The open letter and the protest come amid an ongoing controversy related to Mevani’s recent meeting with Pandian on October 15 when the ADGP allegedly insulted him. Mevani has stated that he went to meet Pandian to raise the land-related issues of Dalits in Kutch.

In his letter to Shah, Mevani  said, “With his behaviour, especially on the issue of land rights to Dalits, Rajkumar Pandian has not just misbehaved with an elected representative… he has insulted the dignity, rights and esteem of 50 lakh Dalits of Gujarat. This is unquestionably unacceptable and intolerable,” he added.  Mevani has posted the letter on his social media handle on X.

Also making a reference to Pandian’s jail term in connection with  the case of extra-judicial killimgs (“fake encounters”), Mevani also said, “…keeping in mind the history of accusations against and consequential jail term undergone by Pandian, I do see myself threatened.” Facing serious charges of such extra-judicial killings, Pandian was in jail for around seven years before he was discharged.

“I am compelled to say that if any harm is done to me, my life and property and/or the life and property of my family, and/or to the life and property of Shri Hitendra Pitadiya, and/or the life and property of any of my team members/associates; in any such case, Rajkumar Pandian should be held responsible,” he added.

Mevani is seeking the termination of Pandian, Mevani claimed, “I am convinced that such a bureaucrat occupying an office of such importance would always fail to serve the people, particularly the most marginal, namely Dalits. I therefore pray that in order to retain the sanctity and credibility of the Offices of the Police Department, you kindly  …give necessary instructions to the concerned authorities to move to terminate/suspend Rajkumar Pandian with immediate effect.”

Meanwhile, Gujarat Congress leaders and Dalit community members on Wednesday also gathered outside the DGP office in Gandhinagar and staged a protest, seeking the suspension of Pandian. Shouting slogans against Pandian, hundreds of people led by Mevani and senior Congress leaders, including Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) president Shaktisinh Gohil and party MLAs, gathered outside the ‘Police Bhavan’.

“Anti-social elements have grabbed 20,000 bigha of land (1 bigha is 17,427 sq ft) belonging to Dalits, but IPS officer Pandian does not have the courage to get their land freed …When we went with an appeal, the IPS officer tried to suppress our voice…” said Mevani.

Talking to PTI, Pandian called the allegations “baseless,” and asserted the state police give due importance to the welfare and safety of weaker sections of society, including Dalits and tribals.

A delegation of senior Congress leaders also met DGP Vikas Sahay and submitted a memorandum, accusing Pandian of “absolutely unacceptable, improper and deplorable behaviour”.

(With inputs from PTI)

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Controversy has broken out over the premature retirement orders given to three IPS officers in Uttar Pradesh. The most buzz has been created around the premature retirement orders being given to Inspector General Amitabh Thakur, who was currently posted as the Joint Director Civil Defence. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) ordered immediate voluntary retirement of 1992 batch-IPS officer Amitabh Thakur, reported Zee news.

The announcement was made by the Uttar Pradesh government on Tuesday March 23, and a notice was issued to the IPS officer by the Uttar Pradesh Home Department. It said that Thakur was “not suitable” to continue his services as a public servant. 

Thakur, an officer of the 1992 batch who was to retire in June 2028 had on Tuesday announced that he had been retired, and shared a copy of the orders issued by the government. He posted: “I received my retirement orders. The government does not need my service, Jai Hind.” 

“अमिताभ ठाकुर को लोकहित में सेवा में बनाये रखे जाने के उपयुक्त न पाते हुए लोकहित में तात्कालिक प्रभाव से सेवा पूर्ण होने से पूर्व सेवानिवृत किये जाने का निर्णय लिया गया है.” pic.twitter.com/nkPFTBIuvk

— AmitabhThakur (@Amitabhthakur) March 23, 2021

According to news reports, the other two were a 2002-batch DIG and an SP of the 2005 batch, reportedly promoted IPS officers who were to retire in June 2023 and April 2024. It is being stated that Thakur has been at loggerheads with the state government. Two other officers have also been prematurely retired, UP Chief Secretary (Home) Awanish Kumar Awasthi said. These two had been promoted to the IPS from the Provincial Police Service. According to reports, there are several cases lodged against the officers.

Amitabh Thakur was suspended on July 13, 2015, soon after he had accused the then Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav of “threatening him” and made public an audio recording, in which he claimed was “proof” that the SP leader had allegedly threatened him. The state government had initiated a Vigilance inquiry against Thakur. It was reported that later, the Lucknow bench of the Central Administrative Tribunal stayed Thakur’s suspension, and ordered that he be reinstated from October 11, 2015. 

Awanish Kumar Awasthi had reportedly said that “the Union government in its order dated March 17 found 1992-batch IPS officer Amitabh Thakur unfit to remain in service and in public interest decided to give him retirement with immediate effect before completing his service tenure.” It has been reported that Thakur has had “run-ins both with the current BJP and previous Samajwadi Party governments.” According to a report in The Hindu, Amitabh Thakur had written twice to the Union Home Ministry in 2016, seeking a change in his cadre. He had alleged that UP government officials were treating him as a “sworn enemy” and cited that there was “a threat to his life”. He had asked that he be shifted out of the state, however his request was turned down by the Centre in January 2017.

After he was given retirement orders, Thakur shared a letter he had written to the government on the concept of “Forced Retirement” in December 2019 and said it was “ironically very relevant today.”

“जबरिया सेवानिवृति” के संबंध में 04 दिसंबर 2019 को सरकार को लिखे मेरे पत्र के कुछ अंश आज अत्यंत प्रासंगिक दिख रहे हैं. pic.twitter.com/Cr99p1WuRr

— AmitabhThakur (@Amitabhthakur) March 24, 2021

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Like a few others before them, another group of retired Indian Police Service (IPS) officers, have written to oppose their brother officer Julio Ribeiro’s letter to the Delhi Police Commissioner in connection with the investigation into the February 2020 communal violence in Delhi. Ribeiro had written to the Delhi Police Commissioner urging a fair probe and received an uninspiring response from the top cop, following which Ribeiro had schooled him in another letter on his duties as a police officer.

Meanwhile, allegations of police complicity in exacerbating the violence continue to grow, even as police have gone on an arrest-spree targeting activists like Dr. Umar Khalid, who had spoken at rallies and demonstrations against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), National Register of Citizens (NRC) and National Population Register (NPR). The latest letter by the IPS officers alleges that by writing to the Police Commissioner, Ribeiro, is ‘supporting’ Dr. Khalid!

A couple of days ago, 26 retired IPS officers wrote a letter saying Ribeiro, who was former Mumbai Police Commissioner, DGP Gujarat and Punjab, “is supporting Umar Khalid”, reported the Indian Express. According to these 26 retired officers Umar Khalid allegedly “raised anti-India slogans” and that they “condemn” what they have called “anti-India expression and communal narrative”.

Soon after the arrest of Dr. Khalid, a PhD scholar from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Ribeiro had written to Delhi Police Commissioner S N Shrivastava stating that police were cracking down on “peaceful protestors” while ignoring senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) politicians who had made provocative, communal public speeches. Ribeiro’s letter to the Delhi Police Commissioner had pointed out loopholes in the ongoing probe into North East Delhi communal violence. Shrivastava, however, defended the investigation and said no arrests were made on the basis of religion or party affiliation. He has now found support in this group of retired officers, who wrote as stated in the IE, “A section of former police officers can’t declare anyone innocent and try to put the police force in a bad light. These officers have no right to suspect or question the integrity and professionalism of their successors in the Indian Police Service, and in turn demoralise them.”

Those who signed the statement are: R S Gupta, former Delhi CP; P C Dogra, former Punjab DGP; M G Raman, former Kerala DGP; former UP DGPs R N Singh and Bhanu Pratap Singh; and Praveen Dixit, former Maharashtra DGP.

In his first letter to the Delhi CP that may be read here,  Julio Riberio has taken Shrivastava to task for his failure to ensure a fair probe into the communal violence that broke out in February 2020 in North East Delhi. Ribeiro, a former IPS officer with a formidable reputation as a policeman and thereafter a civil rights activist, said Delhi Police took “action against peaceful protestors but deliberately failed to register cognizable offences against those who made hate speeches which triggered the riots”. He ashed why BJP leaders “Kapil Mishra, Anurag Thakur and Parvesh Verma have not been arraigned before the Courts of law while deeply-hurt Muslim women, peacefully protesting against discriminations based on religion, were lodged for months together in jail!”

He was supported by nine more former police officers, who also wrote to the Delhi CP. They called the investigation ‘flawed’. The letter was signed by Shafi Alam (former Director General, National Crime Records Bureau), K. Saleem Ali (former Special Director, CBI), Mohinderpal Aulakh (former Director General of Police (Jails), Punjab), A.S. Dulat (former OSD on Kashmir, Prime Minister’s Office), Aloke B. Lal (former Director General (Prosecution), Uttarakhand), Amitabh Mathur (former Director, Aviation Research Centre and former Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat), Avinash Mohananey (former Director General of Police, Sikkim), P.G.J. Nampoothiri (former Director General of Police, Gujarat) and A.K. Samanta (former Director General of Police (Intelligence), West Bengal).

These former top cops are a part of the Constitutional Conduct Group, under the aegis of which retired officers belonging to the various services often take up matters of public interest and welfare. They wrote: “…[W]e would like to say that it indeed is a sad day in the history of Indian police that investigations and challans submitted in the court by Delhi Police in connection with riots of this year are widely believed to be partisan and politically motivated. It pains all those police officers, serving as well as retired, who believe in upholding the rule of law and our Constitution.” More on this may be read here.

Ribeiro responded to Shrivastava’s denial

Ribeiro had written back the doubts he raised have not been cleared at all. He had further highlighted the major flaws in the investigation and repeated that it was “impossible, to justify the licence given to the three B.J.P stalwarts I named – licence to rant, rave and threaten those who are peacefully protesting perceived wrongs. If the speakers were Muslims or Leftists the police would have surely taken them in for sedition!” Julio Ribeiro’s rebuttal to the Delhi Police commissioner’s reply can be read here.

Opposition leaders appealed to President, sought judicial probe

Apart from the senior cops who have raised the issue of an urgent need to investigate the riot investigation itself, several prominent political leaders met President Ram Nath Kovind and urged that he order a judicial probe into Delhi violence. They told the President that they were alarmed at the way scores of summons, questionings, and arrests under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), and other charges, have been set into motion. The senior leaders of national Opposition parties met President Ram Nath Kovind, on Thursday, and gave him a memorandum, putting on record their demand for a judicial probe by sitting or retired judges, into the investigations that are now underway, probing Delhi communal riots of February 2020.

The three page memorandum has been signed by Congress’ Ahmed Patel, CPI’s D Raja, CPI(M)’s Sitaram Yechury, DMK’s Kanimozhi and RJD’s Manoj Jha. “There are, however, serious questions about the role played by the Delhi Police itself, during the violence, and also the manner in which police is harassing and attempting to falsely implicate activists and young people who took part in the anti-CAA/NRC/NPR movements, as perpetrators of violence,” stated the memorandum. The detailed article, and the memorandum may be read here.

Brinda Karat altered Commissioner, on recent illegal processions in communally sensitive areas

Another, and most alarming letter has been written by CPI(M) Polit Bureau Member Brinda Karat who wrote to the Commissioner of Delhi Police, SN. Srivastava, to draw his urgent attention to these disturbing incidents. Brinda Karat asked the Commissioner to act against communal activity in Shiv Vihar where non festive, aggressive processions sloganeering ‘Jai Shri Ram, Har Har Mahadev’ were taken out after dark. This is a sensitive area of North East Delhi, and Karat, a resident of Delhi was the first political leader, to have alerted the Commissioner about these  disturbing processions, and shared the the videos were the groups are heard screaming ‘Jai Shri Ram, Har Har Mahadev’ aggressively as they can be seen walking down the lanes of Shiv Vihar, North East Delhi, after sundown on September 15. She asked the commissioner to take appropriate action against such moves which can have dangerous consequences if they flare up into communal confrontations. Her letter can be read here.

It is not yet known if  the President has responded to the memorandum given by Opposition leaders, or if the Delhi Police commissioner has responded to Brinda Karat’s urgent letter, proactively. However, so far, no political leader, or retired IPS officer has written to oppose them. 

Related: 

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North-East Delhi Riots: Minorities Commission investigations reveal role of Delhi Police, politicians
The ruling is surprising and disappointing: Brinda Karat on Hate Speech Case 

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid rich tributes to our forces and said that more than 35000 of them have laid their lives for the security of our people. Yes, we agree that men and women in uniform work under trying conditions and, despite provocation, remain committed to the rule of law. There have been many upright officers, both in the police and in our armed forces,of whom this nation can be genuinely proud. They are thoughtful and absolutely incorruptible. It is people like them who give us hope. Admiral Vishnu Bhagwat was a highly intellectual chief of Indian Navy, unceremoniously removed by the NDA government under Atal Bihari Vajpayee as he raised issues concerning our armed forces and national security and disagreed with the then defence minister, George Fernandez. There is Admiral L Ramdas who has been speaking against nuclearisation as well as communalization and continuously standsup for the people. We have a great police officer, former DGP of the Punjab Police, Julio Ribero,who brought peace in Punjab. There is Sanjeev Bhat, who is facing persecution in Gujarat and being targeted for the crime he might not have committed and for which many ‘valiant’ police officers might go to jail if properly investigated. We have R Praveen Kumar, who has revolutionized the SC/ST hostels in Telangana today, and students from these segments are emerging highly successful from these hostels. He is a thinking officer who has broken the glass ceiling about ‘merit’ and shown all of us that government can do miracles if our officers are given a free hand and day to day interferences in their work is not done by the political parties, particularly the ruling party.

Among many such upright officers was Mr S R Darapuri, who is a proud Ambedkarite and retired as Inspector General of Police from Uttar Pradesh police. Though his home state is Punjab, he made Uttar Pradesh his home as he had worked here all through his life. During his tenure, he has been very vocal about the rights of the marginalized and worked to protect them. Most of the governments, including those of the Bahujan parties, actually did not listened to him much and could never use his brilliance and ideas for the benefit of the community.

After his retirement from government service, S R Darapuri dedicated his life to the public cause, particularly issues regarding Dalits, Adivasis and minorities. He has been very vocal on the forest rights issues and active in the Sonbhadra region, where he contested unsuccessfully for the Lok Sabha. Darapuri has been a regular among human rights activists who have been speaking on various issues such as abrogation of article 370 and cases of violence on Dalits, in particular. He was part of many fact-finding teams in and outside Uttar Pradesh, related to communal violence as well as caste based atrocities committed on Dalits.

Darapuri has been under house arrest since December 18, according to his Facebook post. A report in The Times of India quotes his son as saying that the police had put him under house arrest on December 18, but formally arrested him on December 20. It is clear that Darapuri had called for a political but non-violent protest against CAA, but his family was not aware of his arrest as they thought it is just a preventive house arrest and once the protests were over, he would be released. It is nearly 10 days now and we do not know when he will be released. It looks like the police will file various cases of ‘inciting violence’ against him. A man, who served in the police for such a long period and always stood as a very polite and humane face of the police force, today is wrongly facing charges of inciting violence. S R Darapuri is a Buddhist Ambedkarite and a true follower of Dr Ambedkar’s mission.Dr Ambedkar is, perhaps, the biggest non-violent revolutionary in India after Buddha, and Darapuri and many like him actually follow the path of Dr Ambedkar, for spreading peace and strengthening the fraternity. How can an Ambedkarite Buddhist ever spread violence?

Mr Darapuri has been well-known as an Amberdkarite for a long period. After his retirement, he has been active in politics, and has raised issues of public concern, particularly those related to Dalits and Adivasis. Is raising people’s issues a crime? What is his crime, except that he participates in political meetings and criticizes the government? The other day the Prime Minister asked why protests cannot be non-violent, but the fact is that most of the protests have been non-violent and a responsible senior like Mr Darapuri cannot ever be violent. He was never violent even when he had the power, then how can and why should he become violent at this ripe age of 76 years, when he is not well and needs medical assistance. His wife, too, is not well and needs medical attention most of the time.

We hope that the National Human Rights Commission and other bodies will take note of  arbitrary arrests in Uttar Pradesh and will act fast to get innocent people and activists released. It is people like Darapuri who can be the best bet for a peaceful protest and for building bridges between different communities. He has been an active member of Ambedkar Maha Sabha in Lucknow, but the senior members and his colleagues, who are now supporting the government, are quiet. I am sure they, too, know it well that, political differences apart, Darapuri cannot be a person for inciting violence or engaging in any kind of conspiracy. We hope that fabricated charges against him will be struck down in the court of law and he would be honorably released. It is deeply disturbing that he has to face all this just because he stood up for people’s right to protest and spoke against an act democratically. After-all, as the Prime Minister said,peaceful democratic protests are our fundamental right and should be respected.

There is a message for all – that police personnel or administrative people are a part of the society. While they have a responsibility towards the government, they also have to protect the people and honour the Constitution.There are many upright officers, who stand with the people and who will definitely be serving people after their retirement, as Darapuri and many others are doing. I hope they will understand that while following the diktats of the government, there still is a lot of space to protect people and humanize the police force. It will not be possible, unless the forces represent our social and cultural diversity. This is where the secular parties failed, as they failed to re-create the social diversity of religion and communities in the police force. Hence, for those who look at India with ‘one nation one religion’ idea, it becomes easier to manipulate that idea into an ‘us vs. them’ confrontation. We still hope that good sense will prevail and all the innocent people will be released. Instead, cases should be filed against all those who were engaged in damaging public and individual properties, including those in the police force. A huge democracy like ours cannot have a police force acting like a political militia, but we need an absolutely professional police force which protects people and acts impartially according to the rule of law. We hope the highest court of the land will also act on this and give detailed guidelines to the police. Hopefully, it will also order an SC monitored SIT or a special judicial investigation by a sitting or retired Supreme Court judge, who will inquire into all that happened in Uttar Pradesh and whether the police actions in the state were extraordinarily harsh or not.

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Image credit:  BSF Jawan Tej Bahadur Singh (L) and MK Narayanan (R)|YouTube and Wikimedia Commons
 

The uploading of a series of Facebook videos in January by a disgruntled constable of the Border Security Force, Tej Bahadur Yadav, about the apparently poor quality of food and tough working conditions has understandably caused a lot of outrage and concern. The surfacing of similar social media posts in the wake of Yadav’s viral videos created a narrative of exploitation of the brave sacrificing jawans at the hands of an allegedly corrupt, callous and feudal cadre of officers. That living conditions, equipment, training and promotional avenues of our Central Armed Police Forces – which include the Border Security Force, Central Reserve Police Force, Central Industrial Security Force, Indo-Tibetan Border Police, Sashastra Seema Bal, National Security Guard, and the Assam Rifles – should improve further is not disputed. There is an awareness that our troops need to be leaner and better resourced and modernisation is a strategic imperative.

But, in view of the current mandate of internal security challenges as well as budget constraints, this transition will take much longer than the attention span of 24×7 media. One of the uninformed suggestions emerging out of the current debate is that the leadership of the forces needs to change fundamentally so that leaders are more aware of ground realities, have adequate experience, and are committed to a long-term career to lead the force rather than short casual stints.

The top leadership in the police, intelligence and investigative organisations, both in the Central government and state governments, currently come from a common pool of leaders belonging to the Indian Police Service. Somewhere up there, Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, the architects of the All India Services who argued passionately in the Constituent Assembly for the adoption and evolution of the British-era Indian Civil Service and the Imperial Police into the Indian Administrative Service and the Indian Police Service, are sure to be wringing their hands in despair. The national needs that led them to champion the concept of the All India Services have not gone away. If anything, the challenges to India’s stability and prosperity have become more complex and acute. It is, of course, obvious that the Indian Police Service cannot consider itself a holy cow any longer. Constructive criticism as well as meaningful change are both urgently required. While meeting these challenges would require rethink and reform at all levels, including that of the IPS, abolishing it or drastically curtailing its pre-eminence in our internal security architecture would be ill-advised.

The Tej Bahadur Yadav theory of what ails our internal security goes something like this: Why do our jawans get poor facilities? Why do they choose to leave the forces in large numbers each year? Why do we have recurring incidents of fratricide and suicide? A common refrain is: because they are led by Central Armed Police Forces officers who are themselves disgruntled and resentful of the IPS presence in their organisations. So, the obvious solution is to remove the latter from the former. The argument goes that this will motivate the Central Armed Police Force officers to work with greater dedication for the welfare of their jawans.
 

Clearing misconceptions

Anecdotal evidence and outright fudging is marshalled as evidence to create a supposedly compelling case for radical surgery of these forces. There is no doubt that the Indian Police Service and the police organisations it leads both need reform and rejuvenation, but not for imaginary reasons based on ignorance or vested interests.

First, to clear some common misconceptions about our Central Armed Police Forces and the role of the IPS in these organisations. Barring the Central Reserve Police Force, which goes back in origin to the British Raj, every other such organisation has been created and nursed into its present shape by successive generations of IPS officers. As they have grown, the relatively small and stable size of the IPS cadre has meant that fewer IPS officers have been made available to man their tactical-level leadership positions, which are now filled by the forces’ own cadre officers. The IPS presence in these organisations has never been lower. For example, the Border Security Force has less than 50 IPS officers serving in an organisation with nearly 4,500 officers. The Indo-Tibetan Border Police has nearly 1,400 officers, of whom about 15 are from the IPS. To suggest that this limited presence is the root cause for the neglect of our jawans is stretching credulity. As things stand, more than 80℅ of Central Armed Police Force officers retire at the level of deputy inspector general or above. Compare it to the Indian Army where less than 5℅ of officers retire at the roughly comparable level of brigadier and above. Clearly, stagnation is not a credible reason for incidents such as the one involving Tej Bahadur Yadav to take place. Even the Army, which has a unified officer cadre, is not immune to occasional lapses and resultant controversies.

The unique position of the All India Services, the talent pool they represent, the exposure they have very early in their career, and the expectations from them are such that plain vanilla comparisons of career slopes can lead to misleading conclusions. The Constitution includes policing in the state list, and maintains a balance with an All India Service like the IPS for coordination between state and central organisations. Divesting the IPS of their current role as leaders of police forces in the state and the Centre goes contrary to the constitutional framework. Besides, in pure human resource terms, there is no empirical evidence that non-IPS leaders are better than those from the IPS in terms of their innate merit, that any larger public interest will be served or that coordination between central agencies or between central and state agencies will improve by undermining the current leadership structures. So, stagnation is a false premise more oriented to the interest of the proponents rather than the constitutional framework or managerial needs.

Similarly, some have pointed out high attrition rates in our Central Armed Police Forces as a symptom of the supposed rot within. Current attrition rates for these organisations are at around 2℅ overall. Any HR manager in the private sector would kill for such low numbers. What is, of course, a matter of concern is the relatively low levels of pay and other facilities given to jawans, compared to the Army. Successive pay commissions have retained the edge given to the armed forces. Ultimately, this is an issue that can be resolved by greater discussion with all stakeholders till a consensus is reached. Given the enormous responsibilities being shouldered by the police forces, it certainly merits a more sympathetic approach. However, given the hybrid nature of the Central Armed Police Forces, where they perform a plethora of duties in aid of state administration and police authorities, closing them to the IPS would damage our federal structure and impact our internal security.
 

Police reforms

Coming to the wider issue of reforming the Indian Police Service to better equip it for its role as strategic leaders of our internal security, this is a topic that needs far more serious reflection and debate. Even before the Tej Bahadur Yadav incident, the service’s credibility and utility have been called into question from various quarters. Its elite nature, and its varied opportunities have ensured that it remains a coveted brand that attracts some of the finest youth from premier universities to join the police and occupy leadership positions. But, from time to time, there is criticism about the efficacy of such an elitist service and even demands for fundamental changes to leadership structures in the police. The general response of the IPS has been to deny deficiencies and blame other factors for individual command failures and performance shortfalls. The IPS cannot actively seek reform and renewal of others while sparing itself.

Nineteenth-century police reform in Britain is often held as a mirror in any conversation on police reform. The English ruling class created an independent and professional police force, thereby bestowing the police with the legitimacy to maintain order. True, the police in the United Kingdom do not carry arms, but they are equipped with the most potent weapon of policing – the consent of the people for policing society.

Young IPS officers, working as police superintendents of districts, have limited work experience and possibly know less about the intricacies of day-to-day policing than the station house officers of police stations. But, the IPS brand introduces them to an alien district immediately on arrival as trustworthy, unless proved otherwise. One of the core recommendations of the National Police Commission, appointed by the government in 1977 to review the policing system, centred on the appointment of police chiefs, so that they carry legitimacy. This aspect needs to be strengthened by ensuring that young superintendents of police are given the requisite institutional backing and resources to do their job in line with public expectations.

A second non-negotiable aspect of police leadership in the Indian context is the ability for strategic thinking; the knack for seeing the larger picture. A parallel can be drawn to the United States Army’s realisation after the Vietnam War that their military leaders need knowledge of history, sociology and international relations far more than proficiency at tactical platoon-level drill. The diversity of challenges for a graduate of the US Military Academy, West Point, today ranges from the South China Sea to the mountains of Afghanistan and the streets of Mosul, Iraq. When our current generation of police chiefs in India were trained at the National Police Academy in Hyderabad, there were no computers or mobile phones. No academy could have prepared them for the job they do today. The way West Point deals with this problem is by focussing on strategic thinking and encouraging their graduates to go on long sabbaticals to the best of US academic and research institutions for periods ranging from three years to five years, to maintain an intellectual edge throughout their careers and afterwards. That is how they come to head the army and intelligence set-up and play a pivotal role as equal partners with the foreign policy and security establishment in deciding on the role of the US in a changing world.

In understanding the role of the IPS or in seeking changes, the two factors of enhancing legitimacy and developing strategic thinking have to be core principles. Changes should be made only to enhance the legitimacy of police leaders and to give them the intellectual resources to provide strategic leadership. Uninformed criticism can always be wished away, but there is now an apprehension among serving and retired police officers that the legitimacy of police leaders and their intellectual depth to provide leadership are sharply declining. If this continues, at some point, the IPS will be perceived as no different from the rest of the police force. There is a problem in police leaders appearing ordinary or people beginning to think that whoever has political patronage can become a police chief, irrespective of intellectual depth and strategic vision. These developments will corrode the IPS brand, cultivated over long years of dedicated service to the nation.
 

Recruitment process

India has seen some great police leaders such as Rustamji, Rameshwar Nath Kao, BN Mullik, Ashwini Kumar, Julio Rebeiro, KPS Gill and so on. The IPS has already produced two national security advisers in MK Narayanan and Ajit Doval. But, IPS officers, both serving and retired, recognise that the chiefs now have a much diminishing role and most are unable to go beyond adding their name to the succession board in the chief’s office. Therefore, the time has come for serious thinking on systemic reform keeping in mind the two fundamental objectives: enhancing legitimacy and strategic thinking. Recruitment, training and career planning of IPS officers must lay greater emphasis on both these factors.

Currently, recruitment to the IPS is through two routes: two-thirds of officers get in through the combined civil service examination conducted by the Union Public Service Commission, and one-third via promotion from among eligible State Police Service officers. The view that the traits required of a good police officer are different from other civil services and that they should, therefore, be recruited through a separate examination hardly shows any understanding of modern policing. The critical question is whether separating IPS recruitment will enhance the legitimacy of the service or attract officers who are more capable of strategic management. We do not think so. Given the centrality of good policing in democratic expectations of good governance, police leadership should continue to be recruited with other civil servants assigned leadership roles. In fact, the combined civil service examination is as good a way of finding talent, and holding another examination will be wasteful, unnecessary and will not lead to hiring of talent with a different background, talent-set or attitude.

But, with the expansion of police organisations at the state and central levels, there is a net shortfall of IPS officers. There is also a need to accommodate the aspirations of direct recruit assistant commandants in the Central Police Organisations. The growing strength of the Central Armed Police Forces requires their seamless integration into our internal security architecture. So, two changes can be thought up. First, the promotion quota should be increased to 50%. Second, the slots created by the increase should be used to promote officers from these forces to the IPS, which would require waiving off the condition applied to State Police Service officers that the officer should have managed a police sub-division for five years. Central Armed Police Force officers deployed on internal security duty can be asked to take the Union Public Service Commission’s examination on criminal law and then be inducted against this enhanced quota and allotted to states.
 

Training, intellectual growth

The Indian Police Service training, both basic and in-service, also has to undergo a complete paradigm shift, almost along the lines of the West Point Academy. Unfortunately, the outdoor training of the IPS is no different from similar training for other ranks. In fact, these infantry-style training programmes are not followed in any developed part of the world, but have been perpetuated by inertia and lack of vision. As far as academic input is concerned, the National Police Academy hires faculty members with police backgrounds. They have no academic or research experience. Unfortunately, the general lack of quality in India’s higher education system has a direct bearing on academic standards at the police academy.

But the real issue is that these officers, after some years, have to be taken away from street policing and put back in the university system, and this is where the US system scores so high. “Want to do a PhD, join the US Army”. Most US Army generals go on sabbatical, often without any financial support, to the best universities for three to five years. Within India, the Intelligence Bureau does create a facilitating environment for intellectual growth, though they continue to have an outdated obsession with protecting their organisation from enemy agents and have not allowed their officers to go out to international academic institutions. In-breeding and closed competitions can lead to problems. Over the years, the IPS has acquired a macho, gung-ho ethos that might provide fodder for Bollywood scripts but does not really meet our national need for a thoughtful, research and evidence-driven police leadership. Police leaders will look increasingly ordinary and at sea if they lose their intellectual edge. To attract the best talent to the IPS at the recruitment stage and to then fail to renew it with exposure to global best practices and cutting-edge research seems to be a criminal waste of resources.
 

Establishing legitimacy

Beyond recruitment and training, the loss of legitimacy of the IPS is also related to the way officers are selected for posting and promotions. There are problems in implementing any system of a “narrowing pyramid” in the police since that may further politicise the police. But, we recommend the system followed by the United Kingdom, where officers cannot get more than two promotions in command posts (assistant chief constable and above) unless they move out of their jurisdiction. This means no one can be posted as a police chief unless he or she decides to leave the parent cadre. In the Indian context, this would mean that once an officer is an inspector general of police, he or she has to move out on deputation or else cannot be posted as police chief. Carefully cultivated political equations are neutralised if the officer moves out, and the officer cannot be appointed police chief by any act of omission and commission.

There are two further requirements, again following the UK model. First, all posts of inspector general and above should be through a selection process involving short-listing and interviewing by a committee. Second, cadre rules must be made flexible. There is no harm if government organisations search for the right talent-fit by employing human resource professionals and talent hunters. The current system of limiting selection to within a state cadre should be done away with as was done in the United Kingdom long ago, because there is no other way of preventing conflict of interest and officers focusing on cultivating relationships as a career-long obsession and benefitting from compromises made along the way.

The above suggestions are only a preliminary outline of what is required. We hope that they are the start of a much needed national conversation about the role of the IPS. Despite the emotive issues raked up by Constable Tej Bahadur Yadav and the predictable chest-beating that has accompanied it, the case for reforming the IPS based on a more sober assessment of our internal security needs remains compelling. If changes cannot be brought about, the day is not far when, giving short shrift to the vision of Nehru and Patel, the IPS may well be discarded by some decisive political leader. For far too long, we in the IPS, too, have been guilty of not admitting to the writing on the wall. An ostrich-like attitude will imperil not only the role of the IPS as envisaged by our founding fathers, but will also impose huge costs on our internal security.

Dr Sudhanshu Sarangi and Abhinav Kumar are both serving IPS officers.

This article was first published on Scroll.in

The post The IPS needs reforms, but it must go beyond the debate sparked by the BSF constable’s viral videos appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The Union home ministry has approved a request by the Gujarat chief minister to restart disciplinary proceedings against an outstanding IPS officer of the Gujarat cadre, Rahul Sharma, who in sheer disgust took voluntary retirement last year and is now a practicing lawyer in Gujarat. The state government is bent on initiating punitive measures against Sharma for allegedly not responding to show cause notices issued to him on petty grounds.

When contacted for his comments, Sharma told Sabrang India that he had not yet received any communication from the government. In any case if reports in a section of the media are true, it pertains to a minor matter, he said, adding, “I will fight it out”.

The latest petty move against Sharma is one more example of what is often said about Modi: he never forgets, he never forgives.

Ever since former Gujarat chief (and home) minister Narendra Modi moved to Delhi in 2015 to occupy the PM’s chair, the Union home ministry and the Gujarat government seem to be acting in perfect sync. At least this is so when it comes to vindictive action against all those, including police officers, who did not see the state-sponsored 2002 communal carnage in Gujarat through Modi’s eyes.

The latest petty move against Sharma is one more example of what is often said about Modi: he never forgets, he never forgives.

Either an effective communication channel is in place between the PMO and the Union home ministry, or the bosses in the latter ministry are very good at reading the PM’s mind. PM Modi does not seem to have forgotten Sharma who, to the great annoyance of Modi and his sangh parivar, insisted on behaving as a loyal upholder of the Indian Constitution instead of acting at the behest of the political masters. How then can the Gujarat government forget Sharma?

On January 28, 2016, disregarding a severe reprimand from the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) five days earlier quashing the charge sheet filed by the Gujarat state home department against Sharma as “tainted by mischief” and “coloured by malafide”, the home department had issued a fresh show cause notice to him asking him to explain why action should not be taken against him for making “unnecessary” payment of a little over Rs 3,000 to his driver and gunman while in service.

Sharma was charge sheeted in January 2011, while the investigations into the Zakia Jafri case were still being conducted by the Special Investigation Team (SIT), soon after he had met the Amicus Curaiae, Raju Ramachandran. The Zakia Jafri criminal complaint seeks to prosecute those in positions of power, politically and administratively, for acts of commission and omission in the handling of the violence in 2002. The matter is presently being heard in the Gujarat High Court.

As reported by Sabrang India, in their speaking order delivered by Dr KB Suresh and KN Shrivastava of CAT had declared that the charge sheet against Sharma “is tainted by mischief, mala fides and malice and coloured by arbitrariness, illegality and designed to defeat proximate and pertinent matters blessed by constitutional compulsion and designed as an engine of oppression”. The motive behind the issuance of the charge sheet was to suppress the mobile tracking records in the CD which in turn was to benefit the actual perpetrators of brutal and violent crimes through which hundreds of innocents died a needless and violent death. The full text of the CAT order may be read here.

What obviously riled the Gujarat government (and the Union home ministry) is the fact that early this month, the Gujarat High Court directed the state government to respond to a PIL filed by retired ‘supercop’ Julio Ribeiro challenging the government’s decision to appoint as the acting head of the state police, PP Pandey who following a High Court appointed investigation had only a fortnight earlier been charge-sheeted by the CBI for offences under the Arms Act and for offences of abduction, wrongful confinement, and premeditated murder of four persons.

The lawyer who argued Ribeiro’s PIL was none other than Rahul Sharma.

The post Centre’s go Ahead to Gujarat Government to go after Retired IPS Officer, Rahul Sharma, Yet Again appeared first on SabrangIndia.