Welcome !!!

Presenter:
Dr G S Bajpai
Commonwealth Fellow
Department of Criminology
University of Leicester(UK)
gsbajpai@rediffmail.com
http://www.forensic.to/webhome/drgsbajpai
The presentation is
available at
http://www.forensic.to/webhome/
drgsbajpai/presentation.ppt
India:
Policing a Post Colonial Inheritance?
 Seminar

Question:
To what extent have the Indian
police overcome the colonial
inheritance?
On Colonialism
 As
per Oxford dictionary the
word colonialism has fairly
recently acquired the meaning
of "alleged policy of exploitation
of backward or weak peoples by
a large power."
(http://www.postcolonialweb.org/poldiscourse/colony2.html)
On Colonialism

Colonialism is a system in which a state
claims sovereignty over territory and
people outside its own boundaries, often
to facilitate economic domination over
their resources, labor, and often markets.
The term also refers to a set of beliefs
used to legitimate or promote this
system, especially the belief that the
mores of the colonizer are superior to
those of the colonized.
Basic Police Data I
The Indian Police cater to One Billion plus
Population
 India is a union of 30 states and 7 union
territories (Area 3,287,263 sq km)
 Police are a State subject
 Each state/ union territory has its own
separate police force
 There are central police organisations for
specialised work.

Basic Police Data II
 The
total combined strength of the
state/union territory police forces: 14,49,761
 The strength of CPOs - 5,28,370.
 Police- Population Ratio- 10: 10,000
 Police Area Ratio: 34 Policemen per Sq KM.
 85% are constables
The Police System - A Colonial Legacy ?
The police system in India was
established by the Police Act of 1861
 This legislation came in the wake of
the Indian Sepoy Mutiny of 1857
 Aim was to quell rebellion &
Perpetuate the rule

The Police Act produced A Police
Force:
 totally
subservient to the executive
 accountable to anyone except their
own hierarchy and the
executive;whose managerial
philosophy was based on distrust of
the lower ranks; highly militaristic
and authoritarian in design’
Making of Colonial Police- Features
1.
2.
3.
4.
Police made subservient to
executive and not community
Accountability crisis
Duel control
Structurally embedded Elitist
bias
(contd…)
Making of Colonial Police- Features
5. Managerial and record keeping
practices
6. Judicial distrust
7. Recruitment
8.Training (outdoor and physical vs.
indoor and academic)
Making of Colonial Police- Features
9. Partisan and political Image of
Police
10. Authoritarian/Militaristic
/Regimental
11. Brutal and arrogant
Making of Colonial Police- Features
11. Lacked transparency
12. Insensitive to people
13. Police subculture brand
The Police System - A Colonial Legacy ?

The British Govt appointed Indian
Police Commission( 1902-03) said‘The police force is far from
efficient, it is defective in training
and organization, it is inadequately
supervised, it is generally regarded
as corrupt and oppressive, and it
has utterly failed to secure the
confidence and cordial cooperation
of the people.’
The Debate
To what extent have the
Indian police overcome
the colonial inheritance?
After Independence_
Shadow of Colonialism
The advent of Independence changed
the political system, but the police
system remained more or less
unaltered:
 The
Police Act of 1861 or state
legislation modeled on the Act
continued to govern it.
(contd…..)
Persistence-- The
powers to exercise control and
superintendence over the police
remained the same
 It remained largely unaccountable to the
public.
Persistence……
 Its
managerial philosophy, value system
and ethos remained what they were.
 It was a ruler or establishment
supportive police force and continued to
remain so.
‘Overcoming’ may be traced in
following initiatives:
1. Police Reforms:
 Appointment of Police Reform
commission by the states
 Gore committee on Police training,
1971
 National Police Commission 1979-81
(Contd……)

Overcoming….
 The
Ribeiro Committee on Police
Reforms, 1998
 The Padmanabhaiah Committee
on Police Reforms, 2000
 The National Human Rights
Commission, 1993
 The NGOs movement - The
CHRI's Initiatives
Indian Police Overcoming
colonialism by
2. Structural Changes
 Specialized Units (women, juvenile,
weaker sections, rural, etc)
 IOs number enhanced

Indian Police Overcoming
colonialism by
3.Police training
 Varied
inputs
 Forensic
 Weaponry
 Computer
 Human Rights
Contd….
Indian Police Overcoming
colonialism by
 Community




policing
Human Rights sensitization
Police complaint system
Media Audit
Judicial Activism
Individual Police Initiatives
 Community
policing
 Modernisation
 Police image
 Leadership
Concluding:


1.
2.
3.
4.
Overcoming is possible by reforms
Reforms at four levels
Government- ( highly inadequate)
Within organization( somewhat OK)
Public ( beginning )
Civil society ( Effective)
Concluding:

1.
2.


Reforms to overcome
colonialism:
Repealing Police Act 1861
Introduction of NPCs
recommendations:
New Police Act
Security commission
Additional Readings
1.
2.
3.
4.
Police and Crime by Dr. Anand Swarup
Gupta
Defenders of Establishment- Ruler
Supportive Police Forces of South Asia
by K.S. Dhillon ( Published by the
Indian Institute of Advanced Study,
Shimla
Police, Power and Colonial Rule:
Madras 1859 to 1947 by David Arnold
Police Power and Colonial Rule