Sleuths, combat specialists, bomb experts, they have their elite places in law enforcement. But a set of constables you haven’t heard of spend their time doing work just as crucial: preventing problems from arising.
They walk their beats without the uniforms other law enforcers wear; they do not even have a badge or special ID card proclaiming what they do. They get no special training, advanced weaponry, or special privileges; in fact, they are exclusively from junior ranks.
Yet their work is the backbone of all policing in Mumbai. When it comes to any kind of delicate situation that might erupt into a law and order problem, the top brass depend on them for ground intelligence. But most people outside police circles wouldn’t even know that they exist.
They are the Mills Special constables.
Roots in history
In July 1908, a certain Bal Gangadhar Tilak was sentenced to six years in Mandalay Prison for sedition. Mr. Tilak was wildly popular among the mill workers of Mumbai, a big part of the population; all of them spilled out onto the streets, bringing the city to a halt for days. This unprecedented agitation was wholly unexpected, and convinced the British administration of the need for an intelligence-gathering mechanism.
So, Mumbai Police Commissioner D.D. Padsalgikar says, the powers-that-were set up an agency: “This agency was called the Special Branch, the first version of the SB in its present form. Over the next few years, constables were appointed in each police station to keep tabs on mill workers. These constables were called the Mills Special constables.”
After Independence, the Mills Specials (as the force calls them) kept in touch not just with mill workers and union leaders but also with representatives of the management, and residents of the areas around the mills. These were times of regular disputes between workers and managements and hostilities between different unions.
‘Crucial role’
“Mills Special constables have always played a crucial role in policing,” the recently retired Director General of Police Rakesh Maria says. “I remember, in 1986, workers of a mill in Mahim, angry over demands not being fulfilled, blocked the gates and locked the management inside, and the situation was quite tense. We sent in our Mills Special constables, who made their way through the crowd, spoke to the union leaders and convinced them to end the agitation. They subsequently arranged for a meeting between the management and the union leaders for a peaceful settlement. They were able to accomplish this because they were in daily touch with the workers and had enough of a rapport with them to change their minds,” he adds.
When the mills moved out of the city, and the Bombay Police became the Mumbai Police, the Mill Special constabulary stayed the same in name, but their role was widened. As one constable in the western suburbs said, while the perception is that their work decreased after the mills closed, their responsibilities have actually increased manifold.
“Mills Special constables are today tasked with gathering intelligence of all kinds,” Joint Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) Deven Bharti says, “be it political, social or of any other type. They are in daily touch with ground-level political party workers, daily wage labourers and their leaders, student unions, traders and locals, and they keep us informed about any issues that might later lead to law and order problems.”
One in every station
Every police station in Maharashtra has at least one Mills Special or equivalent, and there are roughly 1,100 of them across the State; the Railway Police have them too, keeping an eye on agitations and problems faced by commuters. In one way, though, the Mills Specials haven’t evolved: they are all men.
A Mills Special’s work depends on the police station where he is posted and its unique problems. In the LT Marg police station, in whose jurisdiction Zaveri Bazaar falls, he must know the affluent jewellers as well as the workers in the hundreds of manufacturing units. In Sahar police station, which covers Mumbai’s international airport, the Mills Specials must have antennae for problems among loaders and other airport workers.
Wherever they are, it gets busier during any religious festival. A constable in southcentral Mumbai says, “It is our duty to advise our superiors on possible tension if a festive procession passes through a particular area, the antecedents of organisers of events and their association with criminal elements. We also find out the themes of the pandals and inform our bosses if they are controversial, so that they can ask the organisers to change them.”
Officers recall sending Mills Specials to areas where communal tensions were bubbling and they, using their good offices with local religious leaders, cooled things down.
Another busy time: elections. The constables dig for minute details about campaign rallies, people participating in them and their criminal records, and the possibility of clashes between factions.
Pillars of the force
Their role is so important that senior officers issue permits and deploy security arrangements only after consulting them. Dr. Manoj Kumar Sharma, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Zone I, says, “I have a separate WhatsApp group of only Mills Special constables in my zone, and I always consult the concerned constable before granting permission for any rally, protest or other event.” Within his zone is Azad Maidan, where it is almost guaranteed that there will be several demonstrations a day.
“Mills Special constables keep their superiors in touch with ground realities,” retired Maharashtra DGP Praveen Dixit says. “They have a dedicated channel on the police wireless network so that they can communicate speedily, and can be sent immediately to a spot where they are needed.”
Officers across ranks agree that these constables must have terrific people skills, since they work at street level, slowly chipping away at wariness of the police, getting people to share information. Only experienced constables who have patrolled their beats for years and are known to have a rapport with the people are chosen.
For them, the post is one that is aspired to; it means status with their peers and respect in their localities. The mills are long gone, but they still think of themselves as special.
