The Hindu : New Delhi News : A brand new role now for the police

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Aug 20, 2006

New Delhi

New Delhi

A brand new role now for the police

Prashant Pandey

It would be made more accountable to the rule of law rather than to political executive

NEW DELHI: If the proposed preamble to the new draft of the Police Act is anything to go by, the police in the country will no longer be only for prevention and detection of crime. They would be working under a new framework that would make them more democratic, service-oriented and accountable to the rule of law rather than being accountable solely to the political executive.

The proposed preamble to the new draft of the Act, which will replace the 1861 Police Act that has been the governing statute for the police in the country all along, says: "... The nation's founding faith is the primacy of the rule of law and the police must be organised to promote the maintenance of rule of law and render impartial and efficient service to people..."

In sharp contrast, the preamble to the 1861 Police Act merely read: "... It is expedient to re-organise the police and to make it a more efficient instrument for prevention and detection of crime... "

Along with the preamble, eight of the 14 chapters of the draft Act have been put on the Union Home Ministry website, www.mha.nic.in. The draft Act, prepared by an elite committee headed by the eminent jurist Soli J. Sorabjee, is now open to the public for making suggestions and proposing changes.

The preamble under consideration further says: "... It is the duty of the State to provide a professional and service-oriented police which has a paramount obligation and duty to function according to the requirements of the Constitution, the rule of law, and the democratic aspirations of the people... " It also talks about freeing the police from "extraneous influences".

Further, apart from envisaging a police force having due concerns for human rights and vulnerable sections of civil society, the preamble also talks about empowering the police so that they can function as an efficient, effective and responsive agency.

The chapters have been prepared while visualising the police as a "service" and not a "force", a term that has long been in use and added to the brutal image of the police. The Committee has also sought to balance the requirement of the police to be under the control of the executive (and through it to the legislature) and also the need to accord them "necessary operational freedom to take and implement decisions objectively".

Of the 14 chapters of the new draft, the Committee, constituted on September 20, 2005, has posted eight on the website. These deal with the constitution and organisation of police service; superintendence and administration of police, role, functions, duties and social responsibilities of police; rural policing and village police systems; effective criminal investigation and use of science and technology in police work; regulation control and discipline of police personnel and welfare and grievance redress mechanisms for police personnel.

The remaining four chapters will also be put on the website soon.

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