Like the private armies of the politicians
Why are state police forces now like the private armies of politicians in power in India? Why is this unholy nexus there between the police and the politicians? We have come to such a pass that the richest businessman of India is being threatened by this unholy nexus in Mumbai due to which the case has drawn so much media attention. Of course, assistant police inspector Sachin Waze is a foot soldier who was backed by the powers that be. However, this nexus is not confined to Mumbai alone. It’s almost everywhere in India. Kolkata, where the police work at the behest of those in power, going to the extent of confronting the CBI sometime back, Rajasthan where illegal phone tapping is done or UP where cases under sedition are registered without solid grounds in many instances, are also such examples. And this has been happening over the years in the regimes of all political parties in our country. The police are politicised and criminalised with the result that the common man is not getting justice which is his right. People at large are disgusted with this nexus and want answers and solutions.
For this, history will have to be gone through first. The British gave us colonial police which used brute force to keep itself in power. The Police Act, 1861, says that the police have to report to the state. Our new rulers at the time of independence made no effort to change the force, from the ruler’s police into the police service for the common man. Even today, 74 years after independence, we are governed basically by the same 160-year-old Police Act.
Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee explained it well at a gathering in which I was present— that initially, in the first two decades or so after Independence, politics was generally pure. In the next generation of politicians, some of them started taking the help of criminals who had money and muscle power to make them win and remain in power. In the third phase, the following generation of criminals became smarter. They thought that why help others to come to power, why not themselves be in power? They succeeded and today we have around 40% MLAs and MPs with a criminal record, a figure which has grown steadily in each election, and they have a bright future also.
In this endeavour, they needed the help of the police badly. Fortunately for them, the structure of the police in the country helped them. They realised that the police were under their control as it was answerable to the politicians in power and they grabbed this opportunity with both hands. They ensured that the colonial police system remains reporting to the political bosses. They went not one, but many steps further also. They took control of the recruitment, postings and transfers, punishments and rewards, dictating against whom to take action or not etc. By formal orders of various state governments, these powers were taken over by the state governments systemically.
Today, MLAs bring their own team of government officials, especially policemen of different ranks, to their jurisdiction, by right. Insulting policemen in public or hounding them are commonplace. They also regularly use, misuse, discard and abuse policemen of various ranks depending on their need in blatant disregard of rules and regulations, propriety and conscience. The beauty is that they leave no evidence behind as they get all the dirty paperwork done by the officials and policemen, who are caught finally, if at all. Same will happen most likely in the present controversial Mumbai case.
What has been the response of the police? Where it is asked to bend, it crawls, not infrequently, because their life in all respects is in control of the political masters. So, instead of showing the rule and the law book to their political masters, they have joined hands with them so that they are not only safe, but flourish themselves also in the process becoming criminals in uniform. Extortions, fake encounters and illegalities have become their norm. On the other hand, we have also seen images in public of policemen in uniform touching the feet of the politicians. The example of standing up to the politicians as a rule by the policemen has to be set by the police leadership. There has been quite a bit of failure on this account, though there still are outstanding examples of officers standing up to the masters. The legitimate question is why then is the leadership failing? Well, the recruitment, training and postings of the officers are the areas to be looked into which can be put in two words, ‘police reforms’. Now this is where the problem lies. The politicians, irrespective of whichever party they belong to, are one unit as far as retaining control over the police is concerned, as it serves their purpose. So, they will never let a law pass or a procedure implemented, changing the present system. They haven’t even bothered about the orders of the Supreme Court on police reforms passed in 2006, circumventing those smartly.
What else is the instrument left with the public to bring police reforms and solve its problems and have police to serve them? A public agitation like the one we had for the freedom of India is the need of the hour now because the cry of the police fraternity supported by many well-meaning people is not having any effect.
The police have to become accountable to the law, the Constitution and to Parliament, and not to the political masters. It is necessary if India has to fast become a five trillion dollar economy for which a safe and secure environment is required for all citizens and investors. Besides, it is essential to give to every Indian, especially the poor, the backward, the underprivileged, the weak and the women, justice, safety and security. But will such an agitation happen on a large scale? We can only pray.
