Are Policemen also human? Indian Law doesn’t think so!

By Aninditha Vengyalil 27 Minutes Read

Among all the functionaries of the criminal justice system, Police stand as the backbone for maintaining law and order. Policing in India falls under the State list with each State governing their police force. However, the Centre also maintains a separate force for preserving internal security, guarding the Indian borders and assisting the state police forces in need. In India, the actions of police both as individual and as an organisation are majorly dependent on political objectives, the string-puller being the State Government. This kind of policing was established in India by the British after the first major rebellion by Indians in 1857, famously called the Sepoy Mutiny. As an aftermath, the Britishers passed an aggressive law named The Police Act, 1861 which allowed the police to enforce repressive policies of the colonial government. This was brought in order to suppress the people and rule them in colonies. They were unaccountable to the public and answerable only to their superiors in the hierarchy. Even after India faced such despotic policing during the British rule, little did it do to reform such policing in the Independent era. Till date, the anachronistic law is being followed in India without any amendments made as per the ideals of the present time. Separate legislation enacted in most of the States is all based on the same 1861 law. In the words of David H. Bailey, “India, which should have been expected to transform the organisation of police rapidly after independence, has exactly kept the same system which the British created in 1861. The control mechanism of the British Raj has survived and invigorated by a new political dispensation.”[1]

The police force in India is subject to constant denunciation. To a large extent they may be right but seldom does anyone think about the reason behind their inefficiency. There are several drawbacks in the Act of 1861 which restrict the productivity of police. The Police Act, 1861 is silent about the basic rights of a police officer during their service. They are expected to be present managing all the fields effectually right from traffic on the roads and escorting the VIPs to handling heinous crimes and public furore. But one forgets that they have the same working capacity as other employees and require rest in the same manner. Police in India struggles to maintain their work-life balance. They face several health problems due to inordinate hours of duty. All of the poor working conditions of police contribute to the inefficient functioning of the police.

Various committee reports have suggested major reforms in the police system. Model Police Acts were also drafted twice, but the efforts went in vain as none of the changes has been implemented yet. In the recent Model Police Act of 2015, the preamble tries to clarify that the police must ensure human rights by maintaining a people-friendly service free from extraneous influences. It also specifically mentions the pay and allowances to be given to a police officer. The Central Government, however, puts the onus on the State to adopt the changes mentioned in the Model Police Act claiming that it can only persuade the States in adopting such reforms, policing being a State subject. The author discusses the drawbacks of the present police system and suggests major changes that need to be undertaken immediately to have an efficient police force acting upon principles of the welfare state.

Unlimited Superintendence by the State:

The Act doesn’t fit into the democratic essence of our country. It is rather far from anything democratic. Police have been continuously subject to extreme pressure from the political parties and the elite class. Section 3 of the Act vests the State with unchecked superintendence over the police forces. That means besides governing the nation with policies and legislations, political parties are indirectly imposing their control through police officers. The Act portrays an authoritative kind of policing where citizens are subjected to the whims of the ruling government. Major human rights violations by the police in the country are a result of such a regime. It is sad indeed to say that police who are entrusted with the job of protecting human rights are themselves flouting them.

The root cause of the human rights violations by the police lies in the manner of its functioning in the Indian criminal justice system.[2] Shah Commission Report on Indian Emergency in the year 1978 cautioned the State saying that the government employing police to the advantage of any political party is a sure source of subverting the rule of law and asked the Central government to take measures to insulate the police from illegitimate political and executive interference.^[3] Unchecked political interference impairs the performance of police indefinitely.

Apart from all the domineering powers and penalties mentioned in the Act, Section 23 briefly mentions the duties of a police officer. While giving it a read, one would understand that the duty mentioned is only with respect to doing away with any disturbance in the society by following orders of the superiors for thrusting their authoritarian regime. It does not speak about the duty of a police officer to gain the confidence of people and create a safe locality; to promptly register the complaint filed and investigate thoroughly and most importantly to uphold the human rights. The Act also shows little concern overworking and maintenance of police station.

Community policing is a joint effort by the police and the community to identify and solve problems. It suits best in a democratic country where the voice of people is heard. For a police system to perform well the officers must have an idea of the mentality and behaviour of people in their designated area. The issues in each society vary and the police cannot work with a one size fits all mindset. Resident involvement is crucial because effective problem solving requires responsiveness to citizen input about community needs as well as about the best ways police can help address them.[4] Beat policing is a kind of community policing that is suggested by many stakeholders for better performance of the police department. A beat is a region allotted to a particular officer who is responsible to cater to the safety and security requirements of that region. It allows the police officer to have one to one interaction with the people of the region, thereby helping the department prevent crimes and handle issues easily. Kiran Bedi, the Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry, who was an IPS officer, stressed upon the need to have more geographically divided beats in order to have better social interaction and accountability.[5]

The Karnataka police have been involving volunteers in policing in order to curb crimes at the grass-root level. The new system adopted by them called Jana Snehi police expects volunteers to share information regarding illegal activities in their localities.[6] Even though there were beats earlier, the constabulary wasn’t assigned any beat. Therefore, it introduced a new beat system whereby the Constable and Head Constables were also assigned a specific beat. This is an improvisation in the current system with Constables holding 90% of the police strength, being assigned beats. It decentralises the police system and inculcates a sense of responsibility in the constabulary. However, it should be noted that successful community policing requires planning, flexibility, time, and patience and is not a quick-fix.[7]

Janamaithri Suraksha in Kerala, Prayaas in Tripura, C-Plan App developed by Uttar Pradesh Police etc., are examples of community policing projects taken up by the States in their endeavour to make the Police people-friendly. However, in order to bring uniformity in the working of police, the Central Act of 1861 which doesn’t propagate the idea of community-involvement must be struck down and a people-friendly law giving due importance to beat policing should be adopted.

Police Accountability:

The Police Act was intended to protect the British rule, it didn’t bother for the rights of the citizens. Even after the recommendations from several commissions post-independence, the Act remains unchanged. The Supreme Court’s verdict in Prakash Singh’s case[8] provided seven directives for police reforms. One of it was to establish State police complaint authorities (PCA) with immediate effect. In the same year, the Soli Sorabjee Committee also drafted a model Police Act for India containing a detailed section explaining the functioning of Police Complaints Authorities. Research by The Common Wealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) reveals that PCAs haven’t been set up nationwide even after the Supreme Court’s orders in 2006. Where PCAs are operating, they are hampered by lack of investigative staff, resources and the needed training and orientation to maximise their role as independent police oversight bodies.[9]

Police are expected to follow the rule of law. When police violate human rights, it is quite commonly seen that they aren’t held accountable. Though the Act provides for certain penalties, it is simply for non-performance of duties. There is no provision for punishing illegal usage of power by the police. Therefore, progressive legislation dealing with violations of human rights by the police in a detailed manner is the need of the hour.

Better working conditions

A 2019 Report by Common cause organisation and CSDS on the status of policing in India shows a bleak picture of the working conditions of police in India. One of the major areas where the Indian police force is lagging behind is the police to public ratio. The police work at 77% of its sanctioned strength, that means they are overburdened with a lot of work.[10] Moreover, they are expected to work for nearly double the hours which an average person works. The report suggests that an average police officer works for about 14 hours a day and about 24% of the police force works for more than 16 hours every day. The police keep toiling for long strenuous hours throughout the year without a sigh of relief in terms of proper leaves. A study conducted by a retired IPS officer in the year 2014 revealed that 73.6% of police station staff indicated that they were not able to avail weekly offs even once a month and most of them were called even during the leaves for emergency duty.[11] This may be easily rubbed off saying that they are the watchdog of society and therefore, they cannot think of such privileges to ensure the safety of the people. It is not a case which rarely happens that we could conveniently ignore. The police are constantly subject to extreme pressure throughout their work life.  But one must ponder on what we would achieve by such a rationale to the issue. It results in police having no motivation to work, and simultaneously reducing their productivity drastically.

Article 42 of our Constitution directs the State to make provisions for the just and humane condition of work. This article was adopted by the Constitution framers without any substantive debate. It shows the consensus among the drafters of Constitution regarding the conditions of work, irrespective of any line of occupation. The police force is, therefore, equally entitled to have just and humane conditions at work. As it is one of the directive principles of State policy, the State must be compelled to follow it in all the work profiles.

Further, India is a part of International conventions that recognises the importance of rights at the workplace. Article 23 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) guarantees that everyone has the right to just and favourable conditions at work. India being a significant contributor to the UDHR since its inception, fails to provide the Police in India with favourable conditions at work. The aberrant practice of letting the Police work for nearly 16 hours at a stretch violates India’s commitment to the universal declaration.

The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) also identifies human dignity and, economic, social and cultural rights of people. India is a signatory and has ratified the international instrument is obliged to comply with its provisions. Article 7 of the covenant recognizes the right of every person to have just and favourable conditions of work ensuring fair remuneration, decent living for themselves and their families, safe and healthy working conditions, equal opportunity for promotion and most importantly reasonable limitation of working hours. Police officers in our country are deprived of almost all of these rights mentioned under Article 7. They are not provided with sufficient resources at the workplace, they struggle to maintain the dilapidated quarters allotted to them[12], and especially an 8-hour job with periodic holidays is completely unthinkable for a police officer. The police officers being the safe-guarders of these human rights are equally entitled to enjoy these rights. With the kind of work increasing enormously with passing days, the police department has the same number of officers dragged into dealing with all of them.

Unfortunately, there has been no action taken by the Government for the betterment of working conditions of these public officials. Various reports of human rights commissions and police department have not been paid heed to by the Government. In Daily Rated Casual Labour v. Union of India, the Supreme Court held that the right to just and favourable conditions of work was among the rights which had to be ensured by appropriate legislation and executive measures.[13] However, to date, there has been no legislation drafted as such for the benefit of the police officers in the country. Unlike other nations, India does not specify the maximum number of working hours for police personnel in any of the legislations or rules.

A successful attempt by the Kerala police for an 8-hour job must be taken into consideration. Of course, in order to reduce the working hours of each police personnel the force will have to opt for shift working adding up to the expenditure of the State. But the idea should not be merely side-lined because of increased expenditure. Few states already have shift systems mentioned in their Police Manuals but rarely do they follow such practice. Police officers are forced to mould the timings according to the workload which again results in working for at least 14 hours at an average, daily. Therefore, more or less shift system remains merely a rule on the paper.

Moreover, working overtime on a daily basis throughout the year fetches them nothing more than a month’s salary as compensation. This practice manifests injustice and the daily trauma they go through as a part of their job. The study establishes the resultant negative effects of the undue physical strain leading to cumulative physical as well as mental fatigue for personnel. Therefore, it is important to limit the number of working hours for police officers of all ranks. According to Lee Sangheon and his team, decent working time arrangements need to fulfil five interconnected criteria. They should (a) preserve health and safety of workers, (b) be family-friendly, (c) promote gender equality, (d) enhance productivity, and (e) facilitate worker choice and influence over working hours.[14]

Besides, working time policies have long been recognized as having a role in improving productivity. Research state that an average person is productive for only 3 hours in an 8-hour job. Hence, police cannot be expected to be highly responsive when they are expected to work for double the prescribed hours.

Most of the police stations are not yet equipped with technology to carry out major works. They also face shortages in basic requirements such as wireless devices, telephones, etc. Technological advancements in the office can substitute a large number of officers working on maintaining registers to other important areas of work.

In many states, police officers are allotted Rs. 1000 as medical reimbursement annually which is clearly a meagre amount for a period of one year. Despite being a cashless insurance scheme, police personnel have been complaining that network hospitals insisted on payment of advance money for commencing the treatment.[15] In many cases, they are refused treatment under the scheme stating that the ailment is not covered under the policy. Subjecting the police to utmost pressure on a daily basis, the least Government could do is to provide the proper health facilities, but the situation appears to be quite opposite.

Conclusion

An attempt to revamp policing in India must begin with bringing a new law. It is high time that the 159-year old legislation is left behind to establish a people-friendly police system. Though police is a State subject, the Centre must realise that all the State legislations are based on the 1861 Act and only an amendment to the antiquated law would bring a substantive change to the police system in India. The following are the recommendations for bringing policing in line with the democratic frame of the country-

1. The officers must be educated about their role and responsibility towards society. Torturing and punishing the innocent in the name of crime control will not lower the crime rate. Rather it will turn out to be counter-productive.
2. They must be trained to be community-friendly so that people start trusting them and contribute to maintaining order in society. This requires a sea change in the perspective ingrained for more than 150 years. A stable beat system must be established in order to build such a relationship with the community.
3. To increase their accountability, a separate mechanism such as an online portal must be set up wherein people can file their complaints against the working of police. The portal must be managed by an independent body without any political intervention.
4. The new legislation must set forth specific rules as to the working conditions of the police. They must be ensured proper work-life balance.
5. The shift system must be employed throughout the country practically rather than mere words on paper.
6. Adequate compensation for any overtime work (which should not be a norm) should be guaranteed to them as a right.
7. Technological upgradation to the department would go a long way in reducing their burden and improve their efficiency
8. Accommodation of the police must be taken proper care without just allotting them decrepit quarters.
9. Common ailments caused due to strenuous work pressure must be included in the health insurance scheme of police officers.

Good working conditions must be an impetus to their efficiency. Police officers shouldn’t be deprived of basic human rights. There is a huge scope for improvement in their working conditions. Especially during the Covid-19 induced lockdown, Police have a little chance of succour. Thinking of basic amenities and working conditions during these times is a far-off dream for them. The Centre rather than steering away from its responsibility, must step-in to convert these recommendations into a reality. For without these changes, the human rights of both public and police would be at stake.

References:

[1] Gautam Ghosh, Police Accountability: At the Cutting Edge Level, ISBN 81-313-0197-4 (2007).
[2] Ved Marwah, Human Rights and Role of Police, Journal of the Indian Law Institute, 40, 138,138-42(1998) www.jstor.org/stable/43953314.
[3] Shah Commission of Inquiry, 1978: Interim Report, page 142.
[4] Wesley G. Skogan et al, On the Beat: Police and Community Problem Solving, ISBN 100030535X.
[5] After Kiran advice, UP cops to strengthen ‘beat’ policing system, HINDUSTAN TIMES, Dec. 2, 2019, Source Link
[6] Basavaraj Kattimani, Nearly 18k citizen volunteers roped in to improve policing, TOI, April 9, 2017, Source Link.
[7] Bureau of Justice Assistance, Understanding Community Policing A Framework for Action, 1994, Source Link.
[8] Prakash Singh and ors. vs. Union of India, 8 SCC 1 2006.
[9] V. Venkatesan & Shivangi Mathew, Police reforms still largely only on paper, FRONTLINE, August 09, 2019, Source Link.
[10] Common Cause and CSDS, Status of Policing in India, 2019- Police Adequacy and Working Conditions, Source Link.
[11] Kamal Kumar, IPS (Retd.), National Requirement of Manpower for 8-Hour Shifts in Police Stations, page v, (2014) Source Link.
[12] Police quarters a picture of neglect: Only one house for 5 cops, THE NEW INDIAN EXPRESS, (May 23, 2020, 10:54 PM) Source Link.
[13] Daily Rated Casual Labour Employed under P&T Department THR v. Union of India, AIR 2342 (1987).
[14] Lee Sangheon et al., Working time around the world: Trends in Working Hours, Laws and Policies in a Global Perspective, ILO, 141, (2007), Source Link
[15] S. Vijay Kumar, Policemen opting out of health insurance plan, THE HINDU, Feb. 26, 2019, Source Link.

Aninditha Vengyalil

Aninditha is pursuing BBA LLB from Symbiosis Law School, Hyderabad. Her interests lie in IP and Real Estate laws. She is always enthusiastic about finding new perspectives.