Police Reforms - The Need of the Hour

The law is an ass as one goes by the adage. Therefore, law requires a master to take care of it. The police forces, who are enjoined to take care of law and enforce the rule of law, however, in India, are a law unto themselves instead of being the keepers of law. Any amount of laws might not help the republic so long as the law enforcers do not respect the rule of law. Admittedly, they more often than not subvert the rule of law. In Ruchika Girhotra case, also the police officers appear to have misused and abused the rule of law. This abuse of authority along with the political patronage ensured that things were very easy for the perpetrators and difficult for the victim and the family. But for the social activism and the media glare, the Ruchika case too would have died a natural death. Fortunately, the influential accused person is not lucky this time to escape the long arm of law. The human rights organisations across the globe have been campaigning for democratic policing. In India the criminals are able to penetrate into the police because the police are a law unto themselves and not accountable to law. They are far removed from the community. The Police forces in India have little or no regard for the fundamental rights of the citizens as guaranteed by the constitution due to their firm misconception that they are law unto themselves. The police forces are not sensitised about the need to respect the individual rights. They have not heard of any human rights. Resultantly, the police are yet to assume the role of the servants of the people and makes all out efforts to be the masters of the people whom they are supposed to serve. In fact, criminal apathy and dereliction of the duty on the part of the police officials, which needs to be viewed very seriously and should not go unpunished, are on the rise among the police officials. Hence, the state must urgently embark upon the Police Reforms. Sadly, this is a Pandora's Box few politicians would like to open for a variety of reasons. The Padmanabhaiah Commission, which looked into the Police Reforms, had recommended among other things to bifurcate the Police Force into two: one exclusively for law and order and the other one exclusively for investigation. He also recommended having an Investigation kit in every Police Station. It was recommended that The Station Officer should fill in this kit with every FIR preparation. Sadly, the recommendations could not be implemented. On 22 September 2006, the Supreme Court of India delivered a historic judgment in Prakash Singh vs. Union of India, instructing central and state governments to comply with a set of seven directives that laid down practical mechanisms to kick-start police reform. The Supreme Court directive to reform the Police also met with political opposition from the Chief Ministers due to political reasons. The public opprobrium snowballed after the Ruchika Girhotra episode must jolt the policy makers out of the slumber towards the urgency to reform the Police Forces before the Frankenstein eats up the Indian Society, which is fast happening at a rapid speed. The sooner the Police Forces are reformed the better.