The brutal killing of 19-year-old Ankita Bhandari allegedly by her employer Pulkit Arya, the son of a former BJP Minister, has put the lens on Uttarakhand’s unique policing system. It is the only State where revenue department officials such as patwari and kanungo constitute the first layer of crime investigation, a colonial relic that persists to this day.
These officials reinforce policing in the State, which has an average of one police station for as many as 65,000 people. Revenue police cover over half the area in 11 of Uttarakhand’s 13 districts.
Whenever a crime takes place, the revenue police of the area file an FIR, investigate the case, arrest the accused and file a chargesheet in the local court. In case of heinous crimes, the case is transferred to the regular police, a process that takes 7-10 days.
In Ankita’s case, her parents alleged that the case had weakened as the patwari they contacted initially didn’t act promptly, enabling the accused to destroy evidence and then flee. The State government subsequently suspended the patwari and initiated an inquiry against him.
The State Revenue Department currently has around 740 revenue police officials against an overall sanctioned strength of 1,216, including patwari (revenue sub-inspector), kanungo (revenue inspector) and naib tehsildar (Deputy Superintendent of Police).
Donning several hats
The so-called ‘patwari police’ have become first responders of sorts for the common people, reluctant as they are to deal with the regular police. While their core function in Uttarakhand, as elsewhere in the country, is to maintain land, cultivation and revenue records of villages, the sheer range and quantum of work they are entrusted with leaves them severely overburdened.
Apart from records, the patwaris also compile data on crop production, crop quality and losses to farmers, and election-related, census and literacy data. They collect various local taxes, handle dissemination and implementation of government schemes, prepare birth, death and caste certificates, and verify the identity of residents.
The Uttarakhand High Court in 2018 had asked the State to abolish the revenue police system as the officials are not trained in handling modern-day crimes. “The revenue officers botch up the investigation resulting in acquittals,” it had said.
A patwari from Pauri Garhwal, however, points out that even regular police botch up investigations. “It’s easy to blame a low-rank officials like us who don’t even have resources to work properly,” he said.
He cited procedural constraints such as having to approach the District Magistrate via a Sub Divisional Magistrate to seek forensic help. “By the time the forensic team reaches the spot, most of the evidence iscompromised,” he said.
Patwaris across Uttarakhand were on strike from policing duties from December last year till August 31 demanding adequate resources for policing.
Grassroots connect
Uttarakhand Assembly Speaker Ritu Khanduri Bhushan, who played a key role in speeding up the probe in the Ankita case, has now revived the question of whether policing duties should be best left to the police.
Former Uttarakhand DGP Aloke B. Lal said the regular police could expand its jurisdiction over revenue police areas in phases but it needs resources and political will.
But Tribhuvan Uniyal, a social activist in Pauri’s Motibagh village, said the transition will not be easy given the patwaris’ grassroots connect with villagers.
Girish Ranjan Tiwari, who teaches at Kumaun University, also concurred. “About a decade ago, when the government transferred the Betalghat area (in Nainital district) from patwari to normal police jurisdiction, there were violent protests,” he said.