The Hindu : New Delhi News : Story of conserving heritage

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Feb 11, 2006

New Delhi

New Delhi

Story of conserving heritage

A coffee table book by the police chief gives some historic pictures from the past of the force, says Prashant Pandey

The release of a new coffee table book earlier this week, "Delhi Police: History and Heritage", written by Police Commissioner K. K. Paul should make those people happy who in their own piecemeal ways have tried to conserve some of the most significant documents of history concerning the Delhi police. It should also provide a broader perspective on the manner in which various issues of law and order were dealt with through the 145-year history of the Delhi police.

To cite a couple of examples, the First Information Report (FIR) of Mahatma Gandhi's assassination on January 30, 1948, lying at the Tughlak Road police station in New Delhi, was saved a few years ago by the then Station House Officer of the Tughlak Road police station who got it laminated and even framed. He also got the FIR of Indira Gandhi's assassination in 1984 laminated.

In a similar effort, the FIR pertaining to Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt throwing a bomb in the Delhi Assembly in 1929, lying in the Parliament Street police station, was translated into Hindi by the station in-charge a few years ago. The FIR was written in chaste police jargon in Urdu and, since he had a fair idea of the language, the officer translated it and pasted a copy on the first page of the booklet containing the FIR. But it could not be considered accurate as the officer was not an Urdu expert.

These efforts apart, the Delhi police also tried to conserve its heritage by setting up a museum in which weaponry of old times, some important FIRs and equipment used for communication were kept.

If this has been more or less the story of conserving the heritage of the Delhi police, the perspectives they provide on history vis-à-vis the current milieu are no less interesting. For instance, the first FIR registered in 1861 pertained to the theft of a hookah. The document was written in Urdu but on a form prescribed by Englishmen. Over the next several years, Urdu continued to remain the language used in the FIRs while everything else about them was British.

After Independence, Urdu gradually began receding as the official language and, over a period of time, was replaced by Hindi and English. However, the form continued to remain the same. In July 2001, however, a new format for the FIR was introduced. And very recently, an FIR was registered online using the latest information technology.

Still, all through these changes, the laws that governed the functioning of the police -- registering the FIR is, of course, only the first step -- were the ones devised by the British more than 145 years ago. It is only now that a Committee is at work trying to draft a new Act that would replace the 1861 Police Act. These FIRs also point to the changing nature of challenges faced by the police. If in 1929, bombing of the Delhi Assembly was considered to be a rather extreme display of patriotism, the 2001 attack on Parliament highlighted the reality and the gravity of the threat of terrorism that has the police constantly on their toes.

A coffee table book, usually, is supposed to provide a feel and should in this case serve as a reminder of many things that were good with the police. But there are several other chapters in the history that are contentious and require a more in-depth research and analysis. In fact, the debate on many of the issues, like various acts of omission and commission while registering FIRs during the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, is still on.

The question then to be asked is: Will the Delhi police be interested in commissioning an in-depth study of its history in its totality? After all, it takes some doing to look at every aspect of history and accept the rights and wrongs with an open mind.

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