Manipur police – It's already late for reformation
- Part 1 -

Soubam Nongpoknganba Meitei *

67th Indian Republic Day celebration at Imphal East DC office :: January 26 2016 :: Pix - Shankar Khangembam

"Sir Jhalajit …… said, "Touthok-khro ! ……. Sir Jhalajit replied that there will be no problem as the Chief Minister and DGP already have knowledge and consented to it…… I was alone and facing Sanjit, then, I removed my pistol from the holster and shot him about six times. He died at the spot……." This confession and allegation by Head Constable Herojit before the media has shocked the conscience of all of us beyond limit.

We have been hearing about police atrocities, their extremism and their maneuvering of investigation since so long but such unmasking of the cruel truth and that too from the perpetrator themselves has been unparalleled.This Herojit episode has once again brought to the fore, the extreme necessity for policing the police of the state. Though there may be denial and counter denialagainst such confession and serious allegation against senior officersand political boss before the media, it will have far reaching impact on every front of the criminal justice dispensation system not only in the state but in the entire country too.

This event more than clearly indicates the mammoth flaw in the policing system and the related legal rules of the country. However this too cannot be denied that there is not a single system established by human beings which is cent percent full proof of flaw, nevertheless it should be accepted that the level of content of flaws can always be brought down to acceptable degree and needless to say, the flaws in the policing system in the state as on date as is brought forth by the Herojit episode is far from the acceptable level and hence the whole policing system should be revamped or perhaps remodelled.

Police is one of the most important agencies of the state without which criminal justice system will become naught and today's society will simply crumble down without a trace. Such is the importance of the police in the society but the police that we have with us today is simply a totally opposite force and to a lot of people, is villainous.

Acknowledging the importance of police, the Justice Verma Committee on amendment to criminal law which was set up after the Nirbhaya rape case, in its report submitted on 23rd January 2013 took the view that the majority of the fundamental rights set out in Part III of the Constitution require an efficient, sensitive and impartial police force for fulfilment in the way the drafters of the Constitution intended. And needless to say, a politicized and criminalized police force will only be an agent of violations of the sacred fundamental rights of the people.

In fact a Human Rights Watch and People's Watch Report in 2009 claimed that around 1.8 million people are being subjected to torture in police custody across the country. This eerie situation will further divide the people and the police, the latter becoming only a tool in the hands of the powerful to enslave the whole populace and ultimately eroding the whole social fabric.

Today, therefore we need a people's police. Somebody has well said, "When the nation becomes more reliant on police power and the criminal sanction – it is when democracy fails to provide adequate social justice. As late as 1968 the Khosla Commission has made a poser, "Independent India must choose whether we will have a people's police or a ruler appointed police, or in other words whether the people should rule or whether the parties should rule. The Constitution has laid down that the people should rule, so the police must also be the people's police". But it seems we are still not coming out of the British mould.

The revelations by Herojit uncover two basic flaws in the police system of the state namely the unholy politicization of the police bringing corruption into the system and further criminalizing the police system and secondly the unaccountability of the police force for their misdeeds reinforcing and further deepening the roots of corruption and criminalization into the system.

Politicization of the police in India has always been a major complaint and concern. Constant interference in day-to-day working of the department, frequent transfer of officials, and postings guided by political considerations and not by exigencies of service and situational requirement, have become the bane of India's police system.

But studies have discovered that the fault does not always lie with the politicians alone and to a great extent, it seems most of the political interventions occur because the police themselves offer to be manoeuvred and obviously for a price. Whatever may be the cause and course of politicization, it ever injures the whole police system and hence needs to be done away.

Further the second flaw has made people to ask, who will police the police. But in democracies the question of "who guards the guardians" has always been a tricky problem. It is not unnatural that police can be used to deny true justice and such instances are not lacking in the state and perhaps this is one of the most profound reason for people resorting to mob justice and therefore their act or omissions leading to such denial of justice to the public should be taken into consideration if a people's police is to be engineered.

As a matter of fact, the police is the "keeper of peace" and much more than law enforcers per se. The enforcement of law is but only one facet of their many functions but in our state, the police has been seen and has become a symbol of "flaunter of peace" and a "Money Minting Public sector undertaking". This symbolism based on complete erosion of people's faith on police is also not without reasons . The police problem is also there in other states but may not be to the level as we have here.

But undeniably, one of the very basic reasons for such a problem lies with its history. Though the Constitution of India has made policing a state subject, the police in the country is governed by the archaic Indian Police Act of 1857 which was legislated by the British right after the revolt of 1857 in the name of "efficient administration of police in the country" but with the actual objective to prevent any future revolts thus making the police more a regime protector than a people protector and unfortunately, this Act is still ruling the roost, perhaps for the reason that those in power still wants the police to protect them and not the people. The very preamble of the said Act of 1857 says, …. Whereas it is expedient to re-organise the police and to make it a more efficient instrument for the prevention and detection of crime :……..".

The preamble of any enactment is considered to the objective of the said enactment and therefore objective of the said Police Act is only to prevent and detect crime which can be done by the police by performing or exercising their duties/powers as provided under S. 23 of the said Act viz.,
(i) To promptly obey and execute all orders and warrants lawfully issued to him by any competent authority;
(ii) to collect and communicate intelligence affecting the public peace;
(iii) to prevent the commission of offences and public nuisances;
(iv) to detect and bring offenders to justice; and
(v) to apprehend all persons whom he is legally authorized to apprehend and for whose apprehension sufficient ground exists; and
(vi) for any of the purposes mentioned in this section to enter and inspect without warrant any drinking shop, gambling house or other place or resort of loose and disorderly characters.

To be continued...