Cop Out

The NGO Common Cause did a survey of over 8,000 policemen and came out with a report this week on the ‘Status of Policing In India’. It is an interesting insight into what a sizeable percentage of them think about their role. The findings are unflattering, but unsurprising. For instance, more than half thought methods that created fear in the public mind were important; one-fourth were good with mob justice for crimes like sexual harassment and child lifting; 22 per cent thought dangerous criminals ought to be killed; 30 per cent justified torture for serious crimes; 25 per cent the slapping of uncooperative witnesses and 11 percent hitting family members of accused.

The policeman’s conception of justice and what the law says are often two different things in India. The police see their primary responsibility as keeping order in society and the law is necessary only to that extent. A single chain snatching incident will rarely be investigated seriously but if there is a gang of chain snatchers on the loose, they will act because now it is a question of order.

It is not the policemen alone who are to blame. If a similar survey were taken of ordinary Indians, the findings would be similar. It is evident in how much encounter killings are valorised by the public. Policemen who do them become heroes and are celebrated in movies. The rationale is that there is no other option in India. If you want to find a rapist, then his family member has to be slapped. If you want people to feel safe walking down the road, then dangerous criminals must be shot dead because the courts will eventually set them free. For the police to do their job, these are the tools to do it.

The reason this doesn’t work is it assumes efficiency and integrity; that the torture or the encounter is happening for a good end and is being fairly done. But as anyone who has ever stepped into a police station with a grievance knows, nothing is either quick or free there.

Indian judiciaryIndian policingjudicial trialperceptionsocial justice