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Saturday, Oct 28, 2006
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Spotlight on reforms

Those gunning for reforms have also been harping on undue political interference in the functioning of the police, observes Prashant Pandey

With the tenure of the Police Act Drafting Committee (PADC) coming to an end and the Committee likely to present the draft -- that would replace the good old 1861 Police Act - some time next week, it is time to look into the next question: Whether this document too will be relegated to conference tables or will it give way to a modern and responsive police?

If a few recent events are anything to go by, the likelihood of such a fate for the new draft is less.

The Supreme Court, in connection with a public interest litigation filed by former Director-General of Border Security Force Prakash Singh, has set December 31 as the deadline for the Central and State governments to implement seven proposals that have been part of the recommendations made by various reform commissions and committees, including the PADC -- and also set January 2007 as the deadline to file a compliance report.

But experience so far with police reforms has not been very encouraging, to say the least. The National Police Commission was set up in 1977 and over the next four years it came out with a series of reports pertaining to police reforms. Subsequently two other Committees were set up to look further into the issue. But none of these recommendations ever saw the light of day.

In other words, while the political executive has, in principle, agreed many times to reform the police over the past 30 years, it has really not come good on implementation. Of course, one of the problems has been that law and order is a State subject and most of these efforts have been made at the level of the Centre.

But then, some of the States have also shown an inclination to embrace reforms and initiated a few experiments on their own.

One of the reasons often cited for non-implementation of police reforms has been lack of political will. It has been alleged, and not without reason, that since the political executive controls the police, it is reluctant to relinquish it easily.

It is happy to treat the police as an extension of its ability to impose its will on the people and hence it would like the status quo to continue. Those gunning for reforms have also been harping on undue political interference in day-to-day functioning of the police.

There is another fear, too. With the Supreme Court intervening, the Centre and the States are likely to abide by its directions. However, there might be a wide gap between implementation of these directions in "letter" and following them in "spirit". On the other hand, there is yet another fear of the impetus for the reforms getting lost in polemics when one or the other minor issues, or matters of practicality, tend to be debated for a long time. As a result, the larger issue itself fades from the public memory. Those associated with reforms feel that since PADC has gone through all the recommendations and reports and also accumulated loads of suggestions from the people, it might have a role to play in so far as providing "referential services" for such debates is concerned.

At the end of the day, a lot of theoretical work has apparently been done but the process of police reforms is still in its nascent stage. Changing the draft into a Bill and then into law will be another huge task.

The real success or failure of the new Act can be gauged only over the next few years after it has been implemented.

All earlier attempts have not gone beyond the "theory part". It is high time everybody concerned -- the judiciary, the executive, the legislature, the civil society and the media -- pulled together in a positive direction to take it to the next higher level.

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