Policing is a very difficult job in India, it has to face political pressure, social pressure, and bears a stigma of colonial-era where it was considered as an oppressor. Neeraj Kumar, one of the best IPS officer we ever had, opened up on policing problems in India, whether it was policing failure during Delhi Riots, or negligence in handling Sushant death case... excerpts, it appeared in the statesman perspective page.
Neeraj Kumar, the former Delhi Police Commissioner, is probably the only Police Officer who has done an in-depth study on primitive erstwhile Criminal Tribe and at the same time exposed the working of Mumbai underworld gangs. During his posting in CBI, he unearthed UTI scam and exposed various terror groups working in India. 1976 batch UT cadre IPS officer, Neeraj Kumar retired as Delhi Police Commissioner on July 2013 and spent 37 tears in country’s elite police force and served in Delhi, Arunanchal, Mizoram, Goa and CBI. Most of his service tenure was in CBI where he probed Mumbai bomb Blasts, UTI scam, and neutralized several terror outfits.
When he was heading Goa Police he launched a sustained campaign against illegal immigrants, drug mafia and the Russian mafia indulging in land grabbing, and human trafficking. Here he also arrested Tariq Ahmed Batlo, a Pakistan trained Kashmiri terrorist, who was planning Bali (Indonesia) like the bombing in Goa
His book ‘Dial D for Don’ published in 2015 was a runaway hit in which he recounted the stories of eleven police operations that he conducted in the CBI. He has also written a book on Pardi gangs, a unique book written on how the erstwhile criminal Pardi tribe commits crime. Neeraj Kumar represented India at the UN Convention on Trans-national Organized Crime in Viena, Austria. He also represented India at Vienna during deliberations of United Nations Manual on Kidnapping & Extortion, 2014. He was handpicked to be the Conference Secretary when the World Interpol Conference took place in New Delhi in October 2007. He spoke to Vijay Thakur, Special Representative, the Statesman, on the role of Police in the present scenario. Excerpts.
Question:
Despite efforts to modernize police, Indian police hardly stand anywhere when compared to Police of the Western world. Here police at ground zero are overburdened, stressed and ill-equipped. Where do we lack?
Answer
Over the year police have changed a lot. It is more qualified and tech-savvy now. These days police officers investigate in a more professional way. Yet it needs to change its mindset. Most of the police force still has a colonial mindset and consider the public as their subject. A Police Officer must remember he is not here to rule but to maintain rule of law.
Secondly, our Public Relation Department is very poor and unprofessional. And this changes the public perception about the police. I give you an example, nearly a decade ago I went to Scotland, whose police force is considered to be one of the best in the world. It has one-tenth of Delhi Police strength.
I was shocked to see that there were 67 public relation professionals working round the clock for Scotland yard police. They were not from police but professionals who have worked in various media organizations. They keep analyzing the public perception, keep them updated of police achievements. And the result is there. Forget, how they work, they have a very good image and people like them.
Indian Police have to change their communication skills and mindset. Police officers must remember it is people’s police and is answerable to them, and Police PR department must make a bridge between people and police to change people’s perception.
Question
But changing mindset alone would not help, the force is still ill-equipped and have a corrupt image.
Answer
The are many reasons for corruption. You are right the police force is ill-equipped. Government is not meeting its minimum investigation requirement. I give you an example, if a Sub Inspector finds an unclaimed dead body in his area, it might try to throw it out of its jurisdiction, This is because the is not paid sufficient money for disposing it off. Once a body is found, it is the responsibility of the Investigating Officer to get the post mortem done, and perform its last rights. Unfortunately, most of the money he spends goes from his pocket or have to find 'other sources of income'.
Another example I would give is of a stolen vehicle in Delhi but recovered in Nagaland. No one wants to know how brings it back and how much he spends and paid for transportation. Similarly, while conducting investigations he has to spend money from his pocket to get information etcs, from where he would recover the money. The list of such problem is long and everyone knows it. Tell me, how an honest police officer pays these expenses, Answer is obvious. It is very easy you call a police officer corrupt, first, put yourself in his position and then decide.
Question
What immediate reform you suggest in Police to make it humane and efficient.
Answer
Well, the list is long. However, I would recommend two immediate changes which do not need even a single rupee. And trust me it would word and improve police image. First do not assess a police officer on the basis of crime figure in his area. If we do that it put pressure on police officers to keep crime figure under check, he would manipulate the figure, under-report it or will not report it at all. Let all crimes be reported and registered. Assess a police officer on how he handles law and order and investigate crimes, and now on the basis of reporting of crimes. Trust me half of the problem would be most. Most of the complaint against police is against non-reporting of crimes. People’s perception would automatically change against police.
Second reform which is required all over the country is that one should not fight over jurisdiction. Where ever a case is reported, it may be registered and send to the police station concerned after the preliminary process. You Know If today Asaram Bapu is in Jail it is because of this only. The victim girl, who was raped by him reported the matter to her father in UP, he registered the zero FIR in Kamala Market police station in New Delhi area. They did the medical and sent her to Jodhpur where the crime took place. Now had the victim gone straight to Jodhpur, her case would have never been registered because of his influence forget conviction. But once the FIR was registered in Delhi, local police had no option but to investigate and arrest the accused.
Question
Delhi Police earned a bad name in the Delhi riots. How do you see it?
Answer
When we analyse the Delhi riots, we find that North East Delhi riots is a culmination of mishandling of many incidents, right from Jamia to JNU and Shahin Bagh. It was a reflection of poor police leadership. Rather I would say there was hardly any leadership in Delhi Police at the top level. Then Police Commissioner, Mr Amulya Patnayak, could not give clear instructions to his subordinate officers, there was hardly any planning, Police followed no SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures). I will call it was, in fact, a free for all in Delhi.
Police officers at ground level did not know what to do. Handling such incidents is no rocket science, in fact, previous Delhi Police Commissioners have handled worse situation than this earlier in a more professional and efficient way. It depends upon how the top leader behaves. Force is as good as its leader. There is an old saying in the army there is no bad army there are bad Generals. Today it applies more to police than Army. Here I have no hesitation in saying that Delhi riots were the culmination of mishandling of many incidents, failure of intelligence, and lack of proper planning.
Now when the Police chief was changed the results were visible at ground level as well. Look at the post-riot handling of Delhi riots, it was excellent, good mob management, good scientific investigations and so on. The force was the same only change was that leadership was changed from Patnaik to S N Shrivastava.
A Police Commissioner is not to enjoy ‘Lalbati car’ but to lead the force.
Question
Another Case which has damaged Police Image is Sushant death case in Mumbai. What is your take on it.?
Answer
I must accept that the Mumbai police has not acted properly. First, it did not communicate with media, which it normally does in such sensitive cases. After all, we all working for the public, it is our job to convince and clarify them if they are doubting our intentions. Unfortunately, for reasons best known to them, this time there was a huge communication gap. As a result, rumour-mongering started and the media made it a movement. Then the case was registered at Patna, which further damaged their image.
Mumbai police committed another blunder, instead of explaining its legal position to Bihar Police and media it preferred to fight it with Bihar Police. And when an IPS officer came to investigate, he was quarantined.
Had I been the Commissioner of Mumbai Police, I would have sat with Patna Police officer, helped him and explained the legal position. I could have politely told him that is not his jurisdiction. But Mumbai Police made a mockery of the entire Police Force. Mumbai Police failed in keeping the confidence of media and public.
Question
In the last what about Police-politicians nexus. Such allegations are emerging in Sushant case as well.
Answer
I must admit that situation is very bad all over the country when it comes to police politicians and bureaucrats nexus. It is now Police-politicians-bureaucrats and criminal nexus. In fact criminals these days have become politicians and common people are suffering the most. It is also an open secret that the Police is not allowed to work independently. If they do not toe the political line given to them, they are in trouble.
Though Most of my services were in Delhi Police and CBI, I had some stint in Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh and Goa. There used to be a day to day interference in these states. And it would continue, politicians are public representative and we need to listen to them as well. But we are taught how not to budge to pressure and maintaining a balance. A Police officer has to follow the rule of law and always remember he is answerable to the constitution of this country, and should not compromise with any illegal act, or unlawful orders. This answers all
Ends
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