“When members of the police force don their uniforms, they are required to shed their personal predilections and biases, be they religious, racial, casteist or otherwise. They must be true to the call of duty attached to their office and their uniform with absolute and total integrity. Unfortunately, in the case on hand, this did not happen,” Justice Sanjay Kumar observed in the ruling, delivered by a Bench which also included Justice Satish Chandra Sharma.

Murder most foul, no FIR

The case was based on the complaints made by a teenager, Mohammad Afzal Mohammad Sharif, who allegedly witnessed four men — including one who was later identified to have political connections — fatally attacking a man in an autorickshaw during the May 2023 riots. The men, allegedly mistakenly assuming the boy was a Muslim, assaulted him and left him to die with head injuries.

It was after this incident that both Afzal and his father then went to the police station to file a complaint about the murder he witnessed and the assault on himself, but the police took no action. A subsequent appeal to the Superintendent of the Police (SP) of Akola also came to naught.  The murder victim was identified as Vilas Mahadevrao Gaikwad, who had been plying an autorickshaw owned by a Muslim. Afzal had claimed that Gaikwad was killed under the mistaken impression that he was a Muslim.

In 2023, two groups clashed in Akola, leading to the death of a man, over a social media post.

Sharif, who was a minor (17) at the time of the alleged incident, had earlier approached the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court complaining that the police officers concerned had failed in their duty by not registering an FIR with respect to the alleged attack and assault on him. He claimed that on his way back home that fateful night, he witnessed four unknown persons assaulting an autorickshaw driver. They then assaulted him, too, and damaged his vehicle. Sharif “asserted that he was an eyewitness to the murderous assault on the person in the auto rickshaw, whose name was revealed to him later as Vilas Mahadevrao Gaikwad.”

The petitioner also stated that it was well within the knowledge of the people of Akola that the deceased was plying the autorickshaw of a Muslim, which bore a sticker with the name “Garib Nawaz”. The appellant stated that under the mistaken identity/belief that the deceased was a Muslim, the four unknown assailants had caused his death and, thereafter, attacked him.

Sharif also told the SC that though an FIR was registered with respect to the murder of the autorickshaw driver, no FIR was registered over the alleged assault on him following which he approached the High Court, which dismissed his plea.

The SC said, “Though the affidavits filed by the police inspector of the Old City Police Station, Akola, tried to attribute motives to the appellant and the same was willingly accepted and acted upon by the High Court, we are not persuaded to agree at this stage. It was for the police to investigate the truth or otherwise of the specific allegations made by the appellant, a 17-year-old boy, who asserted that he was an eyewitness to the murder of Vilas Mahadevrao Gaikwad and was himself assaulted by the very same assailants.”

“If, in fact, the deceased was really murdered under the impression that he belonged to Muslim community and the assailants were not of that community, that was a fact that had to be ascertained after thorough and proper investigation. When the appellant claimed that he could identify one of the four assailants, that claim also required to be followed up with detailed investigation by ascertaining the location of the person so identified at the relevant time through mobile phone location, call data records, etc.,” the court said.

Negligence by the Police

Upset over the lack of progress in a case of alleged murder during the May 2023 communal riots over a social media post in Maharashtra’s Akola, the Supreme Court on Thursday directed setting up of a “a Special Investigation Team (SIT), comprising senior police officers of both Hindu and Muslim communities”.

“It was for the police to investigate the truth or otherwise of the specific allegations made by the appellant, a 17-year-old boy, who asserted that he was an eyewitness to the murder of Vilas Mahadevrao Gaikwad and was himself assaulted by the very same assailants… If, in fact, the deceased was really murdered under the impression that he belonged to Muslim community and the assailants were not of that community, that was a fact that had to be ascertained after thorough and proper investigation,” Justice Kumar pointed out.

The court took a stern view of the Akola SP’s failure to act on Afzal’s complaint, observing that “this conduct on the part of a superior police officer of no less a rank than a Superintendent of Police is indeed a cause for great concern”.

“Law requires, nay, ordains that its sentinels be vigilant, prompt and objective in enforcing and securing its mandate. To what extent the guardians of the law, viz., the police, discharge this task without bias and subjectivity is the question that arises in the case on hand,” the court noted.

SC orders SIT probe

Allowing an appeal by a witness in the case, Mohammad Afzal Mohammad Sharif, a bench of Justices Sanjay Kumar and S C Sharma said, the SC directed the Maharashtra Home Secretary to constitute an SIT comprising senior police officers of “both Hindu and Muslim communities, to undertake an investigation into all the allegations made by the appellant, by registering an FIR in connection with the assault upon him on May 13, 2023, and take appropriate action thereon as warranted”. Significantly, the court also ordered the placing on record of the SIT probe report in three months. The State Home Secretary was also directed to initiate appropriate disciplinary action against erring police officials for their “patent dereliction of duties”.

SC order can be read here.

Related:

Akola: Muslim men fleeing homes fearing police action

Hegemony and Demolitions: The Tale of Communal Riots in India in 2024

Communal violence in Jodhpur, local Muslim women allege police brutality

The post Akola 2023 targeted violence: Police officers must shed communal colours when they put on their uniforms says Supreme Court appeared first on SabrangIndia.

I. Policing at a Breaking Point: Undermanned, undertrained, and underprepared

The India Justice Report 2025 presents a sobering assessment: India’s policing system, crucial to the delivery of justice and maintenance of public trust, remains trapped in a cycle of chronic under-capacity, neglect of training, weak diversity, and mounting public distrust.

At the national level, India’s police-population ratio remains alarmingly low at 155 police personnel per 100,000 population, well short of the sanctioned strength of 197.5 and far below the United Nations’ recommended minimum of 222. The disparities are even more troubling at the state level: Bihar, for instance, deploys just 81 police personnel per lakh, leaving communities drastically underserved.

This shortage is amplified by high vacancy rates. As of 2023, 22% of sanctioned posts across all ranks were vacant nationally, with states like Uttar Pradesh facing a vacancy rate exceeding 25%. Recruitment drives have been sporadic and insufficient, with training capacities unable to keep up with even existing personnel needs.

Training, the backbone of effective policing, is gravely underfunded. States on average allocate only 1.25% of their police budgets to training, with only four states exceeding the 2% threshold. Further, only five states possess fully accredited police training academies. Specialised training in crucial areas such as cybercrime investigation, gender sensitisation, juvenile justice, and forensic handling remains thin and inconsistent across the country.

The crisis in forensic staffing exacerbates poor investigative quality: Half of all sanctioned forensic posts nationally remain vacant. Without adequate forensic support, investigations falter, leading to delayed trials, wrongful acquittals, or even wrongful convictions.

Infrastructure modernisation, while visible in patches, remains uneven.

• 83% of police stations now have at least one CCTV camera, yet compliance with Paramvir Singh Saini Supreme Court standards is inconsistent.
• 78% of police stations have set up women’s helpdesks, yet no state or UT meets its internal reservation targets for women in police, where the national average stands at a low 12%. Only Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chandigarh, Ladakh, and Tamil Nadu show movement towards the 33% target.

Urban-rural divides sharpen the challenges: Between 2017 and 2022, urban police stations increased by 4%, while rural police stations declined by 7%. In rural areas, each station covers an average of 300 square kilometres, compared to just 20 square kilometres for urban stations — dramatically limiting police accessibility for rural citizens.

Community policing initiatives — vital for building local trust — remain poorly institutionalised. Few states maintain dedicated community policing units or trained officers, and even where they exist, budgetary support is minimal.

Digitisation efforts such as the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network & Systems (CCTNS) and the Interoperable Criminal Justice System (ICJS) have made gains.
However, infrastructural bottlenecks — poor internet, electricity issues, and limited digital literacy among police — undermine their potential.

Gender diversity: The national benchmark for women’s representation in the police is 33 per cent, as advised by the central government in 2009. As of January 2023, the overall representation of women in the police (the civil police, District Armed Reserve [DAR], Special Armed Police Battalion, and Indian Reserve Battalion [IRB]) across all states and UTs stood at only 12.3 per cent, a modest rise from 11.7 per cent in January 2022. Among the large and mid-sized states, Bihar, at 24 per cent, now leads in women’s representation in the police, surpassing Andhra Pradesh (22%). Bihar also recorded the highest growth, from 21 per cent in 2022 to 24 per cent in 2023. Conversely, nine states/UTs,49 including Telangana, Madhya Pradesh, and West Bengal, saw declines, and seventeen states/UTs still report women’s representation below 10 per cent. Multiple MHA advisories have recommended three women Sub-Inspectors (SI) and 10 women constables in each police station. With little change over 2022, except Delhi, no state/UT meets this benchmark for SIs

Caste representation: Representation of under-represented caste groups are set by each state in line with its population mix. As of January 2023, Karnataka stands out as the only state to consistently achieve its targets across all three reserved groups, Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Other Backward Castes, both at the officer and the constabulary levels.

• Scheduled caste- Only four states (Gujarat, Manipur, Karnataka, and Himachal Pradesh) met their SC quotas at both officer and constabulary levels. Goa is the only other state to meet its target at the officer ranks. Sikkim, Bihar, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Andhra Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Kerala met their quotas only at the constabulary level. Uttar Pradesh (61%), Rajasthan (52%), Tripura (47%), and Bihar (42%) faced the largest deficits in SC officer appointments.
• Scheduled Tribes- Several states have made significant strides in improving Scheduled Tribe (ST) representation within their police forces, with Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, and Karnataka demonstrating good performance by meeting their ST targets across both officer and constabulary ranks. However, Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Tripura exhibit the highest shortfalls among ST Officers. Punjab has a 25 per cent quota for STs; it records only 3 ST Officers, equivalent to a 0.11 per cent representation or a shortfall of 99.8 per cent.
• Other Backward Classes: Nine states/UTs63 among those with quotas64 for Other Backward Classes (OBC) at the officer level have successfully met their targets. Tamil Nadu, Sikkim, and Kerala have over 40 per cent reservation for OBCs; in this instance, Tamil Nadu has exceeded its quota but Kerala and Sikkim have shortfalls of 7 per cent and 10 per cent, respectively.

The India Justice Report concludes bluntly: Without radical investment in human resources, serious upgrading of forensic and digital capacities, targeted gender inclusion and caste diversity, and strengthening rural policing, India’s policing system risks becoming increasingly irrelevant, reactive, and distrusted.

II. Prisons in Freefall: Overcrowded, underserved, and forgotten

India’s prison system, already strained, has now reached crisis proportions.
The India Justice Report 2025 reveals a sector overwhelmed by overcrowding, underfunding, systemic understaffing, and the abandonment of rehabilitation as a serious goal. Over the past decade, India’s prison population has expanded by almost 50%, while corresponding increases in infrastructure, medical care, or staffing have remained grossly inadequate. The national average prison occupancy stands at a shocking 131%, and 176 prisons operate at 200% occupancy or more. Several prisons house four times their sanctioned capacity.

Even more troubling is the composition of the prison population: 76% are undertrials — individuals who have not yet been convicted but are imprisoned due to sluggish police investigations, delayed trials, or systemic barriers to bail. In 20 states and UTs, more than 20% of undertrials have been detained between one to three years, without being found guilty.

Period of Detention: On average undertrials are spending more time than ever before in pre-trial detention. At the end of 2022, 11,448 or 2.6 per cent had spent more than five years in pretrial detention. This is considerably higher than the 5,011 in 2019 and 2,028 in 2012. Worryingly, Uttar Pradesh alone accounted for nearly 40 per cent of the undertrials who had spent more than five years in detention.

Infrastructure and healthcare deficits are appalling:

• According to the Supreme Court-appointed Amitava Roy Committee, only 68% of inmates have access to basic sleeping space.
• Health services are grossly underprovided: many prisons have one doctor for several hundred prisoners, whereas standards require one doctor for every 300 inmates.
• Mental health services are practically absent: out of 5.7 lakh prisoners, there are only 25 sanctioned psychologists or psychiatrists nationally, and 25 states/UTs have sanctioned none.

Staffing shortages exacerbate the situation:

• Nationally, over 33% of sanctioned prison posts remain vacant.
• Guard-to-inmate ratios in many states are as high as one guard per 80–100 prisoners, against the recommended 1:6 ratio, compromising safety and order.

Welfare spending is neglected: Less than 1% of prison budgets are allocated for rehabilitation, education, vocational training, or prisoner welfare. Funds earmarked for these purposes are often underutilised or redirected toward basic administrative costs.

Despite the adoption of forward-looking policies like the Model Prison Manual 2016 and the Model Prison and Correctional Services Act 2023, real transformation remains minimal. While 86% of prisons have introduced video conferencing facilities for court appearances, this has not significantly reduced trial delays or undertrial detention periods.

Legal aid services inside prisons are patchy:

• Only 67% of prisons have functional legal aid clinics.
• Where available, lawyers are poorly compensated (between ₹500–₹1000 per case), leading to low commitment and high absenteeism.

Open prisons — proven internationally to reduce recidivism — exist in only 16 states, covering a minuscule fraction of eligible inmates.

The situation for women prisoners is even worse:

• Sanctioned budgets for maternity and childcare are inadequate.
• Many prisons lack gender-sensitive facilities like private counselling spaces or sufficient women staff.

Deaths in custody, both natural and unnatural, have risen between 2017 and 2022 — a grim indicator of the system’s growing brutality.

The India Justice Report warns unambiguously: Until governments prioritise prison reforms with serious budgetary commitment, robust healthcare staffing, expanded rehabilitation services, and genuine decongestion measures, prisons will continue to be spaces of injustice, suffering, and lost human potential.

Conclusion: A justice delivery chain under threat

India’s police and prison systems form two vital links in the chain of justice.
Today, both are stretched to breaking point — one unable to protect citizens effectively, the other compounding injustice by warehousing them indefinitely.

The India Justice Report 2025 demands nothing less than a structural overhaul:

• Massive recruitment drives and specialised training
• Scientific and gender-diverse policing
• Investment in forensic and digital infrastructure
• Aggressive decongestion of prisons
• Rehabilitation-driven prisoner management
• Guaranteeing legal aid access and prison healthcare

The complete report may be read here.

Related:

India’s Free Speech Crisis Deepens: 329 violations recorded in just four months of 2025

Underfunded, Overburdened, and Unjust: The national verdict from the India Justice Report 2025

Echoes of Hate: Online anti-Muslim hate spreads against Muslim businesses and workers after Pahalgam attack

The post A System Under Strain: India’s police and prisons in crisis shows Indian Justice Report 2025 appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Violent punishment by mobs to the suspects of cow slaughter was justified to either a “great” or “some” extent. Close to two in every five respondents –police personnel surveyed across 18 states — (that is a 38% of the total of 8,276 subjects) also believed this, that violent punishment by mobs to “suspects of cow slaughter” was somewhat justified. This is similar to the finding from a previous survey of police personnel published in the Status of Policing in India Report 2019 where a similar question was asked about their support for mob violence in cases of cow slaughter—35 percent of police personnel justified such mob violence (15% “to a large extent” and 20% “to some extent”) (SPIR, 2019). More than a quarter of the police personnel surveyed (see details below), who from IPS-level ranks supported mob violence to a great degree (Figure 2.8, Table 2.8)

These are only some of the worrying findings from a recent study on the ‘Status of Policing in India Report’ (SPIR 2025) conducted by Lokniti, Centre for the Study of Developing Societies in collaboration with Common Cause that read together, shed light on this grim reality. The study, which analysed responses from 8, 276 police personnel across 82 locations in 17 States including Delhi, provides insights into the culture of abuse behind closed doors.

When asked if it is acceptable for the police to use violence against suspects of serious offences for the greater good of society, nearly two out of three police personnel (63%) surveyed, agreed. Of them, 22% strongly agreed and 41% moderately agreed. A notable 35% of the officers opposed the idea. Support for violence against suspected serious offenders remained consistent across ranks.

When surveyors asked policemen and women about torture, a significant number of police personnel expressed strong support for its use in interrogations across various crime categories. The highest support was for cases related to national security, such as terrorism, with 42% strongly backing torture. Over a third (34%) also strongly supported its use in cases of rape, sexual assault, and serious violent crimes such as murder (Table 2.6). Additionally, 28% strongly agreed that torture must be used against history-sheeters.

Mob violence involves targeted acts of violence perpetrated by a large group of individuals who perceive that they are administering punishment to a suspected wrongdoer, bypassing the rule of law entirely. It is very alarming that such a significant proportion of police personnel justify mob violence. For law enforcement officers to support open violence which entails suspension of the law itself, as a means of delivering so- called punishment to a person, is an absolute negation of the constitutional oath they swear to uphold. Similar to the support shown by police respondents to impermissible measures towards crime control, this significant support for mob violence signals police propensities towards violence and unbridled power. Incidents of the police not only overlooking such violence, but their active complicity have been reported on multiple occasions.[1]

Among other key findings in the over 200 page study are that

• One in 10 police personnel believes that couples displaying affection in public places should be detained!!
• More than half of the police personnel believe that hijras/transgenders/ homosexual people are a bad influence on society and the police need to deal with them strictly.

• Police personnel strongly support the use of more preventive arrests of ‘anti-social elements’ (48%) and forming special squads that can detain people indefinitely (43%). Both measures disregard legal standards.
• Twenty-percent of the police personnel feel that it is very important for the police to use tough methods to create fear amongst the public, another 35 percent think it’s somewhat important.
• One in four police personnel strongly justify mob violence in cases of sexual harassment (27%) and child lifting/kidnapping (25%). Across various categories of crime, constabulary and IPS officers are the most likely to justify mob violence, and upper subordinate officers are the least likely to do so. Police personnel from Gujarat showed the highest support, while those from Kerala showed the least support for mob violence.
• Twenty-two percent police personnel feel that the rich and powerful are “naturally prone” to committing crimes to a great extent, and 18 percent feel that Muslims are “naturally prone” to committing crimes to a great
• The survey was conducted across 17 states and UTs. State-level trends mirrored the all- India findings of the highest number of arrests in minor offences, also falling foul of the law. Police personnel in Odisha reported the highest proportion of arrests (46%) for the crimes of theft and extortion, followed by Nagaland (38%) and West Bengal (37%). The data further shows that police respondents from Punjab (60%) reported the most arrests – that is, six in every ten – against the crime of loitering and public nuisance, distantly followed by Nagaland and Maharashtra (29% and 25% respectively)
• The police responses also reveal that the highest proportions of arrests conducted for bodily crimes (such as murder, assault and kidnapping) were reported in Assam (30%), closely followed by Gujarat (28%), Maharashtra (26%) and Jharkhand (26%). Further, as per the survey, police personnel from Uttar Pradesh (UP) reported the highest proportion of arrests (25%) for crimes against women, followed by West Bengal, Jharkhand, and Madhya Pradesh in equal proportions (22% each). In terms of arrests, the official data corresponds with the survey finding that the highest proportion of arrests for crimes against women was made in UP (1,01,754, as per Crime in India 2022).
• Almost half of the police respondents believed that mob violence was justified to either “a great extent” or “some extent” in the cases of sexual harassment and assault (49%), child lifting or kidnapping (47%) and petty theft like pick-pocketing or chain-snatching (46%).

As was evident in studies conducted in previous years, anti-Muslim bias is high among police personnel with the corresponding disregard for due process and justification for mob violence. In keeping with attitudes towards contempt for due process (preventive detention, procedure during arrests), coercion (torture, a large section of policemen and the officers of law enforcement agencies appear to have communal bias in their perception about Muslims, who they believe are “naturally prone” towards committing crime to a great extent. This is yet another finding of the “Status of Policing in India Report-2025” (SPIR), released in New Delhi recently, which has pointed to a clear display of prejudices among the police personnel.

In this extensive survey and analysis, the SPIR-2025 has explored the nature, causes and factors that contribute to the perpetuation of police violence and torture in the country. It seeks to understand the police’s attitudes towards torture and the normalisation of its use and includes the perspectives and experiences of other accountability actors, such as doctors, lawyers, and judges.

Previous studies may be read here and here.

In the study, a large number of police personnel in Delhi, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Gujarat believe that Muslims have been analysed as naturally prone towards committing crime to a great extent. One in every five (19%) among the Hindu police personnel feels that to a “great extent”, Muslims are naturally prone to commit crimes, while one-thirds (34%) feel the same to “some extent”, while Sikh police officers were least likely to hold this opinion.

Out of the surveyed states, more than two-thirds of the police personnel in the states of Rajasthan (70%), Maharashtra (68%), Madhya Pradesh (68%), West Bengal (68%), Gujarat (67%) and Jharkhand (66%) held the opinion that the Muslim community is likely to be naturally inclined to committing crime to either a “great” or “some” extent. Police personnel from Delhi (39%) were most likely to believe that Muslims are naturally prone to committing crimes, followed closely by Rajasthan (35%), Maharashtra (34%) and Gujarat (34%).

The study also found that caste, religion, and political affiliation often play a decisive role in shaping the outlook of the police perception and influencing their actions. This bias not only shapes initial interactions but can also affect decisions on investigation, enforcement, and legal proceedings. The report according to the parameters of the study published in the report, surveyed a broad spectrum of law enforcement personnel, including constables, upper subordinate officers ranging from assistant sub-inspectors to deputy superintendents of police, and senior officials from the Indian Police Service (IPS).

The SPIR-2025 pointed out that Muslims are identified as one of the marginalised communities which are common targets of torture. Academic scholarship cited in the report suggested that torture tactics employed by the police against Muslim men suspected of terrorism deliberately target their religious identity and masculinity to humiliate the entire community.

Police respondents in states with harsh cow slaughter laws, such as Gujarat, Odisha, Rajasthan, and Maharashtra, showed high support for mob punishment in such cases. Besides, despite a significant proportion of police personnel believing that Muslims are predisposed to crime, a considerable percentage also perceive that Muslims are likely to get justice to a “great extent”.

Meanwhile however, the study also cautions that these are the police’s perceptions, which may be marred by pre-existing biases and could be contrary to the lived realities of Muslims. Independent analysis of prison statistics indicates the over-incarceration of Muslims, suggesting potential biases within the criminal justice system.

Disregard for due process

The report also highlights a significant disregard for the rule of law among a notable section of the police. Nearly one-third (28%) of police personnel believe the criminal justice system is too weak and slow, with a preference for extrajudicial measures over due process. Alarmingly, almost two out of five (38%) feel that for minor offences, police should give minor punishment instead of following legal trials.

One in four police personnel strongly justified mob violence in cases of sexual harassment (27%) and child lifting or kidnapping (25%). This suggests that about a fourth of India’s police personnel support the idea of the mobs acting as the judge, jury and executioner in matters they consider grave.

Across various categories of crime, constabulary and IPS officers are the most likely to justify mob violence, and upper subordinate officers are the least likely to do so. Police personnel from Gujarat showed the highest support, while those from Kerala showed the least support for mob violence.

Ignorance, lack of compliance for legal procedures

There also appeared to be a lack of compliance towards arrest procedures across states, according to the study. Only 41% of police personnel said these procedures were “always followed”, while 21% admitted to “rarely” or “never” complying with them. Karnataka fared the worst, with a staggering 70% of its officials acknowledging they “rarely” or “never” follow prescribed procedures, while Kerala police demonstrated the highest compliance, with 94% of officials adhering to proper arrest protocols.

Gujarat: high bias against marginalised

In Gujarat, police exhibited the highest level of bias in their perception of Dalits and Adivasis, who they believed were “naturally inclined to commit crimes”. Among its personnel, 68% hold this view about Dalits, while 56% believe the same about Adivasis. Among Delhi’s police, which comes under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Home Affairs, a worrying 62% believe that Muslims are more “naturally inclined” towards crime.

About 30% of police personnel said that ‘third-degree methods’ are justified towards the accused in serious criminal cases, while 9% said they are justified in petty offences. IPS officers and those respondents who often conduct interrogations are the most likely to justify the use of third-degree methods. Besides, 11% of the police personnel feel that hitting or slapping family members of the accused is absolutely justified, and 30% said that it is sometimes justified.

Interviewees said that the victims of torture are mainly people from poor and marginalised communities. A lawyer described it as “all the faceless and voiceless” are targeted. The following groups are the common targets of torture: Muslims, Dalits, Adivasis, people who cannot read and write, and slum dwellers.

The report concluded with a strong call for strengthening institutional safeguards and fostering a greater commitment to the rule of law within the police force. It recommended more active engagement and interaction between Judicial Magistrates and arrested persons, along with ensuring medical examinations during custody. The study also underscored the urgent need for more comprehensive and consistent data collection on police torture and custodial violence.

How the police view and even justify custodial torture

Police personnel were also asked how justified is the use of certain coercive and violent acts towards the accused so that criminal cases can be solved. The data reveals a troubling acceptance of coercive tactics, ranging from verbal abuse and threats to slapping and third-degree methods. Nearly

Almost half (49%) said that verbally abusing or threatening suspects in cases of minor offences such as theft is justified, with 32% endorsing slapping and 9% even supporting the use of third-degree methods. Support for such violent methods increased dramatically in cases of serious crimes. Three in ten (30%) police personnel justified third-degree methods in cases such as rape and murder, while half (50%) approved of slapping suspects and more than half (55%) endorsed verbal abuse or threats.

Threats and slapping or using light force are common. About a quarter (26%) of police personnel said that suspects are threatened often, while 34% said that this happens sometimes. Similarly, nearly two in 10 (18%) said that slapping or using light force is common, with 28% saying it happens occasionally.

Regarding third-degree methods, one in 10 police personnel admitted that such extreme violence occurs often, and 16% said it happens sometimes. Additionally, one in three respondents reported that investigating officers frequently use coercive tactics.

The findings reveal that close to half, that is nearly four in 10 police personnel believe that reporting of custodial torture should be mandatory, while a similar proportion supported it being mandatory in some cases. Around one in 10 felt it should never be mandatory. While a majority supported mandatory reporting, the fact that the largest group favoured it only ‘sometimes’ suggests a level of hesitation or conditional acceptance. The data also shows that officers at the police station level favour mandatory reporting more than their senior counterparts.

When asked if junior police personnel would feel comfortable fi ling a complaint against their seniors for the use of violence, provided legal protection, over four in 10 of police respondents strongly agreed, while 36% agreed moderately.

Seventy percent of police personnel who have a high propensity to justify torture also believe that training on the prevention of torture is very important. (Table 6.8)

The entire report may be read here

Sabrangindia and Communalism Combat before that, have been assiduously analysing and campaigning around the issue of both representation of Indian Muslims in the police force and administration and also the attitudes of men in uniform Vis a Vis India’s largest minority.

An introduction to the Justice BN Srikrishna Commission Report into the Bombay 1992-1993 brute anti-minority pogrom published an introduction by journalist, educationist and activist, Teesta Setalvad. She has researched the various judicial commission reports into anti-minority violence. This section. Anti-Minority Bias in the Police Force may be read here. Ex-IPS officer, KS Subramanian’s essay ‘Babri Masjid 1992 – Gujarat 2002 – Kashmir 2016: How the Sangh Parivar has wrecked India’s secular social fabric by sustained anti-minority violence’ may be read here.

In February 1995, in the cover story of Communalism Combat (www.sabrang.com) Vibhuti Narain Rai gave an interview that turned the searchlight within, on the Indian Police Force. Setalvad had met him at the National PoliceAcademy where I had been asked to become part of a training given my work in the post Babri-Masjid demolition Bombay violence. In this explosive interview he had argued, cogently and with statistics about the deep-rooted bias within the Indian police. “No riot can continue for more than 24 hours unless the state wants it to continue,” he had said in an interview, that, after it appeared in the February 1995 issue of Communalism Combat was reproduced by 35 Indian publications in different languages. This seminal interview may be read here.

This poor representation of various sections of India’s marginalised, make it almost impossible for the social issues and crimes most plaguing the country today, to be taken seriously by the police. In fact, one witnesses that in many instances the police collude with the majoritarian community, namely Upper caste class Hindu male to perpetuate even more violence on those who are already persecuted.

Though some progressive judgments such as the one in which the SC upholds Karnataka law on Reservations in Promotions for Govt. employees provide a glimmer of hope, the implementation on the ground remains questionable.

[1] See civil society reports on mob lynching that document police apathy and complicity in cases (Citizens Against Hate, 2018 and Human Rights Watch, 2019).

Related:

Anti–minority bias in the Indian Police
Mayhem in Malegaon: A fact-finding team of human rights activists and lawyers that visited riot-hit Malegaon returns with disturbing evidence of a “complete communal-isation of the police and paramilitary forces”
Local Jharkand Police Used Communal Slogans: NCM on Latehar Hangings
Controversy: DIG claims he never said ‘Muslims follow religion of terrorists’

The post Mob violence, police torture justifiable practices feel a significant section of India’s police: Study appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Specific measures for law and order shall be exercised by the police, prescribed by the ECI which inter-alia as follows:

• Monitoring of past electoral offences
• Preventive actions and measures
• Monitoring the process of Vulnerability Mapping and assessment of critical polling stations and corrective measures to prevent intimidation, influence etc. 6 months prior to the elections.
• Execution of non-bailable warrants in a time bound manner. (v) Launching of special drives for unearthing illegal arms, ammunition, explosives, drugs, unaccounted cash, illicit liquor and other contrabands.
• Check on illegal transportation and storage of cash and other inducements.
• Any other additional and enhanced measures to maintain and improve law and order.
• Prepare and send consolidated reports in LOR-I format prescribed by the Election Commission of India, to State Home Department and consolidation of the reports in LORII for onward submission to the Chief Electoral Officer of the State for review and further submission to the Election Commission of India, from the day of announcement of elections till completion of elections process.
• Preparation of phase-wise movement plan of forces and its monitoring. (Manual on force deployment – 2023).

Role of Police and MCC:

Model Code of Conduct comes into operation right from the time and day, the election schedule is announced by the Election Commission and remains in operation till completion of election process as per the election notification. In the case of a bye-election, Model Code will no longer be in operation as soon as the result of the bye-election is declared by the Returning officer. The provisions of Model Code of Conduct apply to all organisations/committees, corporations/ commissions etc, funded wholly or partially by the Central Govt. or any State Govt. Model Code of Conduct will apply to all candidates, political parties and the government of the said State.

For effective compliance of the MCC, the Election Commission bearing a repository power under section 28A of the Representation of Peoples Act, 1951. Accordingly, All the officers and personnel from State Police and CAPF deployed for election duties, shall be under superintendence, direction and control of the ECI till the completion of Election.

Chapter 6 of the Handbook for Police Officers 2023 provide the Role of Police in Enforcing Model Code of Conduct.

The Role of Police in enforcing Model Code of Conduct[1]: –

Pre-Poll Measures:

The following actions may be undertaken during the pre-poll day:

• Ensure that the security force has reached polling stations according to the force deployment plan.
• Carry out effective and focused flag marches for area domination, point patrolling and other confidence building measures.
• Formation of SSTs/FSTs/ QRTs etc. for surveillance purposes and carry out effective enforcement activities and take preventive action.
• Ban on carrying of licensed arms shall continue to operate till declaration of results and no licence for arms shall be issued till elections are over.
• Strict vigil shall be maintained by police, thorough checking of lorries, light vehicles and all other vehicles, preferably by setting up equipped check posts, from the day of announcement of elections to ensure that no undesirable elements or arms and ammunition are being transported into the constituency from outside and to apprehend them and take appropriate action under law if they are doing so.

Poll Day Measures (Law and order measures):

• The DEO/SP shall brief the CAPF/ State Police about provisions of Section 131 of the R.P. Act, 1951. For this, there shall be proper coordination between the Presiding Officer and CAPF/State Police posted in a polling station.
• No Election Booth of Candidates shall be set up within a radius of 200 metres from the Polling Station. Even where more than one Polling Station has been set up in the same Polling Station Location or premises, there shall be only one Election Booth of a candidate for such a group of Polling Stations beyond a distance of 200 metres from such premises.
• No electioneering shall be allowed within the 200-metre area around the Polling Stations on the date of poll.
• No person other than Observers appointed by the Commission and authorised election/ police officials shall be allowed to either carry or use mobile phones, wireless sets, etc., in the 100-metre perimeter of the Polling Stations described as the “Polling Station Neighbourhood” (Section 130 Representation of the People Act 1951) and within the Polling Station.
• Possession of Arms near the Polling Station: The provisions of Section 134 B of the Representation of People Act, 1951 provides that, except those expressly permitted by that section, no one else carries any arms or indulges in show of arms in Polling Stations or “Polling Station Neighbourhood”. No person, even if a recipient of any form of security from any quarter, shall enter into any Polling Station or Polling Station Neighbourhood, accompanied by such security personnel.
• Security Arrangements: Commissioner of Police/ Superintendent of Police shall deploy police forces, including CAPF, as per approved District Deployment Plan on static and mobile duties. All police forces, including CAPF, deployed for polling station security shall take positions in and control of the respective Polling Stations on the day prior to the poll day.
• In case CAPF has not reached the assigned Polling Station, due to any reason, the poll shall not commence in that Polling Station.
• At the polling station where CAPF personnel are deployed according to District Deployment Plan, one personnel of the CAPF deployed for the Polling Station shall be placed at the door of the Polling Station, either in static or oscillating mode, in order to observe the proceedings inside the Polling Station (Janak Singh V/s Ram Das Rai & Other in CA 9228 of 2003: SC). Moreover, the Company Commanders of CAPF shall also move for area domination and confidence building measure in the sectors assigned to them.
• The State Police shall remain solely responsible for maintenance of the general law and order inside and outside of the Polling Station premises (as different from polling station.
• State Police Force shall not replace the CAPFs at the Polling Stations, in contravention of the District Deployment Plan, under any circumstances. No officer of the local state police, with or without a contingent, shall position himself at the Polling Station and exercise any supervision and control over the CAPF at the Polling Station.

MCC general restrictions on Poll-Day:

• One vehicle each for candidate, election agent and for candidate’s workers/ party workers be allowed and not more than 5 persons including driver are allowed in a vehicle. Carrying of voters by these vehicles is a Corrupt practice. It is also an electoral offence u/s 133 of the RP, Act, 1951.
• Permits issued by DEO shall be displayed on the windscreen of vehicles.
• Providing free conveyance to voters to and from the polling stations by a candidate/his agent is a corrupt practice and strictly forbidden. The offence may be booked under relevant provisions.
• The aforementioned restrictions shall apply to all vehicles propelled by mechanical power or otherwise, including but not restricted to taxies, private cars, trucks, tractors with or without trailers, auto-rickshaws, e-rickshaws, scooters, motor bikes, mini buses, station wagons etc., also, and shall be made applicable for a period of 24 hours before the time fixed for closure of poll and till the completion of poll.
• Penal action, both under the provisions of the R.P. Act, 1951 and the Indian Penal Code shall be taken against anyone offending the above directions, in addition to action under the Motor Vehicles Act. All vehicles being used in violation of these directions shall be confiscated.
• Private vehicles may be used by the owners for their private use, not connected with elections;
• Private vehicles being used by owners either for themselves or for members of their own family for going to the polling booth to exercise their franchise, but not going anywhere within a radius of 200 metres of a polling station;
• Vehicles used for essential services namely hospital vans, ambulance, milk vans, water tankers, electricity emergency duty vans, police on duty, officers on election duty shall be allowed to ply.
• Public transport carriages like buses shall ply between fixed terminals and on fixed routes
• Taxis, three-wheeler scooters, rickshaws etc. For going to airports, railway stations, interstate bus stands, hospitals for journeys which cannot be avoided;
• Private vehicles may be used by sick or disabled persons for their own use;
• Vehicles being used by the Govt. officers on duty to reach their duty point shall be allowed to ply.
• Cellular phones, cord less phone etc., not to be allowed except officers on duty in the 100 meters of a PS.
• Voter slips to be plain white slips without name of candidate/ party markings/ symbol.
• No campaign related posters or banners within100 meters of the Polling Booth.
• During polling, PRO and other staff shall keep their mobile silent in the PS. If required they can talk from outside the polling booth.
• Booth Level Officer to be stationed outside the polling booth at the Voter Assistance Booth (VAB). He shall keep with mobile phone switched on, along with the Alphabetical roll locator for the PS, near the polling stations.
• Prohibition of loudspeakers, mega phones etc. and disorderly conduct – within 100 meters of a PS. Amplifying or reproducing the human voice by any apparatus not allowed within 100 mts of PS. Shouting or otherwise, acting in a disorderly manner is not allowed.
• None except authorised security personnel can enter within 100 metres of any polling station. Security personnel attached to any person not to be allowed inside the polling booth. Exception to the above only in case of person covered under Z+ security which is one security person in simple clothes and with one concealed arms.

Post-Poll Measures:

Counting of votes is one of the most important stages of the election process. Therefore, great vigilance shall be exercised not only on the actual counting of votes but also in maintenance of Law and Order.

• Generally, orders under section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code, 1973(CrPC) are issued regarding ban on unlawful assemblies and prohibition on holding of public meetings during the day of counting, applicable for the areas/constituencies bound for polls.
• This order is issued by the District Magistrate or any other competent authority effective from P-2 day to P+1 day within the Constituency. The restrictions under 144 CrPC Order do not permit more than 5 persons to assemble/move together in the area.
• In view of the statutory provision contained in Section 135 C of the R.P. Act, 1951, ‘Dry Day’ shall be declared and notified under relevant state laws as is appropriate during the day of counting as indicated in the Commission’s notification.
• Guarding of Strong rooms: There shall be a two-tier guarding system for strong rooms: First tier, which is the innermost perimeter, shall be guarded by CAPF. This shall be a 24×7 CAPF armed guard. Minimum one section of CAPF armed guard shall be on duty 24X7 in Strong Rooms in Non LWE areas. For this purpose, minimum one platoon of CAPF shall be provided to guard the Strong Room round the clock. In LWE/Militancy/Insurgency area, the strong room shall be manned by 1 platoon each in 3 shifts. Second tier shall be from the State SAP. Protocol to be followed to enter the inner perimeter: No one shall be allowed to enter the inner perimeter without following the protocol.
• Security Arrangements in and Around Counting Centers: Three-tier cordoning system shall be set up in all counting premises to prevent the entry of unauthorised persons inside the counting premises.
• Victory Procession post the declaration of results can be restricted/ regulated. Strong arrangements have to be made to ensure that people of varying factions don’t clash.

Considering the multiple actions required to be taken on different functional dimensions, it is imperative that the Law & Order functionaries at the State, district and constituency level are fully aware of the important activities and steps required to be undertaken during the critical Pre-poll, Poll and Post poll period and are thoroughly prepared to execute them as per the guidelines of the Election Commission of India.

ECI’s Handbook for Police Officers can be read here:

On October 25, 2007, The Election Commission of India issued a direction to the Chief Secretaries and Electoral Officer of the all States and UTs for deploys significant number of Central Paramilitary Forces into the election going State(s) on the basis of its assessment of the ground realities. The Local State Police (including all its variants) and Central Paramilitary Forces at the time of elections stand deputed to the Election Commission of India and they come under its superintendence and control for all purposes.

The directions of ECI dated 25.10.2007 can be read here

The Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions vide its order dated March 20, 2008 clarified the disciplinary jurisdiction of Election Commission of India over Government servants deputed for election duties in compliance with the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India’s Decision dated 21.09.2000, Election Commission of India vs. Union of India and Ors. (Writ Petition (C) No. 606 of 1993)

The order of Ministry dated 20.03.2008 can be read here:

However, under Article 324 of the Constitution, superintendence, direction and control of election vested in an Election Commission. For exercising these powers ECI and take over the state police and officers for a secure and peaceful environment, where citizens can exercise their democratic right to vote without interference or fear.

[1] Chapter-6, Pg, 53-59, Handbook for Police Officers 2023

Related:

ECI issues ‘directions’ to BJP and Congress following the responses from both the parties over MCC violations

LAPRI files 37 complaints to authorities as on 12 May for violations of MCC and RPA

ECI: Of 16 notices issued by ECI for violation of MCC/electoral laws, BJP escapes scrutiny with just 3 from the watchdog

The post The role of Police in Pre-Poll, During Poll and Post-Poll: What ECI’s Handbook for Police Officers and RP Act 1951 says? appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative(CHRI)has released a recently prepared User Guide on the Maharashtra’s Police Complaints Authorities or PCAs. These authorities were established to inquire into complaints by the public against police personnel, including grievances as to serious misconduct, corruption, and abuse of authority.

The whole issue of a Police Complaints Authority has evolved after decades’ long struggle by rights groups and sections of the police form for police reform. Communalism Combat was at the forefront of this campaign in the 1990s-2000s and https://cjp.org.in/category/criminal-law-reform/police-reforms/Citizens for Justice and Peace(CJP) now.

The PCAs were established in Maharashtra in 2014. Theyhave been set up at two levels; there is one at the state level and six at the divisionallevel in Nashik, Pune, Aurangabad, Nagpur, Amravati and Konkan.The PCAs were founded through amendments made to the state Police Act passedthrough the Maharashtra Police (Amendment and Continuance) Act, 2014.
As per the User Guide, PCAs, whether state and divisional, have the following powers:
 

1. To conduct inquiries suomotu or through complaints against Police Officers, hear all concerned persons, receive evidence, and giverecommendations to be implemented by the police department and the state government;
2. To advise the state government to ensure the protection of witnesses, victims and their familieswho face, or may face, threats or harassment for filing a complaint against the police;
3. To visit any police station, lock-up or other place of detention used by the police (with written authorisationfrom the Chairperson).

PCAs have the power to receive complaints involving death in police custody, grievous hurt under Section 320 of the IPC, rape or attempt to commit rape, arrest or detention without following procedure, corruption, extortion, land or house grabbing and any other serious violation of law or abuse of authority.

Since the primary function of PCAs is to strengthen police accountability, the User Guide notes that the public can push the police to fulfil their role as police accountability bodies by seeking assistance of these PCAs. For this, it is imperative for the people to begin understanding PCA-related mandates and powers.

With this in mind, the CHRIGuide explains and provides information about what PCAs do, how they work, thetypes of complaints you can make to them, the process to make complaints, the rights ofcomplainants and witnesses, and the kind of remedies you can expect from them.

The User Guide answers all potential queries to approaching a PCA, including:
 

• Who can file a complaint to the PCA?
• How do a complaint be filed?
• What steps will the PCA take after my complaint is filed?
• How does the PCA conduct an inquiry?
• How will PCAs conduct hearings?
• How does a PCA take decisions?
• Who implements the PCA’s order?
• How does the PCA maintain transparency?

The User Guide can be accessed here.

 
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2. Julio Ribeiro in Conversation with Teesta Setalvad (English)
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The post How do you police the police – a User’s Guide provides some answers appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Image: Communalism Combat, March 1998

This is not the first time that this has been brought to India’s notice. But are the institutions of governance receptive to such critiques? The deep-rooted bias within our police force against India’s religious minorities. Seminal studies by the noted academic and India scholar, Paul Brass (Forms of Collective Violence—Riots, Pogroms and Genocide in Modern India, 2002, published later in 2006), where the author and social scientist argues on the systemic and institutionalised riot mechanism in India, that works to a pattern, against the Muslim minority of India.  Earlier, in the tumultuous 1990s an IPS officer, Vibhuti Narain Rai, took time off from his duty to scrutinise, research and study not just attitudinal issues within the police force when it came to Muslims, but also the conduct and behaviour of Indian policemen when they were confronted with communal violence (1995). This was published in a book, titled Combating Communal Conflicts,

Now, in 2019, after the India of targeted progroms has changed to the everyday fear-mongering and hate violence of lynchings, a study by Common Cause- Centre for the study of developing societies (CSDS), Lokneeti has revealed disturbing prejudices of police personnel towards Muslims on the question of committing violence. The study has also highlighted prejudicial attitudes in the incidents of mob violence.

The idea behind the study titled ‘Status of Policing in India Report 2019’, was to “offer policy-oriented insights into the conditions in which Indian police works.” Apart from other aspects, the report delves into sensitivities and service conditions of police personnel, their resources and infrastructure, patterns of their routine contact with common people and state of policing apparatus on the country.
 
To study the attitudes of the police personnel towards various communities, the researchers asked the police personnel to what extent, according to them, are people from different communities, castes, religions, economic and educational backgrounds naturally prone towards committing crimes. It interviewed 12,000 police personnel from 21 different states.

The report highlights a disturbingly evident bias in attitudes towards Muslims as a community when it came to the question of committing crimes. It observed, “When we looked at what the police personnel think about various communities, the data indicated a significant bias against Muslims. However, no such prejudices were reported against people from SC or ST communities. About half of the police personnel reported that Muslims are likely to be naturally prone towards committing violence (‘very much’ and ‘somewhat’ combined). We observed similar trend in the reverse direction as well, with less number of police personnel likely to report that Muslims are less likely to be naturally prone at committing violence as compared to people from various caste-groups”.
 

Picture: Status of Policing in India Report 2019 by Common Cause-CSDS-Lokneeti
 
Studying the pattern decades earlier, for instance, Paul R. Brass, the noted author and social scientist, argues, in Forms of Collective Violence: Riots, Pogroms, and Genocide in Modern India:
In the long, previously unpublished essay on “The Politics of Curfew”, I have provided extensive, detailed accounts from my own interviews over many years, as well as from other sources, concerning the misuse of curfew in India as a device for the victimization of the Muslim population during riots. In preparing that essay, I searched for comparative literature on the subject and found none, but I did find evidence that misuse of curfew restrictions to victimize particular ethnic or subject groups is hardly confined to India. I have, therefore, argued that this is an issue that needs to be taken up by the human rights community and international organizations. I have also proposed a set of policies that might be considered by such groups and by governments in India.

The last essay in the collection takes up the issue of what secularism means in India in relation to collective and state violence involving Hindu-Muslim relations. I argue here, as I have elsewhere, that secular values are absolutely essential for the maintenance of a just peaceful social order in India. I believe, moreover, that the whole movement against secular values in India and the West is a grave mistake in which, regrettably, many valued colleagues and serious academic writers in India and the West are involved.”

Similarly, in his preface to the book, Combating Communal Conflicts, that was then published in 1999, Rai writes:
When I got an opportunity to study the behaviour of Indian Police during communal riots as a fellow of the SVP National Police Academy, Hyderabad, I did not realise that my work could be so interesting and challenging. The more I immersed in the research, the more I became aware of my limitations. The biggest limitation was the difficulty I experienced in trying to overcome the mental barrier of the average policeman. Most of the Police Officers and men with whom I had an opportunity to interact were convinced that most effective way to control or prevent a communal riot was to adopt harsh measures against the Muslims. Almost all of them, with very few exceptions, were of the view that Muslims were responsible for starting riots and, therefore, the most effective way of preventing them was to deal harshly with that community. Perhaps, this is the reason that events like Hashimpura (1987, Meerut) or Logain (1989, Bhagalpur) where the police killed more than 30 innocent members of the minority community or allowed more than 100 to be slaughtered by those belonging to the majority community are not able to create any feeling of repentance and are even justified with forceful arguments. It was this mental barrier that prevented me from gaining access to many police documents that would have helped this Study.

As a Police Officer, it is my firm belief that unless we come to terms with the fact that we have been committing colossal blunders in dealing with communal riots, we will continue to repeat our mistakes and continue to be put in the dock. Unfortunately, the Police leadership is not prepared to accept these mistakes. I think this is the reason that in spite of the fact that it was the SVP National Police Academy that gave me the fellowship to undertake this Study, it refused to publish my findings. I am thankful to the LBS National Academy of Administration. Mussoorie for having taken the initiative in publishing my study. I would specially like to thank Shri N.C. Saxena, IAS, Director. LBS National Academy of Administration. Mussoorie for having taken the decision to publish it.”

Gujarat 2002’s genocidal pogrom against India’s largesst religious minority took this entrenched prejudice to new levels. Yeh andar ki baat hai, Police hamare saath hai! (It’s an inside story, the police is with us!) was the much-heard boast of the Sangh Parivar cadre in Gujarat then. Then a call to conscience, to all members of the Indian Police Service in mid-March, by a serving officer, received some supportive responses but is making this public in the interests of furthuring a debate on issues of conscience within the forces told India and the world how widespread the anti-Muslim conduct was. Former ADGP(Intelligence), Gujarat, RB Sreekumar who bore witness to the 2002 pogrom, spoke to Communalism Combat on the trials and tribulations of taking a Constitutional stand. He still faces persecution from the powers that be.

Now the the study by Common Cause- Centre for the study of developing societies (CSDS), Lokneeti makes a similar point.
Police personnel in four of the States surveyed, namely, Uttarakhand, Jharkhand, Maharashtra and Bihar, had about two-third or more police personnel who held the opinion that the Muslim community is likely (‘very much’ and ‘somewhat’ combined) to be naturally prone towards committing violence. Four out of five police personnel from Uttarakhand had this opinion.
 

Picture: Status of Policing in India Report 2019 by Common Cause-CSDS-Lokneeti

Similarly, disturbing patterns of biased attitudes emerged in the cases of mob justice.
In the recent years, numerous cases of mob violence against individuals (sometimes referred to as ‘mob lynching’)on suspicions of cow-slaughter, kidnapping, etc. have been reported, and the police is known to have played an enabling role for the people engaging in such forms of violence. This merits the need to understand police personnel’s opinions on the public taking matters into their hands over issues that cause moral outrage, such as cow slaughter or rape or kidnapping. On the other hand, a relatively neutral category of crime such as road accidents caused due to the negligence of the driver has been taken for the purpose of comparison.

The study attempted to analyse the attitude of the police towards the nature of crime and justifiability of a mob in punishing the culprit. The researchers asked the respondents to what extent is it natural for the mob to punish the culprits on their own in four situations- in a case of cow-slaughter, in a case of kidnapping, in a case of rape and in a case of road accident due to driver’s negligence. They said, “..a relatively neutral category of crime such as road accidents caused due to the negligence of the driver has been taken for the purpose of comparison.”

Shockingly, more than one in every three police personnel believed that it was natural for a mob to “punish” the alleged culprit in a case of cow-slaughter (‘to a large extent’ and ‘somewhat’ combined). While in the case of the three other cases of crime, two in five personnel believed so.

This meant that while a little less than half believed that it wasn’t natural for the mob to punish the culprit in case of cow-slaughter, while more than half found it natural, either to a “large extent” or “somewhat” or “rarely”. In case of other three types of alleged crimes, about 6 to 10 percentage points lesser people were found to believe the mobs’ action to be not natural at all.

Picture: Status of Policing in India Report 2019 by Common Cause-CSDS-Lokneeti

The study also found out that “for all the four cases of mob-violence, the senior officers are less likely to believe the action of mob to be natural compared to their subordinates (constabulary ranks).”

It observed, “While 28 percent of seniors were found to believe the mob violence in case of cow slaughter to be more of natural (‘to a large extent’ or ‘somewhat’), the proportion of subordinates were found to be 8 percentage points higher. In the three other cases of mob violence, this difference was found to be around 10 percentage points.”

Among the respondents who were in complete disagreement (responding as ‘not at all’), the respondents at the officer level ranks were in higher proportion, 10 percentage points higher, compared to the respondents at constabulary ranks.

The report emphasised on the need for “proper training in essential aspects of the rule of law at all levels in order to inculcate constitutional values and rational conduct among police personnel.”

A deeper analysis reflected that Madhya Pradesh was found to have two in every five and Chhattisgarh, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh about one in every four believing it to be very natural for a mob to punish the culprit in case of cow slaughter. Seven of the States had less than one in every three believing it to be not natural at all for the mob to punish the culprit.

The report –the latest in a long line of similar studies—has alleged that a significant proportion of police force has a casual attitude towards incidents of mob violence, believing it to be natural for the mob to take law into their own hands. While majority of police personnel were found to have received the trainings in human rights, caste sensitisation and crowd control, for a large section of the police, this training was only imparted at the time of joining.

The study documents that, “These attitudes and opinions could therefore be a reflection of the lack of proper and frequent trainings. Such training, if provided regularly using proper modules, might help not just in softening their preconceived notions towards vulnerable sections of the society, but in also ensuring that such biases do not interfere with proper functioning of the police. An institutional bias against the marginalised sections further increases the vulnerability of these groups. A healthier police-public interface can only be achieved when these prejudices are attacked and due process is established. Thus, there is an urgent need for the police to come out of the web of societal prejudices and prove itself efficient in upholding all the rights provided by the Constitution of India.”
 
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4.  Concerned Citizens Tribunal—Crimes Against Humanity, Disturbing Trends: Police System 

The post Study finds disturbing anti-Muslim prejudices among Police personnel, 1/3 justify mob violence in Cow slaughter incidents appeared first on SabrangIndia.

A study by Common Cause- Centre for the study of developing societies (CSDS), Lokneeti has again revealed that marginalised communities such the Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs), Other Backward castes (OBCs) and women are under-represented in the country’s police forces. Tragically, the organisation could not even look at the presence of the Muslim minorities because of the deliberate concealment of this data by the government. Not just Muslims, Christians, the other small but distinct religious minority has also been victim of a targeted bias from the system. In 2008, in both Kandhamal and Karnataka evidences of these attitudes were seen.
 
The idea behind the present study titled ‘Status of Policing in India Report 2019’, was to “offer policy-oriented insights into the conditions in which Indian police works.” Apart from other aspects, the report delves into sensitivities and service conditions of police personnel, their resources and infrastructure, patterns of their routine contact with common people and state of policing apparatus on the country.
 
The report titled, Status of Policing in India Report 2019 –Policy Adequacy and Working Conditions may be read here.
 
On the issue of diversity, the report highlights that while SCs are under-represented in 19 out of 21 state police forces studied in proportion to their share of reserved postings, STs and OBCs are inadequately represented in 16 and 11 states, respectively.
 
The representation of women amongst these is the “worst” with only 7.3 percent women police personnel at the national level in 2016. Moreover, none of the states have been able to meet the required benchmark of 33 percent while filling their posts, as per the report. The highest representation has been in Tamil Nadu at 12.9 percent in 2016.
 
When it comes to SCs, their representation in the state police force ranges from a worrying 40.2 percent (of the reserved sanctioned strength) in Uttar Pradesh (UP) to 101.8 percent in Punjab. SCs are underrepresented across North Indian states such as UP, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh, being some of the worst performing states.
 
On similar lines, the ST representation across states ranges from 3.6 percent in Haryana to 152.5 percent in Uttarakhand. While the OBC representation is the poorest in West Bengal with 22.6 percent and best in Telangana with 145.3 percent.
 
The report observes that while overall 13.4 per cent of the total police personnel are officers (assistant sub-inspector to deputy superintendent of police), only 11.5 per cent, 11.6 per cent, 11.1 per cent and 10.1 per cent of the SCs, STs, OBCs and women are of the officer rank.
 
The data for SCs, STs and OBCs is only available only till the rank of Deputy Superintendent of Police (DySP). Therefore, the percentage of officers among women in police and the overall police force has also been taken as the proportion of ASI to DySP to enable comparison across categories, the report highlighted. Except for five of the selected states namely Assam, MP, Nagaland, Tamil Nadu and Uttarakhand, the proportion of women officers is consistently lower than the overall proportion of officers in all state, the report noted.
 
More than one-third of the states studied have disproportionately lower number of officers across all four categories. For example, in Delhi the overall number of officers is 20.6 per cent whereas only four per cent of the OBCs are officers. Similarly, in West Bengal, nearly 13 per cent of the STs and OBCs were of the officer rank while the overall figures stood at 23.8 per cent.
 
From the report, it becomes clear that maintaining diversity is not on the states’ agenda. The police forces are not only marred by high vacancies in the sanctioned posts, but also a lack of promotion or growth even if one gets recruited.
 
There is no data on representation of Muslims who are not covered under any reservation, as the data was discontinued by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) after 2013.
 
The report says, “Aside from the moral and productivity-based arguments in favour of diversity, it is also a legal mandate for police forces in the country.” The Constitution makes provisions for reservations for Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs), and Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in public service recruitments, including police, at both the State and the Central levels. Further, the Ministry of Home Affairs has issued advisories to the State governments to increase the representation of women to at least 33 percent of the total police strength in the States. It is against these benchmarks of State-specific reservation quotas and the MHA advisory that the study measures the diversity within the police forces of different States.
 
In 2009, the Union Home Ministry set 33% as the benchmark target for women’s representation in the police. Apart from the Union Territories, only nine states adopted 33% reservation, five states 30%, Bihar 38% and five states below 30%. Nine states are yet to set targets.
In 2013, the Union Government recommended each police station to have at least three women Sub-Inspectors and 10 women police Constables to ensure women help desks are staffed at all times.
In 2015, the Union proposed creating Investigative Units for Crimes Against Women (IUCAW) at police stations in crime-prone districts across states. These units are to have 15 specialised investigators dealing specifically with crimes against women. At least one-third of the investigative staff are required to be women.
Studies in the past have highlighted how diversity ensures more acceptability in communities and makes problem solving easier.
 
Ronal Weitzer, a US based researcher and author of the book, Race and Policing in America wrote, “Importantly, such diversity can help to build trust and confidence in the police: the more a police department reflects the composition of the local population, the higher the department’s reputation among residents, which can provide a foundation to build further trust, coupled with other needed reforms.”
 
Pavani Nagaraja Bhat from the Police Reforms Program of the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) highlights the grave problem of under-representation of women in the police forces in an essay, “As of 1 January 2017, the strength of women police in India was 7.28% of the total police.[1]This low representation of women is despite state governments setting reservation targets for women in the police ranging from 4% to 38%. Of the 7.28%, 0.85% belong to supervisory ranks, 9.76% to investigative ranks and 89.37% to the constabulary. These numbers are reflective of the exclusion of women in policing — especially at investigative and leadership levels. This inordinately affects the quality of policing. Yet, police recruitment continues to be irregular and scanty.”
 
United Nations Women collected data across 39 countries which showed that the presence of women police correlates positively with reporting of sexual assault, confirming that recruiting women is an important component of a gender-responsive justice system.
Several studies show the value of women in policing, not just in handling violence against women but other inherent aspects of policing. This is due to the experiences and realities of women that are different from those of men. A study from 2010 observed: “twenty years of exhaustive research demonstrates that women police officers utilise a style of policing that relies less on physical force, and more on communication skills that defuse potentially violent situations. Women police officers are therefore much less likely to be involved in occurrences of police brutality, and are also much more likely to effectively respond to police calls regarding violence against women. Despite having a poor record in gender based crimes, India still lags far behind in the representation of women in police forces.
 
The study does not include the inclusion of Muslims, India’s most hounded minority today. According to a report compiled by The Economist “No serious official effort has been made to assess the lot of India’s Muslims since the publication in 2006 of a study ordered by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Called the Sachar report, it broadly showed Muslims to be stuck at the bottom of almost every economic or social heap. Though heavily urban, Muslims had a particularly low share of public (or any formal) jobs, school and university places, and seats in politics. They earned less than other groups, were more excluded from banks and other finance, spent fewer years in school and had lower literacy rates. Pitifully few entered the army or the police force.”
 
Sabrangindia and Communalism Combat  before that has been assiduously analysing and campaigning around the issue of both representation of Indian Muslims in the police force and administration and also the attitudes of men in uniform vis a vis India’s largest minority.
An introduction to the Justice BN Srikrishna Commission Report into the Bombay 1992-1993 brute anti-minority pogrom published an introduction by journalist, educationist and activist, Teesta Setalvad. She has researched the various judicial commission reports into anti-minority violence. This section. Anti-Minority Bias in the Police Force may be read here. Ex-IPS officer, KS Subramanian’s essay ‘Babri Masjid 1992 – Gujarat 2002 – Kashmir 2016: How the Sangh Parivar has wrecked India’s secular social fabric by sustained anti-minority violence’ may be read here.  
 
In February 1995, in the cover story of Communalism Combat (www.sabrang.com) Vibhuti Narain Rai gave an interview that turned the searchlight within, on the Indian Police Force. Setalvad had met him at the National PoliceAcademy where I had been asked to become part of a training given my work in the post Babri-Masjid demolition Bombay violence. In this explosive interview he had argued, cogently and with statistics about the deep-rooted bias within the Indian police. “No riot can continue for more than 24 hours unless the state wants it to continue,” he had said in an interview, that, after it appeared in the February 1995 issue of Communalism Combat was reproduced by 35 Indian publications in different languages. This seminal interview may be read here.
 
This poor representation of various sections of India’s marginalised, make it almost impossible for the social issues and crimes most plaguing the country today, to be taken seriously by the police. In fact, one witnesses that in many instances the police collude with the majoritarian community, namely Upper caste class Hindu male to perpetuate even more violence on those who are already persecuted.
Though some progressive judgments such as the one in which the SC upholds Karnataka law on Reservations in Promotions for Govt. employees provide a glimmer of hope, the implementation on the ground remains questionable.

Related Articles:
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2.  Anti–minority bias in the Indian Police
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For many victims of violence, the police are a large part of the problem. Reuters

But this should not disguise the fact that women’s rights on a global scale – and specifically women’s safety – is still very much in its infancy. Thousands of women and girls each year are victims of gender violence in India – and the most recent statistics from the National Crime Records Bureau show that crimes against women have increased 34% in the past four years.

This figure provides only a glimpse of the actual number of crimes against women and girls – as the vast majority of victims do not come forward and seek help from the police. So while the figures demonstrate a growing level of willingness by women to come forward and report these crimes, there is still a need to address how the police treat victims.

For the past two years Sheffield Hallam University’s Helena Kennedy Centre for International Justice has been working in India, leading a project to improve access to justice for women and girl victims of violence. Justice for Her is a collaborative effort with the Indian police across the vast and densely populated states of Delhi, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and Punjab.
 

Challenging perceptions

From day one the aim of the project was clear: we wanted the police to prioritise the protection of women and girls who have been victims of violence, so they could be fully supported at their most vulnerable time. And we wanted women and girls to be safe and not fear being victimised again.

Following its inception in 2016, Justice for Her developed a training programme for police officers and lawyers in India, on how they can more appropriately and effectively deal with these cases and secure justice for victims. This training involved a wide range of approaches, including role play, group discussions, lectures, simulation exercises and self-reflection workshops.

Protests in New Delhi, India. Reuters

The aim was for the police to have full ownership and feel empowered and fully equipped to deliver appropriate support and protection to female victims. We brought together police officers, lawyers, NGOs, and members from civil society, encouraging them to share their experiences of dealing with female victims of crime.

We also visited all the states and met with individual stakeholders to ensure the training programme was informed by them – as well as being designed to meet victim’s needs and the nuances of each state.

In Delhi, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and Punjab we met committed and enthusiastic participants, who had a genuine thirst for learning. We also met participants who needed to be challenged about their perceptions and stereotypes.
 

Beacons of justice

The training programme has now been successfully delivered in the four states to senior police trainers working across a range of police training academies. And also to those with a strategic remit of dealing with crimes against women.

We have changed the way police offers are trained about gender violence – with more focus on empathy, the victim and moral principles. This has helped to challenge police strategies – many of which now prioritise gender violence. And has created an empowered police force who have the ability to perform their duties more effectively – without prejudice and discrimination.

All of which is important, because if Indian citizens can see the police as beacons of justice, protection and safety – for female victims and the communities they serve – there will be fewer victims pulling out of the criminal justice system. This will in turn help to address the limited impact of the government’s recent legislation to deal with violence against women and girls.
 

Policing India

Such has been the success of the project, the training will now be included in the curriculum for many new police recruits in the four states, as well as rolled out to existing officers in the field. This means that potentially tens of thousands of police officers will be able to better support women and girls who seek justice.

Part of the project also included senior Indian police officers coming to the UK to see how British police officers tackle gender violence. As a result, the Madhya Pradesh state police force has committed to open 51 one-stop victim support centres for women – having seen a similar model when in the UK.

Students and female police officers dance as they take part in a campaign to end violence against women and girls. Reuters

These centres will provide much needed support and crucial services to female victims of violence – such as legal advice, medical attention, DNA testing, counselling. These centres will meet the needs of thousands of vulnerable women and girls every year and will undoubtedly not just change lives, but in some cases save them.

Justice for Her is a huge step forward in improving access to justice for women and girl victims of violence. But more is needed, much more. The seeds have been planted and now must be spread to other areas of India.

Sunita Toor, Principal Lecturer in Criminology, Sheffield Hallam University

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

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These remarks acquire significance given the recent inhuman and unprofessional beating of young women students during the protests in the Banaras Hindu University. BHU lies within prime minister Narendra Modi’s parliamentary constituency.

Singh made the remarks while addressing the personnel of the blue dungaree-donning Rapid Action Force (RAF) at their base at Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, on the occasion of their silver jubilee (25th) anniversary.

Curb Castism and Communalism
Singh urged the security personnel to keep an effective check on the incidents in which attempts are made to break the country on the lines of casteism, religion or regionalism.
“The police of the 21st century cannot be a brute force. It will have to be a civilised force. Patience and control has to be practised and followed by police forces and the personnel on ground while dealing with hard and challenging situations like riots and protesting crowds.

“I understand sometimes police forces have to use slight force but in such situations too, prudence is required,” he said.

Singh said he has already asked the Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPRD) to look for “less-lethal” solutions to be used in policing tasks and crowd control.

The head of the countrys internal security mechanism asked the forces to apply “minimum force” and obtain maximum results.

While lauding the efforts of the RAF, he said that five new battalions of the force will be made fully operational from January 1 next year.The RAF, at present, has ten operational battalions and they are based in ten cities that are regarded as sensitive from the communal and the security point of view.

The home minister also declared that personnel of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) will be granted an annual allowance of Rs 10,000 to get stitched uniforms and the practise of providing them ready-made uniforms has been discontinued.

He said that he was “seriously” thinking about ways to ensure timely promotions to the about 10 lakh personnel of these forces.

The home minister also declared that personnel of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) will be granted an annual allowance of Rs 10,000 to get stitched uniforms and the practise of providing them ready-made uniforms has been discontinued.

He said that he was “seriously” thinking about ways to ensure timely promotions to the about 10 lakh personnel of these forces.

He also took a dig at those who say that only taking a pledge does not transform the country.

“We took a pledge in 1942 and called it the Quit India movement…we achieved independence in the next 5 years, that is in 1947. This is the power of determination and pledge,” Singh said.
 

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Human Rights Watch(HRW)’s “Bound by Brotherhood”, India’s Failure to End Killings in Police Custody report released in New Delhi recently, documents habitual torture of undertrials and detainees by Indian police across several states. Despite changes in laws and guidelines and the promise of police reforms since 1997, official data shows at least 591 people died in police custody between 2010 and 2015
 
Indian police often torture criminal suspects to punish them, to gather information, or to coerce confessions. While police blame most of the deaths on suicide, illness, or natural causes, in many such cases family members allege that the deaths were the result of torture; allegations sometimes supported by independent investigations. The entire report may be read here.
 
Bound by Brotherhood examines the reasons for the continuing impunity for custodial deaths in India, and recommends steps that authorities should take to end it. It details the scope of the problem drawing on in-depth Human Rights Watch investigations into 17 custodial deaths that occurred between 2009 and 2015. In most of these cases, family members, with the assistance of lawyers and activists, were able to seek new inquiries, thus providing access to witness testimonies, autopsy reports, or police statements.
 
In each of the 17 cases, the police did not follow proper arrest procedures—including documenting the arrest, notifying family members, or producing the suspect before a magistrate within 24 hours—which made the suspect more vulnerable to abuse and may have contributed to a belief by police that any mistreatment could be covered up. In most of the cases, investigating authorities, mainly the police, failed to take steps that could have helped ensure accountability for the deaths.
 
Human Rights Watch has called on the Indian government to strictly enforce existing law and guidelines on arrest and detention and ensure that police officers implicated in torture and other ill-treatment, regardless of rank, are disciplined or prosecuted as appropriate.
 
The New York-based rights group has urged India to implement a string of often-ignored regulations and prosecute officers involved in the alleged mistreatment of prisoners.
While torture is illegal in India, and law enforcement agencies in many countries now say it does little to elicit accurate information, many Indian police are open about their use of the “third degree” _ a term that can encompass anything from a couple slaps to a savage beating _ to extract details or confessions.
 
An appendix to the Report makes interesting reading:
 
Appendix II: Table of Right to Information Responses
 

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