Police Reforms In India – Challenges and Committee

The Indian police system, a vital component of the country’s law enforcement framework, plays a crucial role in maintaining public order and ensuring the safety of its citizens. Police are expected to carry out their tasks in a way that respects democratic ideals, human rights, and the rule of law. It also strives to enhance police relations with other security-related entities, including the judiciary and correctional systems, as well as executive, parliamentary, and independent agencies with management or supervision responsibilities. However, like many institutions, it faces challenges that necessitate comprehensive reforms. This article explores the current state of the Indian police system and outlines potential reforms to enhance its effectiveness.

Recent Data On Deaths in Police Custody

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) presented data to the Rajya Sabha that showed a roughly 60% increase in deaths in police custody over the previous three years and a 75% increase over the previous two years nationwide. The data also showed that the number of these cases increased by two times in Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, and Karnataka, three times in Kerala and Bihar, and a whopping ten times in Maharashtra.

Challenges Facing the Indian Police System

By time the Indian police system faces various challenges, including inadequate infrastructure, understaffing, corruption, political interference, and sometimes a lack of advanced training. These issues can impact the effectiveness of law enforcement and hinder efforts to maintain public safety and uphold the rule of law.

• Understaffing and Overburdened Personnel: The police force in India is often understaffed, leading to overburdened personnel. Insufficient manpower hampers the ability to respond promptly to incidents and conduct thorough investigations.
• Outdated Infrastructure and Technology: Many police departments across India lack modern infrastructure and technological tools, hindering their ability to adapt to evolving crime patterns. Upgrading these resources is crucial for effective law enforcement in the digital age.
• Political Interference: Political interference can impact the autonomy of the police force, influencing personnel decisions and potentially compromising the impartiality of investigations. Ensuring a separation between politics and policing is essential.
• Lack of Training and Skill Development: Adequate training is fundamental for law enforcement officers to handle diverse situations professionally. Continuous skill development is necessary to keep pace with emerging challenges and technologies.
• Community Policing and Public Trust: Building trust between the police and the community is critical for effective law enforcement. Strengthening community policing initiatives can enhance communication and collaboration between citizens and the police.

Reasons of Police Reforms

Police reforms in India are initiated to address systemic issues within the law enforcement system. These reforms aim to enhance efficiency, accountability, and transparency in policing. Key reasons include combating corruption, improving responsiveness to citizens, modernizing outdated practices, ensuring human rights compliance, and enhancing overall public trust in the police. Reforms often focus on organizational structure, training, and the use of technology to bring about positive changes in the functioning of the police force. Let’s discuss the main reasons of Police Reform in India:

• Low ratio of police to population: In India, there are 120 police officers for every 100,000 people, compared to an average of 270 worldwide. India’s population is the least safe on the planet, with few and ill-equipped police who are mostly assigned to guard political figures.
• Corruption: The vigilance agency looked into its men 55% more in 2016 than in 2015. According to a poll by the Delhi Police, only 34% of officers were corrupt in 2015, down from 66% in 2014.
• The evolution of crime: The nature, scope, and speed of crime are rapidly changing due to recent social and technological advances fueled by the internet and new social media, resulting in unprecedented levels of lawlessness and terrifying global terrorism.
• Police misbehavior: The public’s trust in the police has been damaged by the absence of efficient accountability procedures and regular performance reviews. Citizens’ lack of trust in the police is demonstrated by a recent mob attack on officers.
• Insufficient technological capacity: Poor police investigation quality is one of the causes of India’s low conviction rate. Police lack the sophisticated technology tools needed to conduct thorough investigations.
• Insensitive: Low representation of women and the downtrodden caste makes them unsympathetic to them. Caste tensions, particularly the most recent Dalit revolt, and farmer hardships across the nation are leading to an increase in violence.
• Overburdened: In addition to their primary duty of upholding law and order, police officers also control traffic, provide disaster relief, and clear encroachments. These additional responsibilities cause the police force to be overworked, which has a severe impact on their effectiveness and performance.

Police Reform Notable Commissions

According to the present data, the police force across the nation is in a very unsatisfactory state, abuses are frequent, this results in great harm to the populace and tarnishes the government, and significant reforms are urgently needed.

1. National Police Commission (1978–1982):  This panel was established to investigate the issues with the police system as a result of the mistreatment of officers during the state of emergency. The commission also suggested updating the 1973 Code of Criminal Procedure. Gross power abuse was the result of political intervention in police activity. The NPC recommended a few steps to keep this impact on police activity to general policies and guarantee that police performance is legal. It suggested actions to increase the police’s sensitivity to the demands and grievances of society’s outcasts. police measures to cut back on third-degree tactics. The report advocated for the eventual cessation of all recruiting, with the exception of those for the IPS and constable positions. 
2. Ribeiro Committee: The committee issued its recommendations in response to the Supreme Court of India’s instructions in the matter of Prakash Singh v. Union of India. While making its decision in the matter, the SC issued seven recommendations to the various states about the implementation of police reforms.
3. Padmanabhaiah Committee on Police Restructuring, 2000: The group made recommendations for strengthening police recruiting, training, tenure, public involvement in crime prevention, hiring of police officers, and police patrolling of interstate and state highways, among other things.
4. The Malimath Committee on Criminal Justice System Reform (2002-03):  It suggested enhancing the organisation of the police. installing cutting-edge equipment in forensic science labs and narco analysis bureaus. Separating the investigative and law and order wings in the police stations was a crucial recommendation.
5. Police Act Drafting Committee: This group is credited with creating the Model Police Act of 2006 with the goals of promoting professionalism, functional autonomy, and accountability.
6. Drafting committee for a new model police legislation: The government established a committee to write a new Model Police Act, 2015 after analyzing the act published in 2006 in light of the evolving circumstances, according to a PIB announcement dated March 8th, 2016. The updated Model Police Bill, 2015 has been made available to the public for review and helpful criticism. It asserts that the police should be sensitive, contemporary, accountable, responsive, and well-trained in order to redefine the role of the police, its responsibilities, and its tasks. Additionally, the police force must be properly run, hospitable, customer-focused, and free of outside pressures.When one contemplates revamping the current Indian Police with its current nature and organisation containing the colonial baggage, these are constructive suggestions in the correct path. Overall, the 2015 drafting committee made an effort to include the key components of making police more responsive, effective, and citizen-friendly.
7. Directions from the Supreme Court in Prakash Singh v. Union of India (2006): In order to ensure the proper rule of law and increase security throughout India, Prakash Singh, a former director general of the Border Security Force and former chief of the Assam and Uttar Pradesh police forces, filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in the Supreme Court of India in 1996. He urged the court to look into reforms to the country’s police forces. The Supreme Court looked through numerous police reform reports. The state governments were finally ordered to undertake various reforms to the police force in 2006 by a bench of Justices.
8. 2006 Model Police Act: In order to create a replacement for the Police Act of 1861, the central government established the Police Act Drafting Committee in 2005. The Model Police Act was submitted by the committee in 2006 and distributed to all the states that same year. According to the act,  a Police Accountability Commission must be established by the state government to look into particularly “severe wrongdoing,” which is defined as: a death while in the custody of the police; grievous injury; rape or attempted rape; and an unauthorized arrest or detention.

Conclusion:

Reforming the Indian police system is a complex but necessary task to ensure the safety and well-being of citizens. Addressing issues such as understaffing, outdated infrastructure, and political interference requires a multi-faceted approach. By implementing comprehensive reforms and investing in the professional development of law enforcement personnel, India can strive towards a more efficient and accountable police force that better serves the needs of its diverse population.