Attention: The Police Act of 1861 is still in force

Shivani, a resident of Modinagar in Uttar Pradesh, was savagely beaten up in front of her house by a police sub-inspector last month. She had merely protested against the demolition of her courtyard by a road construction unit. Dragged to the police station, she was further tortured by way of being taught a lesson. And when the victim, whose name has been changed, wanted to lodge an FIR, the cops refused to oblige. Shivani?s case is now pending with the National Human Rights Commission, but it is unlikely that her tormentors will ever be punished.

Such examples of police high-handedness are not uncommon in our country. If urban India is bad enough, rural India is worse. Add to that deaths in captivity or brutal torture at police stations, and the scenario only gets murkier. A group of NGOs, senior police officers and human rights activists admit that police reforms are the crying need of the hour. And at a recent workshop conducted by the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI), an NGO rallying for police reforms since the Nineties, it was evident that the media was needed as an important ally if the movement was to gain any ground.

?The media is a vector that can carry the message and get citizens thinking,? says Maja Daruwalla, director, CHRI. The two-day seminar, attended by journalists from across the country and a few police personnel, was thus an effort to urge the media to deconstruct the way policing is seen, which could lead to possible changes in the future. And changes, many feel, are necessary. The Indian police force, as an organised institution, came into existence with the Police Act of 1861. And even as India looks forward to its 58th year of Independence, its police is still governed by the same 1861 law.

?One needs to realise that the 1861 Act was formulated with the intention of strengthening colonial rule in India in the post-Mutiny years,? says G.P. Joshi of CHRI. But even today, it seems the ruling classes are turning a blind eye towards rethinking policies. Says Joshi, ?After all, exercising unquestionable control over the police like their British predecessors makes it easy for them to misuse the force for their partisan causes.?

Past reports by the National Police Commission (NPC) have suggested reforms like establishing state-level security commissions and protection of officials against mala-fide transfer or suspension orders, in order to minimise political or bureaucratic intervention in their operations. Little, however, has been done to effect them, says Joshi. Precious little has also been done in trying to increase the accountability of the police regarding their activities, he adds.

Having primarily kept the interests of the country?s citizens in mind, CHRI has gone about mobilising public opinion regarding policing in its efforts to pave the way for changes. ?When an issue as critical as police reforms crops up, it tends to meet with severe resistance from within the administrative system, the police and the IAS, if they think their powers are being challenged,? explains Daruwalla. ?Among ordinary people, on the other hand, there is usually a feeling of helplessness and a lack of knowledge about what can be done and how.?

As part of its agenda ? which also includes mustering public opinion at the grassroots level in several states ? CHRI has conducted several workshops and seminars for different population segments to supply information and assist informed debate. And among the few top cops who stand for police reforms is Prakash Singh, DG (Retd).

Rallying for reforms since he retired from the force in 1994, Singh, who was also present at the workshop, shares his own experience in trying to bring about a change. ?There were eight reports published by the NPC on policing in India around the early Eighties. But they were treated only cosmetically by the government,? he says. ?I filed a PIL at the Supreme Court in 1996 [in support of the fundamental recommendations of the reports which were given a quiet burial], which is still pending at the apex tribunal. But the ball has been set rolling, and despite cynicism from within the force, I hope it will lead to changes.?

There?s no saying where the movement for ushering in police reforms will eventually lead. ?Because the initiative is still nascent, it often looks sporadic. But more and more people are getting enthusiastic about the idea,? says Daruwalla. ?The resistance needs to be whittled away, so that reforms can come about quickly.?

As Singh puts it, ?Many people think I am endorsing the cause for the benefit of the police. But mine is a battle for the common man, who deserves a police force that is accountable to the law of the land, and not to politicians and bureaucrats who have vested interests in controlling them. And I personally believe the 1984 riots or the Godhra riots would not have occurred if the reforms had been in place.?

Food for thought, that. But is anyone willing to chew upon it? Perhaps time will tell.