Padma Bhushan awardee and former Indian Police officer, Julio Ribeiro, 90, on the urgent need to separate the police force from the political parties that cling on to power.
Julio Ribeiro
The Supreme Court laid down six directions with respect to police reform, in Prakash Singh's case, in 2006. But successive governments have been skirting these guidelines. This has happened because no political party wants to give up its hold on the police. Political parties tend to misuse their powers, and use transfers and other service conditions, to keep police personnel on a tight leash. Senior officers shouldn't be appointed by individual members of a political party, but by a committee comprising members of the ruling party, the Opposition and members of the judiciary. This was a suggestion that was endorsed by the honourable SC, but to no avail.
The only way we can force parties to depoliticise the police is if people actively demand that this happen. Today, the police does exactly what its political masters want. For instance, Amit Shah decides everything in Delhi. The Delhi police works according to his whims and fancies, and not according to the law on the subject. Similarly, the police is under Mamata Banerjee's thumb in West Bengal.
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Whatever is happening in Delhi is a shame. It only shows the urgent need for police reforms. The hold on the police should be loosened, to allow them to function effectively and impartially. I'm not saying that the police shouldn't be accountable to anyone, they should be. For example, in the United States, there are congressional and senate committees which oversee the police and bring them to task if need be. We can adopt a similar model, even though this is beyond the SC's order. Even if we implement the SC's directions in both letter and spirit, that will be a good place to start.
Depoliticisation of the police is very important if the residents are to get any real relief. Even the judiciary is being taken for a ride, as the judge who passed an order saying FIRs should be registered against those who spewed hate speeches has been transferred. Unless they are arrested, nothing will improve. They have booked Tahir Hussain, who is from the opposition. Why not show the same swiftness when it comes to members of the BJP? The police is supposed to implement the law but they are only able to implement what the political party in power wants. If tomorrow, another party comes to power, the same story will be repeated all over again. We are a democracy and yet people are openly breaking the law. For example, hooded marauders entered the JNU campus. Only people with leftist associations have been arrested, but the ABVP goons have gone scot-free. I have always spoken out against politicisation of the police, and I will continue to do so.
As told to P Vatsalya
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