Policing an Anomic Society
*Saumitra Mohan

It is widely felt that the way our police is organised presently is eminently unsuited for the requirements of a liberal democratic country, strengthened by an active civil society and a very vibrant media. As of now, our police seem to be functioning in a highly authoritarian way informed by a feudal mindset and almost without any sense of service towards the people. At least, this is the popular perception of police and this is definitely something very uncharacteristic of a democracy.

There have been many incidents in recent times which have brought the role of our police into question, pointing fingers at the way they function. The police have found itself in the dock for the manner in which they have responded to many crisis-like situations or to the multifarious law and order problems. Police has been on the mat for the reported/alleged brutality attributed to them and has been accordingly been the butt of revulsion and criticism from the media and the civil society.

The police organisation has recently undergone a makeover across the country in keeping with the direction of the Supreme Court, based on the recommendations of Soli Sorabjee Committee, Justice Malimmath Committee and National Human Rights Committee. Now police appointment and tenure are subject to a more sedate and sensible Establishment Board rather than to the whims and fancies of the political class. There has also been the constitution of a State Security Commission and a Police Complaints Board in many states to ward off undue intereference in the functioning of the police and to entertain public complaints against the police. But their functioning over the past few months does not inspire much confidence in the reforms envisaged and effected with so much of tom-tomming.

After all, how do you explain the fact that even today a common man finds it difficult to lodge an FIR, something which should be normal and routine? But the fact remains that the acceptance of an FIR is often subject to many considerations and is accepted only after a few palms are greased or when the same becomes absolutely unavoidable. And even after one succeeds in lodging an FIR, one has to again cool one’s heel for aeons before some action is taken and, in fact, more often than not, no action is taken for a long time unless and until the same relates to cognisable/heinous crimes. For inquiry to commence, continue and culminate in mundane matters, often one has to go from pillar to post to in search of justice. The all-India rate of conviction of the crimes recorded and prosecuted still hover around a pathetic six to eight per cent.

It is this pathology of the system which has led to recrudescence of popular violence vis-à-vis petty crimes and criminals as seen recently from Kolkata to Agra, from Meerut to Nawada. A society desperate for security and protection for its life and property today finds itself helpless enough to dabble in uncivilised ways of dispensing quick justice. The very fact that certain members of our civil society feel encouraged today to take law into their hands also point to their belief of escaping the mythical long arm of the law. Public beating and shaving of two jawans in Jammu and Kashmir for alleged rape attempt, the beating and dragging of a chain-snatcher by the police on the roads of Bhagalpur, lynching of eleven petty thieves to death in Vaishali, beating up a local goon for alleged eve-teasing and harassment by local women in Pune, numerous other instances of locals lynching a rogue or a thief, instance of beating up the boss for alleged sexual harassment, beating up professors in Patna and Bombay for alleged eve-teasing, instances of beating up policemen for alleged failure or connivance – many such instances point to the increasing penchant of people to take law in their hands and all this definitely has something to do with the way our police functions.

Even though as an economy we may be growing at a break-neck speed of over 9 per cent, but the truth remains that the distribution of resources and assets is still quite skewed in our society, thereby making it a highly inegalitarian society, further rattled by sundry divisions and deprivations including problems like casteism, communalism, terrorism, naxalism, proliferation of small arms, regionalism and what not. All these problems coupled with a revolution of rising expectations triggered by the media-induced demonstration effect have led to growing demands on the state and with the state failing to meet those demands, the same results in the growing law and order problems, for which our law enforcement agencies are not adequately equipped.

Earlier the standard way of police managing a law and order crisis was to tackle the problem with the employment of violence and force, but now with human rights bodies, NGOs and Fourth Estate breathing down their throat, employment of force has ceased to be an option. At least, the same has to be used very sparingly. In fact, in these testing times, a high-handed police force has often been found at the wrong end of the stick as found in many instances where people have not hesitated to drag the police to court for the alleged human rights violations. Not only that, the better equipped and organised criminal gangs have often proved to be having an upper hand over the police, at least as far as the latter is supposed to play by the rules and the former is not.

That is why, you have more instances of policemen being killed in a mine blast or in a shoot-out or by getting trapped in the midst of an irate mob today than ever before. Today, we have an under-equipped, under-trained, under-motivated and under-resourced police force set against a highly demanding society, increasingly complex law and order situations where the difference between criminals and civilians often blur and against a very motivated and organised cartel of criminals. The politician-criminal nexus has made the situation worse with policemen often finding itself caught between a cleft stick. More often than not, the policeman finds it convenient to join the nexus and, thus, comes up what has come to be known as a police-criminal-politician nexus, something which has been playing havoc with our body politic.

It is because of all this that today it is unanimously agreed by all and one that our police organisation is in urgent need of a look-up, in keeping with the requirements of time, to be better able to face up to the newer challenges to the system. It needs to be modernised, reoriented, retrained and better equipped to tackle the complex law and order situations.

Today, crime and criminals have to be tackled not only within the confinement of one’s district, but goes beyond and the same today straddles many districts, many states and also, many countries, often with implications for inter-national relations.

Increasing expectations of the hoi polloi regarding prompt and effective police response to any situation of violence or distress and the necessity to secure scientific evidence that shall stand scrutiny in the legal system warrant the police to optimally harness science and state-of-the-art technology for criminal investigation. Hence, there is an imperative need to respond to contemporary challenges and demands by way of better training and spruced-up infrastructure. The qualitative improvement in the professional competence of police requires corresponding attitudinal change informed by the positive values of public service. The content of police training needs to change from a focus merely on law and order to greater sensitivity, appreciation and understanding of the human psyche and behaviour, coupled with better empathetic communication skills and development of pro-active citizen-oriented activities.

The already complex law and order situation is further worsened by a lopsided distribution of the police force. The ratio of police personnel to the total area served is also very poor and varies across the states. The all-India average stands at 42 per 100 sq km. Take the example of Chhattisgarh where this figure is just 17 per 100 sq km. For an area of 39,114 sq km, the five Police Districts of Bastar division have a total sanctioned strength of 2,197 policemen (5.62 policemen per 100 km). Actual availability is just 1,389, nearly 37 per cent short of the authorised numbers, yielding a ratio of just 3.55 policemen per 100 sq km.
With one policeman for 728 people, the police in India are stretched more than their counterparts in other countries. As per a report, there are nearly 6.5 lakh villages being policed by only 13,000 police stations. There are districts that run into hundreds of square kilometres, in one instance covered by merely six police stations. The government status paper on internal security situation recommends urgent steps to be taken to improve the existing national average of police population ratio of 1:728. Not only this, the teeth to tail ratio i.e. officer-rank ratio is also very poor and needs urgent attention if we really mean business about policing this humongous country.

Be it the spate of naxal attacks, terrorist violence or instances of police brutality across the country, the police seemingly appears to have been caught on the wrong foot. Reforms or no reforms, police is actually functioning in the same way as in the pre-reforms period. The positive pay-offs from the police reforms shall take quite some time, if at all, to translate into real positives. But the issue at hand is to provide functional autonomy to the police, unencumbered by interference from any corner.

For police reforms or for any reforms to be effective, there is first a need to effect change in the psyche of the police personnel and that is always a reflection of the civil society. The civil society led by the urban middle class in this country is still quite confused about the value system that guides it. There are a lot of contradictions in the way we respond to different incidents and situations. While many still commend and recommend the success of police action in Punjab in dealing with the terrorists there or with the naxals in West Bengal, there are many who have been rapping police on its knuckles for the alleged encounter deaths in Punjab, Gujarat or elsewhere.


The police alertness in bringing the culprits to book in such celebrated cases as the hit and run BMW cases, Priyadarshini Mattoo case, R.K.Sharma, Bitty Mohanty, Jessica Lal, Sanjay Dutt and Salman Khan has also been because of the constant media glare and civil society activism. The civil society and media have been having a salutary influence on police performance lately, a positive sign indeed.

So, we really need to decide as to what do we really want. Whether we want our police to continue functioning the way they have been or we mean business here. If so, there are a whole lot of things which need to be done than merely effecting some cosmetic changes here and there. We need to do something about correcting not only the police population ratio but also the teeth to tail ratio. The basic infrastructure, the weaponry, sophisticated gadgetry and equipment, better training and better motivation are the least required for policing an increasingly anomic society peopled by an impatient public wanting an instant justice. The government needs to think innovatively and creatively to generate resources for putting in place all these required for better policing including thinking of paid policing and taking user charges for certain services related to policing. One just hopes that something shall urgently be done about it all so that we can not only secure the basic liberty and life of our people, but can also recognise the true service and sacrifice made by our uniformed countrymen in policing this country.