The Police as a law unto themselves

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mundaire
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The Police as a law unto themselves

Post by mundaire » Thu Apr 21, 2016 3:57 pm

A friend sent me the following well written article discussing the Police Commissioner system, as adopted by most big cities in India. This system has always (conceptually) bothered me, as it hands over magisterial powers to the police, thus reducing accountability. Removing these crucial checks and balances has time and again led to situations where our law enforcers have become a law unto themselves.

There is a good reason why the idiom "judge, jury & executioner" has such a negative connotation and immediately brings to mind images of a stifling, despotic regime.
William Congreve wrote:But in this Court, what Diff'rence does appear!
For every one's both Judge and Jury here;
Nay, and what's worse, an Executioner.
Why is this posted under the RKBA section? Because in jurisdictions where this system is in force, the Police are given the (otherwise) Magisterial power to issue Arms Licenses (in all other jurisdictions it is the District Magistrate/ DC). Also, it seems that wherever the Commissioner system has been implemented, fewer percentage of Arms Licenses are issued.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/analysis/ ... TsVPL.html
The police should not be a law unto themselves
Ashok Kapur | Updated: Apr 20, 2016 18:44 IST

When the just-retired Delhi commissioner of police was asked about violence against women, his reported response was: If the law allowed ‘us’, he would order all rapists to be shot dead! Such a mindset strikes at the root of good governance and the rule of law. All the exhortations to the civil service about good governance and service are meaningless if the enforcement arm of the state is virtually without any control or accountability.

However, it is not his fault. It is the ‘system’ that breeds such attitudes. If public servants vested with power and armed with the latest weaponry are not accountable to an external authority, they can get away with murder. In the case of a police force, it can do so literally. This, precisely, is the persistent malaise in Delhi’s police force — authority without accountability.

The canker cannot be correctly diagnosed and treated unless one delves into the history of the police commissioner ‘system’. All credit to the British, who first introduced the rule of law in India, with the enactment of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) in 1860. Arguably, it is the finest criminal code in the democratic world today. It was a piece of exquisite workmanship on the part of Thomas Babington Macaulay, who was also the author of the educational minutes of 1835.

Under the code, the police force was given limited authority and was fully accountable to the civilian magistracy. A magistrate was put in charge of the administration in the countryside. The magistrate, as the head, was the cornerstone of the majestic edifice of the Roman Empire under ‘rule of law’. And ‘law’ was defined as a ‘speaking magistrate’. It was the birth of democracy.

The British in India, however, made an exception and placed a ‘top cop’ in the three metropolitan cities in the country — Bombay, Calcutta and Madras — because there were Europeans in these cities. They worked out an arrangement — the police commissioner system. But very limited magisterial powers were given to the police.

For several decades the police commissioners were civil servants who continue to be, even today, trained and experienced magistrates. It is only later that men in uniform were appointed, more to accommodate delisted soldiers after the war than on merit. The civilian magistrate as police commissioner was the embodiment of the basic principle of modern democratic governance — civilian control of the armed services of the State.

Today, the principle is being twisted out of shape. More and more cities are being brought under the commissioner ‘system’, pursuant to a Supreme Court judgment on ‘police reforms’. But the judgment was based on a petition that said the British government promulgated the CrPC in the wake of the mutiny of 1857 to suppress the Indians. A greater travesty of the rule of law is difficult to imagine. ‘Reforms’ are being carried out on the basis of claims in a false affidavit, which appears to have been examined in the home ministry with its eyes wide shut. So much for the supposed accountability of the Delhi police to the ministry.

There will be no meaningful and lasting respite till basic reforms are carried out to democratise the police force.

Ashok Kapur is a former IAS officer
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Re: The Police as a law unto themselves

Post by shooter » Thu Apr 21, 2016 7:27 pm

Good one mundaire.

I agree 100%.

Many a times we see in the movies or in media interviews " our hands are tied, if we have more power we can do this do that etc"

Then movies celebrating encounters etc.

No one thinks who decides who is guilty and deserves to be shot? The police? Why? Why not me then? Why not you? Are they better than us?
No. Due process needs to take place.
If the system makes it easy for the prisoners to escape it's not because of less laws but because of too many laws.

I remember so many times my friends etc used to justify their fathers becoming police officers.
"No no he is very honest. He didn't become ias ips (whatever) because he wanted to make money. He just did it for power. "
And this is a good thing?!!
This is the definition of a good person!!!

People craving power ( over other people) are more dangerous to the society than the ones with ambition to make money.
You want more gun control? Use both hands!

God made man and God made woman, but Samuel Colt made them equal.

One does not hunt in order to kill; on the contrary, one kills in order to have hunted. by Jose Gasset.

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Re: The Police as a law unto themselves

Post by essdee1972 » Fri Apr 22, 2016 11:05 am

But the judgment was based on a petition that said the British government promulgated the CrPC in the wake of the mutiny of 1857 to suppress the Indians.
The Indian national song is "Blame it on the Brits" (apologies to Mili Vanili). Anything you say has been done by the Brits to suppress Indians, will be believed and "corrected". Having read Macaulay's minutes (on education), I feel grateful to the gentleman who at least made it possible for all of us to share our thoughts in a language comprehensible to one another. You can take exception to his "racist" tone, but that was common in those days, and not much different from the same tone adopted by us Indians when referring to people who look different from ourselves, and any "other" civilisation in general.

The exception to the rule above? You got it!! The ARMS ACT!!!
People craving power ( over other people) are more dangerous to the society than the ones with ambition to make money.
The sad part is, in India today (and for all I know, earlier also), the only "bad" people are those who crave money. People do not have the ability (or the willingness) to recognise that lust for power is what leads to most evils, not lust for money. I'd rather have a corrupt government than a dictatorial one!

Examples? Plenty! Starting with the biggest one: Hitler didn't steal money as much as his cronies. But what he really really lusted for was power, ultimate power. Result? 8 million Jews, 20 million Russians, 5 million Poles, etc. etc. etc. The bare-bones statistics of the Holocaust.

Stalin didn't make much money, as far as I know.

Osama? He spent his personal fortune to build up AQ.

Plenty of examples in India. I do not want to comment. The midnight knock is not something I would like to invite!

Even more examples abound in the corporate world. Every bad boss you have worked under, is a man (or woman) crazy for power. I had a (super)boss who was "on the take" (and sacked for that), but he was one hell of a great boss and a very good & helpful person (apart from taking his cut from suppliers and vendors).
Cheers!

EssDee
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In a polity, each citizen is to possess his own arms, which are not supplied or owned by the state.Aristotle

Get up, stand up, Stand up for your rights. Get up, stand up, Don't give up the fight.Bob Marley

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