New Police Act
Naya Bharat will need a new Police Act to govern its police. A few years back, the BPR&D had prepared a Model Police Bill and the Central govt should seriously consider adopting it for Delhi with a few changes:
The Preamble should define the police role shortly as 'helping the citizens to enjoy their Constitutional rights and to promote fraternity';
Since 'zero tolerance for corruption' is one of the 'mantras' of Naya Bharat, the new Act should make it mandatory to remove a police officer who is found guilty of corruption, manipulation/destruction of evidence, torture, or suspicious conduct;
It should mandate assessment of the character of all police officer and removal from service of any officer who is found to be of weak character;
It should provide for a machinery for citizens' monitoring of the police, without interfering in police operations;and
It should make maintenance of law and order the sole responsibility of police. It should also mandate that to mantain law and order, police shall not place any undue restrictions upon people's Freedom of Expression and Freedom of Assembly and that in the case of a disturbance, police shall act to minimise injuries to person and damage to property.
Structural changes
To facilitate the changes that are required, some structural changes will be necessary.
Since 'better ease of living for all' is another 'mantra' of Naya Bharat, it would be necessary to ensure that everyone is able to register his/her application ( for NOC , etc ), complaint (against police, etc) or report ( about something suspicious or some crime, etc ) via e-mail. For this, some volunteers in every village (who could be retired govt servants or school teachers ) should be given a computer, trained in its use, and designated as 'police mitra'. Then anyone who has a problem could go to any available 'mitra' , identify himself /herself with his/her Aadhar card, and lodge his/her application, report, or complaint and get a registration number with which he/she can enquire about the action taken on his/her filing.
To the same end, the PSs must be strengthened so that they can meet all the requirements of the job and provide people with the services they are expected to provide. Under normal circumstances, the SHO should have to approach SP only for additional force for handling demonstrations or for investigation of complex cases of fraud or conspiracy etc. It is unfortunate that most PSs are at present grossly understaffed and under-eqipped : this must be rectified quickly. At the same time, the available manpower at the PSs must be put to optimum use and supervisory officers must check from time to time how the manpower is being utilised.
It has been mentioned earlier that one factor in securing commitment of the staff is to set an attractive goal. But setting up the goal can not be enough: the staff must feel that it is contributing to the achievement of the goal. So, the staff's contributions should be publicly acknowledged by senior officers from time to time .We are now getting well educated and talented person as constables. In order to make full use of their capabilities and to give them a feeling of significance , these constables must not be kept on 'mechanical' duties for too long: after two or three years, the constables should be given aptitude tests and thereafter, every constable must be given chances to do jobs in the field of his choice. As an incentive to staff to do their jobs well, a constable with a good record must be allowed to sit the SIs' examination after 8 to 10 years of service and every SI with 10 to 12 years of satisfactory service should be allowed to sit a special examination (to be devised by BPR&D, in consultation with the UPSC ) and join the IPS.
I have mentioned earlier the importance of proximate leadership and of strict supervision of investigations. I have also mentioned the crucial importance of prompt, effective and credible enquiries into complaints against police. Thence, I suggest that an officer of the rank of AsstSP/DySP should be put in charge of every PS, primarily to provide leadership, to supervise and guide investigations, and to enquire into complaints. I also suggest that an experienced prosecutor (maybe retired APP) should be posted to every PS to help IOs with legal advice so that they may avoid leaving loopholes in investigations . These prosecutors should also be trained to act as 'uncle ' to staff so that they can offer staff a shoulder to cry on and give them sane advice to mitigate stress.
It is my experience that the involvement of too many officers in supervision of crimes is not effective. I think that every investigation must be supervised by the SHO ( if he is not investigating the case himself ); the AsstSP/DySP in charge of PS must srutinise case-diaries of all important cases, inspect the spot and interrogate the important witnesses, and send progress report to SP; the SP should apply his mind to it, verify any aspect of investigation that he considers necessary and issue suitable instructions to the IO, and forward the progress report to the Zonal IGP on a single-file basis, who should satisfy himself that the case has been correctly investigated, and be ultimately responsible for co rrect investigation of all serious crimes.
At the highest level, the DGP should keep in touch with the govt, ascertain what the govt's policies and priorities are, advise the govt what is feasible and what resources would be needed to achieve the set objectives. Once this is settled and resources allocated, he must, with the assistance of AddlDsGP, lay down the objectives for all the units, allocate resources, and, if necessary, spell out how the objectives are to be achieved. The AddlDsGP should then be responsible to monitor, without disturbing the Zonal IsGP, that the resources are being correctly utilised and whether the set objectives are being achieved or there are problems, and to inform the DGP accordingly.
Conclusion
A good deal of changes are required for better policing of Naya Bharat: a new Police Act, some bold decisions at the govt level ( in leaving maintenance of law and order solely in the hands of police, for example), many at the organisational level (most importantly, in style of leadership) and a good deal of public understanding and cooperation. However, all these will yield best results only if a comprehensive review of the Criminal Justice System is undertaken ,the real legal difficulties of the police are removed, a solution is found to the problem of judicial delays, a check is placed on perjury, and courts are helped to devise deterrent punishments.
Comments can be posted here, there is no monitoring. ( Concluded)
Naya Bharat will need a new Police Act to govern its police. A few years back, the BPR&D had prepared a Model Police Bill and the Central govt should seriously consider adopting it for Delhi with a few changes:
The Preamble should define the police role shortly as 'helping the citizens to enjoy their Constitutional rights and to promote fraternity';
Since 'zero tolerance for corruption' is one of the 'mantras' of Naya Bharat, the new Act should make it mandatory to remove a police officer who is found guilty of corruption, manipulation/destruction of evidence, torture, or suspicious conduct;
It should mandate assessment of the character of all police officer and removal from service of any officer who is found to be of weak character;
It should provide for a machinery for citizens' monitoring of the police, without interfering in police operations;and
It should make maintenance of law and order the sole responsibility of police. It should also mandate that to mantain law and order, police shall not place any undue restrictions upon people's Freedom of Expression and Freedom of Assembly and that in the case of a disturbance, police shall act to minimise injuries to person and damage to property.
Structural changes
To facilitate the changes that are required, some structural changes will be necessary.
Since 'better ease of living for all' is another 'mantra' of Naya Bharat, it would be necessary to ensure that everyone is able to register his/her application ( for NOC , etc ), complaint (against police, etc) or report ( about something suspicious or some crime, etc ) via e-mail. For this, some volunteers in every village (who could be retired govt servants or school teachers ) should be given a computer, trained in its use, and designated as 'police mitra'. Then anyone who has a problem could go to any available 'mitra' , identify himself /herself with his/her Aadhar card, and lodge his/her application, report, or complaint and get a registration number with which he/she can enquire about the action taken on his/her filing.
To the same end, the PSs must be strengthened so that they can meet all the requirements of the job and provide people with the services they are expected to provide. Under normal circumstances, the SHO should have to approach SP only for additional force for handling demonstrations or for investigation of complex cases of fraud or conspiracy etc. It is unfortunate that most PSs are at present grossly understaffed and under-eqipped : this must be rectified quickly. At the same time, the available manpower at the PSs must be put to optimum use and supervisory officers must check from time to time how the manpower is being utilised.
It has been mentioned earlier that one factor in securing commitment of the staff is to set an attractive goal. But setting up the goal can not be enough: the staff must feel that it is contributing to the achievement of the goal. So, the staff's contributions should be publicly acknowledged by senior officers from time to time .We are now getting well educated and talented person as constables. In order to make full use of their capabilities and to give them a feeling of significance , these constables must not be kept on 'mechanical' duties for too long: after two or three years, the constables should be given aptitude tests and thereafter, every constable must be given chances to do jobs in the field of his choice. As an incentive to staff to do their jobs well, a constable with a good record must be allowed to sit the SIs' examination after 8 to 10 years of service and every SI with 10 to 12 years of satisfactory service should be allowed to sit a special examination (to be devised by BPR&D, in consultation with the UPSC ) and join the IPS.
I have mentioned earlier the importance of proximate leadership and of strict supervision of investigations. I have also mentioned the crucial importance of prompt, effective and credible enquiries into complaints against police. Thence, I suggest that an officer of the rank of AsstSP/DySP should be put in charge of every PS, primarily to provide leadership, to supervise and guide investigations, and to enquire into complaints. I also suggest that an experienced prosecutor (maybe retired APP) should be posted to every PS to help IOs with legal advice so that they may avoid leaving loopholes in investigations . These prosecutors should also be trained to act as 'uncle ' to staff so that they can offer staff a shoulder to cry on and give them sane advice to mitigate stress.
It is my experience that the involvement of too many officers in supervision of crimes is not effective. I think that every investigation must be supervised by the SHO ( if he is not investigating the case himself ); the AsstSP/DySP in charge of PS must srutinise case-diaries of all important cases, inspect the spot and interrogate the important witnesses, and send progress report to SP; the SP should apply his mind to it, verify any aspect of investigation that he considers necessary and issue suitable instructions to the IO, and forward the progress report to the Zonal IGP on a single-file basis, who should satisfy himself that the case has been correctly investigated, and be ultimately responsible for co rrect investigation of all serious crimes.
At the highest level, the DGP should keep in touch with the govt, ascertain what the govt's policies and priorities are, advise the govt what is feasible and what resources would be needed to achieve the set objectives. Once this is settled and resources allocated, he must, with the assistance of AddlDsGP, lay down the objectives for all the units, allocate resources, and, if necessary, spell out how the objectives are to be achieved. The AddlDsGP should then be responsible to monitor, without disturbing the Zonal IsGP, that the resources are being correctly utilised and whether the set objectives are being achieved or there are problems, and to inform the DGP accordingly.
Conclusion
A good deal of changes are required for better policing of Naya Bharat: a new Police Act, some bold decisions at the govt level ( in leaving maintenance of law and order solely in the hands of police, for example), many at the organisational level (most importantly, in style of leadership) and a good deal of public understanding and cooperation. However, all these will yield best results only if a comprehensive review of the Criminal Justice System is undertaken ,the real legal difficulties of the police are removed, a solution is found to the problem of judicial delays, a check is placed on perjury, and courts are helped to devise deterrent punishments.
Comments can be posted here, there is no monitoring. ( Concluded)
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