The decline in policing standards in India is linked to the growing size of the black economy, which spawns corruption and results in systematic violation of laws.
The recent arrest of Sanjiv Bhatt, an Indian Police Service officer who has been suspended from his post of Deputy Inspector General of Police in Gujarat; the mysterious death of a National Congress worker after he was seen emerging from the Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister's residence; and the severe beating of a group of women in Bihar, have left the public bewildered. Almost on a daily basis, there are cases of brutality, torture and disappearance of people in various parts of India. Undeniably, society needs the police force to maintain order and prevent wrongdoing, but it is now increasingly in doubt whether the police are playing that role.
The decline in policing standards is linked to the growing size of the black economy, which spawns corruption and results in systematic violation of laws. The system has deviated from its ideal form, leaving only the pretence of a law. The growth of the black economy (currently it accounts for 50 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product) is both systematic and systemic, and a result of the existence of a triad of corrupt businessmen, politicians and the executive. They act in concert to violate laws and generate black incomes. The corrupt executive itself consists of the corrupt bureaucracy, the police and the judiciary. In brief, the entire power structure that should maintain the rule of law is systematically involved in its subversion. The police, an integral part of such a corrupted power structure, alone cannot be held responsible for the growing illegalities.
The police force was set up by the British colonial power as an instrument to control and subjugate the population. That role hardly changed after Independence; the rulers of free India found it useful for their own manipulations. The common people continue to fear the police, which often brutalises them.
The police have become extortionist, collecting hafta. They extort money on a weekly or monthly basis from those involved in legal activity — traders, transporters, rickshaw-pullers, shop-keepers and so on. They collect also from those who indulge in illegal activities, such as sex workers, drug-dealers, pick-pockets and thieves. As one former Secretary to the government told this writer, “every additional police station in Delhi means more crime.” The posts of Station House Officers are virtually auctioned, and the money goes right to the ‘top.' In order to recover the money, beat constables have to generate hafta. So, how can the higher-ups discipline constables?
According to a former Director General of Police, in Mumbai money collected from hafta is shared and packets of cash are delivered to each desk on a particular day of the week. The few honest officers are bypassed. According to him, the pick-pocket is protected from encroachment by other new pick-pockets — a neat nexus. At the New Delhi railway station, the taxi driver will tell you he pays the policeman on duty, and, that sanctifies his fleecing of passengers. Complaints made to the duty policeman are mostly futile.
Delhi is full of illegal and dangerous construction in spite of stringent building by-laws and zoning laws. The police are supposed to keep an eye out for such illegalities. Indeed they do so, hawk-eyed, but in order to fleece unscrupulous builders.
Subversive role
In a case of theft in the house of a powerful politician, the police brought back the stolen goods the next day. However, the television set was not the one that had been stolen and the politician pointed that out. The next day the missing TV was brought. How well the local police knew the local thief is clear.
Under the circumstances, law and order can only deteriorate and crime can only flourish. The motto of those in authority seems to be that “power is to bend rules for oneself and for others, for a consideration.”
Not being in power and not being connected means one must remain on the right side of the law. Even then one may unwittingly get entangled in a problem in an increasingly decrepit system. One may have a traffic accident, there may be a theft in the house, one may be cheated, and so on.
No wonder, often people seek to settle matters themselves. In traffic accident cases, bystanders advise both parties to settle the case rather than call the police. As a corollary, people increasingly take the law into their hand — brutalising each other or getting musclemen to settle scores. In India, the police are mostly feared by the weak and the honest who do not know how to bribe, but cultivated by the powerful and the dishonest. Either way, the police have lost respect in society.
The nexus with the powerful means the police and the investigative agencies, such as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), help the powerful escape prosecution if they are caught. The judiciary has often taken them to task for doing so. Usually this is attributed to a lazy, ill-trained and over-worked force. But that is hardly the case. The police act on behalf of the powerful with brutal efficiency, to trap the weak and the defenceless. The CBI was placed under the Central Vigilance Commissioner because it was spoiling cases, but has that improved the record of investigation of illegality in high places? As one former CBI Director implied on television, the CBI has become an instrumentality of the ruling power.
No wonder, in Gujarat Mr. Bhatt is at the receiving end of the same police he was a part of because he dared to take on the powers-that-be. It required courage to break away from the decrepit system of which he was a part. Obeying the orders of superiors is a part of the training regimen of the police. The Chief Minister is the head in the State, so his orders cannot be defied even if one is or was a part of the system.
Servants turn masters
The members of the bureaucracy and the police are supposed to be public servants, but they are the masters. They are supposed to stand firm against illegal orders, but as a rule they hardly do so. There are advantages to doing the bidding of those above, while defiance can involve heavy costs. Individual officers cannot stand firm and change the system; they will be bypassed. For each honest officer who does not bend, there are dozens who are ready to obey. The system has to change as a whole.
It is sometimes argued that policemen are ill-paid considering the nature of the duties they are supposed to perform and so they give in to inducements. This argument hardly stands scrutiny since the officers receiving the bulk of the share of hafta are not ill-paid at all. If they were not corrupted, the beat constables would not dare collect hafta and crime would not flourish the way it does. The issue is not one of salaries but of pride in one's work and of faith in the system one is working for. Further, what multiple of the per capita income can a government functionary be paid? The policeman is only one amongst many employees, and his salary alone cannot be raised. The government's administrative expenditure is already high.
Imperfect democracy
Police reforms have often been talked about, but its context is hardly specified. The illegalities in which the police are involved are part of a subverted and exploitative system operating in this increasingly imperfect democracy. The police are indeed overworked, but that is because of what they do and not because of what they ought to do. The police alone cannot be reformed, independent of its links with political power; the same applies to the other institutions of democracy, such as the judiciary. We have to be clear about their roles, and the kind of democracy we want. So, police reform cannot be delinked from larger political questions.
(The author is with the Centre for Economic Studies and Planning, School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. This article is based on his book, The Black Economy in India, Penguin (India). He is at arunkumkar1000@hotmail.com )
Keywords: Sanjiv Bhatt arrest, corruption, police corruption, bureaucracy
However ugly the 'economics of hafta' may be, it is entirely in character with the generally corrupt nature of the society we have built in our 60-odd years of independence.
There surely exist honest and sincere policemen, bureaucrats (and politicians) - but in the average Indian's dealings with the establishment he/she rarely ever manages to avoid paying the 'hafta' in one form or another.
Today we read, alas, that Anna Hazare's movement against corruption may be falling apart. My sense is that it will not succeed in any significant way - unless we raise our understanding our societal systems very considerably indeed.
In all 'system issues', what we all need to understand clearly is just how the things we do from day to day may contribute to or hinder the goals we are setting for ourselves and for our society. If we arrive at such understanding, and if then we learn to perform according to that understanding, we could succeed - else we do not stand an earthly chance.
Certainly a well written article. I believe,most of the corruption may be at the top but the roots are at the bottom. Almost everybody even among common people indulge in corruption and that serves as a sort of moral support to the people at the top and hesitation of the common people to protest vehemently with clean conscience. Right from "doodh-wala",the grocer, petty businessmen to educated middle class almost everybody indulges in some sort of corruption. Lies have become so common and ubiquitous. Why is this so in spite of good education? It is my firm conviction that the fault lies with our education. It is examination oriented rather than knowledge oriented. Emphasis is on job oriented knowledge and not on wisdom oriented knowledge. The result is absolutely no sense of ethics among people. We lack committed teachers too again the result of the same education. The administration of a country is no child's play. Theoretically it should be with intellectual cream of the society.
Very good article. The author has expressed a widely known fact in a good way. I personally feel that a possible solution to this problem along with the article would have made the article more complete.
The article is well written by Mr.Arun Kumar indicate the goings on in Indian policing. After visiting US and Malaysia, I am convinced that Our police regrettably do not command respect they deserve. It is for the country and the police establishment to decide whether to sail in the present style of functioning or improve the system drastically. There is no doubt that IPS personnel can effect change if they are committed to improve the police cadre. If India aspires to be labeled as developed state even after a few decades, it must change for good, as no other option exist.
A well-written article, the question is who will bell the cat ? We need hazaar Anna Hazares to stem the rot.
A great article! the precarious nexus of these morally depraved businessmen, bureaucracy and politicians as the root cause is very cogently put forward. At the end it all boils down to individual citizen, Whether corruptions pervades or extirpates it all depends upon the moral standards followed by their citizens.
What the author has highlighted is not to be taken lightly. This has already spread pervasively and will continue to find more areas to where it can spread. Atleast now we have One honest officer to 12, in the future we might not be so lucky. Let us join hands and unanimously shun the practice of giving into the garb of corruption. It may sound easy but we need to stick to it like paper to glue to ensure our future generation will have something to work for and live a just life
Very sad that we face the situation of fence eating the crop! Real custodians of law and justice - theft and crime, tend overlook same IF their hands and pockets are properly greased; what a plight for the common man; how can he get justice ! I know of a case of my Delhi friend losing his wrist watch during bus travel in Bombay;he cried bitterly saying it was his f-in-law's gift for Diwali etc; another local friend said he would try help thru his police contact; lo and behold! In less than 24 hours the watch was restored ! Police had queried him about time and route he took bus; and they could easily pick up the culprit eh! how is this possible unless they have strong built in nexus with criminals !?
No basic integrity in those who are appointed to prevent theft and punish the guilty; system operates at higher levels too perhaps in bigger scams and scandals ! God save common man !
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