The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Saturday, October 5, 2002, Chandigarh, India

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Advani for good police
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, October 4
Emphasising that a “good police” is an essential ingredient for good governance, Deputy Prime Minister L. K. Advani today warned that any attempt towards police reforms only from the human rights perspective will receive opposition from the police itself.

“A debate on the need for police reforms from a human rights perspective, wittingly or unwittingly, puts the police in the dock. It projects the police, wittingly or unwittingly, as human rights violators which, therefore, needs to be brought under the discipline of reforms. Thereby, it produces a certain reactive resistance to reforms within the police force,” Mr Advani said.

He was speaking at the round table conference on police reforms organised by the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI), Editors Guild and FICCI here.

Mr Advani, who is also the Home Minister, asserted that for him the starting point of police reforms was not human rights, but good governance. He clarified that “it is not in the least my intention to suggest that human rights are not important. We as a nation, and our government, are unreservedly committed to the protection of human rights.

“But it is my belief that we need to approach the issue of police reforms, primarily, not from the standpoint of human rights but in the larger matrix of much-needed reforms for good governance,” he said.

Mr Advani also opposed “severe criticism” of police forces from various quarters disregarding their courageous and self-sacrificing role played by them.

“I often think that our police forces receive more criticism than they deserve. There is insufficient appreciation of the odds they face in discharge of their duty. Look at the courageous and self-sacrificing role played by the police and paramilitary forces in ending terrorism in Punjab. Look at their contribution to the smooth conduct of the first three rounds of polling in Jammu and Kashmir,” Mr Advani said while defending the police force.

Welcoming non-governmental initiatives on police reforms, the Deputy Prime Minister asserted that the NDA government was committed to the cause of police reforms.... There may be some difficulties, but there is no lack of will.”

On the question whether the government had the political will to go for police reforms, Mr Advani said although law and order is a state subject, the Centre could not absolve itself of the responsibility and that it would be his endeavour to implement all “practicable and feasible” recommendations pertaining to police reforms.

Regarding the need for insulating the police from external pressures, he said, “It is indeed true that unwarranted and unjustified interference by politicians and bureaucrats in the functioning of the police has inflicted great harm on their efficacy and integrity.”

Setting the context, Editors’ Guild of India President and Editor of The Tribune, Mr Hari Jaisingh, pointed out that any police reform should pay due attention to the plight of the constables and should be aimed at making the police force more transparent and accountable.

He said efforts should be made to make the police citizen-friendly and create an environment where people fearlessly approach police stations.

Mr Jaisingh set the debate rolling by asking whether there was a political will to achieve this objective, especially when there is a general perception that politicians go for reforms only when they see a vote bank.

Earlier, inaugurating the round table conference, Vice-President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat sought speedy review of the criminal justice system and taking a holistic view to reform policing even as NHRC Chairman J. S. Verma stressed that political will was essential for police reforms. Asking the judiciary to pinpoint the causes of delay in resolving cases and making those responsible for it accountable, Mr Shekhawat said such delays led even to witnesses falling prey to corruption which, in turn, resulted in criminals going scot-free. “There is a large scope of corruption if justice is delayed,” he said.

In his keynote address, Justice Verma stressed the need for insulation of the police from political pressure and asked how could the same police in Gujarat take swift action against terrorists in Akshardham but not control violence in the aftermath of Godhra incident. “Why is that whatever happened (in Gujarat) for months after Godhra could not be controlled? But the terrorist incident was brought under control swiftly with the same available resources,” the NHRC chairman said.

Suggesting that judges while delivering the verdict should also pinpoint the causes of delay and nail those responsible for it, the Vice-President asked the judiciary to conduct a survey to ascertain the causes behind delays even in minor cases relating to public grievances or even traffic complaints and getting compensation in consumer courts.

Mr Shekhawat, who himself has a police background, gave the example of a rape case in which the rapist gets the benefit of the doubt as the witness backtracks after a certain point of time. He also gave examples of murderers and smugglers being let off as corruption comes to play following considerable delay in resolving the cases. He asserted that a holistic view should be taken on the matter and “a single-window” approach towards reforming the policing system would not serve the purpose.

Referring to his findings while probing security lapses which led to Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination, the NHRC chief said it was “possible to avert and prevent” the killing of the former Prime Minister had the policemen on duty been allowed to perform their role by those organising the fateful public meeting on the night of May 21, 1991. There was “enough intelligence information” about the threat perception also. On the havala case in which he had himself given a judgment as the Chief Justice of India, Verma said the case had brought out that it was “not merely corruption by certain individuals, but its impact on national security....the extent to which national security was in danger”. While the same havala channels were used to fund terrorists and politicians together, he said “today you are hearing the same very names which you had heard then”.

The conference, which was divided into four sessions, was participated among others by Justice Leila Seth, Mr Rajendra S. Lodha, Chairperson of FICCI, Justice V. S. Malimath (Chairperson of the Criminal Justice Review Committee), Mr C. V. Narasimhan, Member Secretary of the National Police Commission 1997-1981, retired IAS officer Mr N. N. Vohra, Congress Leader Pranab Mukherjee and former Central Vigilance Commissioner N. Vittal and Human Rights activist and Director of CHRI Ms Maja Daruwala.

Mr Vohra, who spoke on the topic “Insulating Police from External Pressures”, pointed out that any initiative aimed at police reforms by the Centre received opposition from the state governments, under the pretext that law and order is a state subject.

Mr Justice Malimath regretted that while Pakistan, which is under a dictatorial regime, had adopted some important recommendations of the National Police Commission , in India they had not been implemented so far.

He emphasised that the police being the foundation of the criminal justice system should be good and sound and that police reforms were vital.

Mr Vittal said police accountability would depend on the elimination of corruption, proper recruitment and training of police, greater awareness among the citizens about their own rights, ensuring the independence of police function without their position compromised by the political leadership and using information technology to bring transparency in the entire police operations.

Ms Maja Daruwala said today’s discussions centred on the police were aimed at taking the people forward and find mechanisms both internal (as the police themselves) and external as (the NGOs and society) to act as watchdogs to monitor the police and bring accountability and rule of law to the people.