With a strength of 76,348 personnel, as of January 2016, Delhi Police is one of the largest metropolitan police forces in the world. As it is responsible for a diverse population of 1.68 crore (2011 census), it too needs to be diverse, inclusive, and sensitive to the people it serves.
Yet, over the past two decades, despite the city seeing extensive migration from Bihar, Punjab, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh and the Northeastern States, among others, the recruitment at the lower and middle levels in the force has mainly been from Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, and Haryana.
Affirmative policies are on paper: there is 15% reservation for Scheduled Castes, 7.5% reservation for Scheduled Tribes, 27% for Other Backward Classes, and 33% for women. Currently, there are 11,787 SCs (15.43%), 5,596 STs (7.32%) and 16,416 OBCs (21.5%) in Delhi Police. This means that while the SC and ST quotas are being filled, this is not the case with the OBC quota. Also, there are only 7,004 women in Delhi Police, which is less than 10%. This is woefully low.
Inadequate representation
From time to time, the courts and the Central government have issued directives to improve this situation. In 2014, the Delhi High Court had directed the eight Northeastern States to send police officers on deputation to Delhi following the beating and subsequent death of an Arunachal Pradesh student, Nido Tania, in South Delhi. Yet, as of July 2017, there was only one police officer from the Northeastern States on deputation to the Delhi police, and that too at the subordinate level. It is estimated that more than several lakh people from the Northeastern States live in Delhi. Though Delhi Police has inducted more than 400 persons from the Northeast, the representation of the region in the force is less than 1%. It is also important that Delhi Police implement the recommendations of the M.P. Bezbaruah Committee, which, in 2014, had suggested, among other things, sensitisation of law enforcement personnel to cases involving those from the Northeast.
There are other concerns too. Until 2013, the National Crime Records Bureau used to provide information about Muslims in the State police forces. This has since stopped. As per the 2011 Census, Muslims constituted about 12.86 % of the total population of Delhi and as of 2013, there were a mere 1,485 Muslims working in Delhi Police. Today, there is no way to find out the latest figures.
The need for a diverse police was highlighted by the National Police Commission in the early 1980s. The commission had suggested that the composition of the police should reflect a “general mix of communities as exists in society”, so that the people would have confidence in the force. The reality is sadly far from this. To achieve this general mix, Delhi Police should first undertake a demographic study of its force. Based on the findings, it should then chalk out a road map to build a multicultural, multireligious and multilingual police force.
Aditi Datta is Senior Programme Officer with the Police Reforms Programme at the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative
