, and also to the central government when deputed to the central policing agencies or armed forces. After that, the officers of state police cadre come into play, who are recruited by the Civil Services Examinations, conducted by Public Service Commissions of respective states. After this hierarchy of police, there are non-gazetted officers of the police, who are also recruited by the state governments. They all are collectively responsible to the state governments, and they exercise the basic function of maintaining law and order in the state.
The challenges faced by police
The common people have a general perception that the policemen are public servants and like public servants have a lavish life. They are corrupt, rude, and cruel. They can be easily bribed by the rich people and they are just like the pets of the politicians. This is the prejudice that the people in India, pose of the police forces in India. But, this is not the case, all the police personnel are not corrupt at all. Some of them are honest and dedicated to their jobs. The police have to face a lot of issues and problems, during their service. The most well-known is the political pressure. It is well-known as it is highlighted in many literature and writing, which are mostly based on the personal experiences of the IPS officers.
One of the prominent issues is that the police are lacking in the workforce. There are several data and conventions on the police force. Those conventions are also a source of law, proffered by a scholar in the law field, Dr. C.K. Allen. However, some of them are biding and some of them are advisory in nature. Several conventions on policing have released various data, which are alarming.
The UN defines a ‘police-public ratio’, which is a policeman, posted over a certain number of people. The UN prescribes police-public ratio must be one policeman, per 220 people, in a nation, as a whole. The Ministry of Home Affairs, the government of India, prescribes one policeman, per 547 people. But, in India, various states have different police-public ratios. The state of Andhra Pradesh has about a 1,100 of ratio, whereas the state of Bihar has an 839 ratio. However, some states have a better performance, for instance, the state of Tripura has 80 ratios. But, Pan-India there are several other issues.
The police department has to face a lot of consequences, due to the lack of workforce in the police. Due to this, the policemen, at the individual level have to go through long working hours. They don’t even have frequent leaves.
Apart from that, senior police officials have to face political pressure and a lot of stress. The public sees them as hostile. When a man is seen in a khaki uniform, a common man forms the impression of a cruel and rude person. In the capital city of India, Delhi, they are mockingly referred to as ‘Thulla’, which means an incapable person. Due to this, the personal life of the policemen is also disturbed. For instance, when a child, in his school tells his friends that his father or mother is working in the police, they are seen mockingly. Several other mocking words are also referred to as ‘Mamu’ and likewise. Some senior police officers in Delhi, wrote a letter to the minister for home affairs, in 2012, raising this concern. But, there was no such cognizance was taken during the time.
Another issue is the issue of women police officers. The women police officers have to struggle and they can’t bear the night duty. The procedural laws in India, mention that the crime against women should be recorded by a female police officer only. But, due to the lack of female officers, those are conducted by men only. In recent years, the state of Bihar has become the only state to recruit a maximum number of female cops in the department. But, those female cops are facing various issues. They are exploited by the senior male officer, even this exploitation turns into harassment also. They have small children to take care of, they are not given ample leave or even they are assigned to night duties. Their training pattern is also not up to the mark. The training institutions are following the British-era syllabi, and have t been revised with the contemporary circumstances and urban policing methods. Some other states are also facing similar issues.
Conclusion
Some of the states have provided a very good and decent conditions for the working pattern of police officers. Each state has mandated a police manual, which provides for the service rules, which not only affect the service record of the police officers but also of the public. At the current time, the best one is the state of Uttrakhand, which is also known as ‘Mitr police’¸ meaning friendly police. This is just the outreach of the public department towards the public, this doesn’t mean the service conditions they are facing are fair enough. Some of the issues are the gift of British legacy, some of them have been resolved, but some of them still persist. Even today, if any mis-happening occurs in the town, city, or village, people rush only to the police. Police as an agency is still trusted by the common public, but the issues and problems faced can’t be denied.
References; –
- Policing: Development and Contemporary Practice, book by Peter Joyce.
- Community Policing: Misnomer or Fact? book by Veerendra Mishra.
- Policing: Reinvention strategies in a marketing framework, book by Rohit Chaudhary
- https://police.un.org/en
- https://www.mha.gov.in/en
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