Is law enforcement failing Indian democracy?
Regrettably, in India, there is little trust in the police as a competent, empathetic and impartial enforcer of the law. This is an issue that professionals have highlighted for decades. The criminalisation of Indian politics and increasing politicisation of crime was the subject of a detailed report (October 1993) by then Home Secretary NN Vohra and the summary was bleak. The entire Indian eco-system of governance stood compromised
The end February riots in Delhi that coincided with the visit of US President Donald Trump led to the death of more than 50 people and scores more injured. Two security personnel including an intelligence official were also killed. This kind of violence with a sectarian orientation was last witnessed in November 1984 after the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and, during that period, there was a total breakdown of the law and order machinery in the capital and the army had to be called in to restore order after more than 2,500 Sikhs were killed.
Delhi 2020 was of a lower order, if such tragic events can be so qualified. Yet there can be no denying the fact that whatever be the reasons for this violence (triggered by the protests over the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act ), it does point to a lapse by the local police and intelligence agencies.
The Trump visit to Delhi (Feb 25) was a major event and precautionary security measures would have been taken. Yet the nature of the violence that engulfed parts of north-east Delhi, pitting Hindu and Muslim groups against each other was neither anticipated nor prevented. Provocative speeches and threats issued publicly by a local political leader affiliated with the ruling BJP (Bharatiya Janata party) only aggravated the situation.
Yet no preventive action was taken and, in certain areas, the local police was accused of being partisan in targeting Muslim suspects. Incriminating visual evidence has been circulated on social media. The net result was the loss of precious lives and property and a lack of faith in the local police. Order was restored only with the personal intervention of National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval who visited the affected areas.
Police acting in a manner that casts aspersions on their professional integrity (to be impartial enforcers of the law) has been the bane of the Indian state, thereby weakening the democratic ethos. This is very visible in state governments where the police are expected to adopt an orientation slanted towards the political party in power. Very often transfers and recruitment to the state police force are the leverages used to consolidate this patronage model.
Thus it was very pertinent that NSA
Doval dwelt on this cardinal tenet of the correlation between the police and democracy. Speaking at a police conference, he reiterated: “Law-making is the most sacrosanct job in a democracy. Legislature makes the law and the police enforce it. You are the enforcers of that law. If you fail, democracy fails.” He further spoke about trust :”People will take one stray aberration of a policeman having done something and then that will be the headline. It is the perception that provides confidence to the people and enhances their trust.”
Regrettably, in India, there is little trust in the police as a competent, empathetic and impartial enforcer of the law. This is an issue that professionals have highlighted for decades. The criminalisation of Indian politics and increasing politicisation of crime was the subject of a detailed report (October 1993) by then Home Secretary NN Vohra and the summary was bleak. The entire Indian eco-system of governance stood compromised.
The need for reforms within the functioning of the police has come from outside and a former DG of the UP Police, Prakash Singh, filed public interest litigation in 2006 that led to the courts directing the executive to embark upon such reforms. Fourteen years later, there has been no effective movement towards cleaning the stables.
The current pattern of law enforcement in India dilutes the claim to be a robust and equitable democracy. The hapless citizen pays a heavy price. Paradoxically, this was evidenced on the same day that the NSA was exhorting young police officers to redeem the trust reposed in them and thereby strengthen the democratic impulse.
On March 5, a Delhi court acquitted 30 of 59 accused people in a 1985 transistorbomb blast case where 49 innocents were killed. The court noted that the “investigation conducted in these cases was defective, lopsided, unfair and suffered from various lacunae”. The fact that judicial closure was arrived at after 35 years needs little comment.
How India evolves in the next few years will be shaped by the Doval metric – the texture of the police-democracy linkage.