TOPIC: PUBLIC-POLICE RELATIONS IN INDIA

SUBMITTED BY: MAYA S

REGISTRATION NUMBER: 18BLA1001

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India was under the control of the British Empire until the middle of the 20th century. The
Britishers established the police system with the intent of managing and expanding their
empire. After independence, India became a self- reliant country and witnessed several
developments, but when it comes to the police administration system, not much change has
been introduced. Due to these changes in the society, this leads to a higher rate of crime, failure
of bureaucrats’ contribution to the administrative processes in India, political parties’ failing
manifesto and various other issues in India. But our present police system is not up to the level
to handle such issues. Now highlighting on the public- police relationship, no one can disagree
to the fact that there must be a healthy relationship maintained between the public and police.
It becomes necessary to maintain such a relationship in a welfare state. It is crucial to secure
planned and desired measures of police involvement to make it an acceptable police operation.
In India, which has got independence 70 years back, there is still a question which exists,
whether India has people’s police or ruler’s police or in other the question is whether the people
should rule given according to our Preamble which starts as “We the People of India” or the
rulers whom the people choose should rule1. According to our Indian Constitution, it should be
the people who rule and the rulers are only our representatives and also the police should only
be people’s police. People will accept the police only if the actions which they perform are
legitimate. For an exceptional implementation of government policies, it necessary to have
public-policy synergy and cooperation. Various State governments have arranged HelpLine
numbers and also networking of Police Stations with the amenity of on-line registration of
complaints and bilateral sessions with citizens and the police and also Women Mobile
Counselling Centers have been established. In short, public-police relation refers to the on-
going and varying relationship between the communities and police they serve. This comprises
of problems of service, race, relations, the fear instilled by the police, rampage, bribery and
exploitation.

Historical background
As we already saw, the police system was established by the Britishers. The ground for public
and police relationship is the Indian Police Act of 1861. But certain states have their
legislations. Section 23 is about the duties of a Police officer which talks about the public-
police relationship. During Britishers rule, the police treated the public in the harshest way
possible. This period was identified by incivility, brutality and cruelty towards the general
public, notably the marginalized branch of societies. The police functioning underwent
discredit and lethargy. At those times, the police public relations were far away from the ideal
state. The reasons why the public always had hatred towards police because of the harshness
the police showed to the public, harsh conduct and inadequacy of courtesy. The attitude of the
police towards the public during the pre-partition days was haughty and discourteous and thus
this hatred still goes on. Mutual faith and courage between public and police for the
preservation of law and order was flawed due to the imperious behavior of the police
fluctuating on harassment and the unnecessary annoyance to which witnesses etc were put. The
Britishers made sure that there always lies a gap between the public and the police so that the
public will always obey the Britishers and this continues till now. There was always a lack of

1 Khosla commission report (1968)

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mutual trust between the police and the public. The major reasons for the distrust were due to
various reasons and they are due to the insensitivity and ignorance of the community in their
civic duties after the independence period, usage of third-degree method, incivility and
impoliteness.

Community policing
According to International Association of Chiefs of Police Community Policing Committee,
community policing includes the standardized usage of partnership and problem-solving
approaches to aggressively address the circumstances that generate public safety controversies
which includes crime, social chaos, fear of the future crimes. This kind of policing is a law
enforcement approach which has been in existence since the beginning of the ’80s in the United
States. The reason why community policing is more successful than traditional policing is that
community policing predetermines and works towards preventing the crimes that are going to
take place and also this policing emphasizes on creating a safe and secure social environment
set up. The main point where community policing is successful is this allows the residents to
participate in the law enforcement process so that they can keep their communities safe too.
Due to all this, the residents will have a positive view of the police and they are more
supportive. There is an enhanced trust between the residents and law enforcement. There will
be improved communication between the police and the residents which means more reporting
of criminal activities and finally less crime rate. Even in India, community policing is present
from medieval times. When it comes to a village community, a person who is the village head
called the Mukaddam or the village Sarpanch used to carry out the functions of a police officer
in the village and used to preserve the law and order. During the Mughal era, this kind of
policing became secondary because the main motive of the Sultan was to keep the people under
their control and collect revenue. Again, during the Britishers rule, community policing had
lost its meaning. After independence, the main goal of the government was to maintain law
and order and for which certain states tried implementing community policing. Like, in West
Bengal, to deal with dacoits in the rural areas, the programme known as Village Resistance
group was initiated. In Maharashtra and Gujarat, Gram Rakshak Dal programme was
introduced for the same purpose mentioned above. Some other eminent community policing in
India were the Friends of Police Movement in Ramnad district, Tamil Nadu, Janamaithri
Suraksha Padhathi programme in Kerala for protection of the population of Kerala, Parivar
Paramarsh Kendra programme in Raigarh district, Madhya Pradesh, Trichy Community
Policing in Trichy district, Tamil Nadu Community Liaison Groups programme in
Uttarakhand, Gram/Nagar Raksha Samiti, in Rajnandgaon, Chhattisgarh and many more.

Public-Police relationship in the present scenario

During the Britishers rule, the relationship was more dictatorial in nature whereby police orders
are given and people have to follow it. There existed a gap between the public and the police.
People always feared the police because the only motive of police was for colonial interest.
But after independence, police reformed the ways they work and always try to be people-
friendly. But the hard fact is, even though the attitude of police has changed as time passes,
still, the attitude of the public towards the police has not changed. Police can work efficiently
only if they get support from the public. But in our present society, people are not cooperating

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with police and that is where the problem arises. The various undertaking has been done to
study what opinion does the public have about the police. These surveys exposed that certain
prominent factors why the public have no confidence in the police. Some of them are listed
below.

 Role of Police in maintaining Public Order

In the earlier days, the duty of the police was only to prevent crimes against property and
person and had the fundamental duty of punishing the offenders. But as time passed on,
new crimes emerged, both white-collar crimes and brutal crimes and police had to come up
with new ideas to overcome such crimes. Welfare and developmental programmes can be
launched only if the proper foundation of law and order is laid down. Progress in society is
possible only if there are public peace and tranquillity in the society. The law and order
condition affects the working and structure of administration also having greater civil and
political connotation. Since India is a developing country, it is necessary to maintain public
order, peace and public tranquillity. Police are one among the many types of machinery
that maintains law and order and maintains peace and tranquillity in the society and the
power given to police is given by the respective state government. Rule of law can be
achieved only if police perform their duty of maintaining public order. But the real question
arises whether the police is performing their duty? In the recent protest against the
implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Act, the police assaulted the public which
caused more issue to the public peace and tranquillity in the society.

 Prevention of crime
One of the main roles of police is to predict and prevent crimes that are happening in
society. Various studies show that people are slowly coming out of the state of nature which
is described to be of absolute chaos and brutality in the society. People took steps to choose
their representatives and formed the government. This government framed appropriate
rules and regulations and the police are the agency through which the government makes
sure there are peace and order in the society. Peace and public tranquillity can be
maintained only if crimes are being prevented. But nowadays, democratic countries are
being obsessed with the rising rates of crimes and the lawlessness that is prevalent in
society. People feel that police are not adequately performing their functions. But in reality,
police are performing their functions properly and taking great efforts to prevent the crimes
that are happening around in society. The police force activities mainly depend on the type
of crime that is being committed and the method in which these crimes are being committed
by the criminals. For example, if the criminals use firearms to disturb the peace in the
society, then the police should be armed or if the crimes are being committed by the misuse
of technology, then the police will give the authorization to form a special unit which is
committed to investigating cybercrimes. But for the police to work efficiently, the public
must co-operate and support the police as well. For example, in the year 1978, there was a
police agitation in Rourkela, a city in Orissa, where no police were on patrol on nights for
nearly a week and authorities with the help of citizen groups and home guards protected
the city. But there was no increase in crime rates. This proved that police can effectively
reduce the crime rate if the public supports the police. According to Ostrom Elaner, crime

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 is possible only if the public engages actively. The public will also have to come across
past practices and embrace new practices.

 Human rights Violations

Generally, the role of the police is regulatory and prohibitive in nature and thus people have
an impression on the people that police is interfering in the individual life and liberty of a
people. When there is a violation of the law, then it is the responsibility of the police to
seize the offenders and bring the accused before the court and they will be dealt by the
procedures which are established by law. But there are cases wherein the police itself is
responsible for the human rights violation. The police are known for their brutality and
torture for a very long time. For the confession of crime, police resort to the extreme level
of brutality. No one is spared in this process, whether the person is a man, woman or even
a child. In Tukaram and Anr v State of Maharashtra2, it was a case of custodial rape wherein
a young tribal girl was raped inside the compound of Desai Ganj police station in
Chandrapur district of Maharashtra by two policemen. Though the Supreme Court
acquitted the accused, there were widespread protest and outcry and it was after this
incident, many changes were introduced in the Indian Penal Code and the Criminal Code
of Procedure through the Criminal Law (Second Amendment) Act, 1983. In Francis Coralie
v Union of India3 case, the Supreme Court held that any manner of torture or any third-
degree treatment upheld by the police is violating human rights and is offensive of human
dignity which is guaranteed under Article 21 of Indian Constitution. No law or procedure
which is violative of human rights can be upheld based on the test of reasonableness. Such
laws are unconstitutional and can be struck down based on being violative of Article 14
and 21. Therefore, such instances cause loss of faith over the police as a protector of human
rights. According to a study made by Human Rights Watch, one of the main reason as to
why police officials get involved in such violations is because of extreme working
conditions for the police officials. Usually, low ranked officers are from a poor background.
The police have to be on duty 24 X 365. Instead of making them work in shifts, these low
ranked officials are made to work for many hours which means they are mentally ill. It is
the responsibility of the government to improvise the conditions of the police officers
which every government who come to power, fail to do.

 Handling crowds by Police

Psychologists describe crowd to be direct contact people and people in the crowd join
together with different motives but once they join together as a group, the people have a
different pattern of behaviour altogether. In a crowd, there may likely be chances of people
getting into illegal business and disturb the peace which is prevalent in society. The police
have to correctly identify people with bad intention. To effectively control the crowd, it is
necessary to counter-act its sense of anonymity and power and this is possible through
force. By showing the power of the police, the people with the intention to disturb the peace
will prevent themselves. But again, this is not the only resort as the usage of force can lead

2 1979 S.C.R (1) 810.

3 1981 S.C.R (2) 516.

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to a deterrent effect on the public. The police can take steps following section 141 to 190
of the Indian Penal Code and section 149 to 151 of the Criminal Code of Procedure. The
Jallikattu issue was widely appreciated for the peaceful manner in which the students
protested. But there are many criticisms against the police stating that they took advantage
over the leaderless crowd. On January 23rd, 2017, police resorted to force stating that
violence has been caused by the anti-social elements present in the society. This act of
police was highly criticized. In the most infamous case of killing 13 people in a shooting
conducted against the people who were against the Sterlite copper plant in Tuticorin. It is
given that people marched towards the collector office when section 144 of CrPC was in
force. Hence, the police resorted to lathi-charge and suddenly people started throwing
stones at police and police intentionally shot the people at their heads which killed 13
people.

 Senior citizens and Police

One of the main duty of the police is to protect the senior citizens in society and to prevent
any kind of crime against senior citizens. The crimes committed against senior citizens are
increasing at an alarming rate. The people above the age of 60 years are considered to be
one of the vulnerable section in society. Some of the crimes committed against them are
purse snatching, robbery, legal exploitation, economic exploitation, telemarking fraud,
health fraud and real estate fraud etc. Government of India formulated a national policy on
older persons focused on the role of police to prevent crimes against senior citizens.
According to this policy, it was highlighted that the police have to keep a friendly vigil on
elderly couples and protecting the elder citizens against any forms of crime against them.
To ensure the well-being and safety of senior citizens, police go into frequent patrolling
and make sure that the senior citizens who live alone are safe at home. The Chennai Police
are engaged in the process of creating a database on elderly couples who are staying alone
without any kind of support. The details of these people are stored in this database and
police keep the strict observance of the elderly people.

 Women and Police

Women are considered to be the backbone of any community. They play various role in
society without which our society would become incomplete. But the reality is that women
are being highly discriminated and women are considered to be one of the most vulnerable
section in society. Various religious principles treat women subservient to men. Now,
women are more reliant on the police with the belief that police would help the women.
The credibility of the police has increased compared to the end of the 20th century. Earlier,
reporting of crimes were very low because if the women go to the police station to report a
crime, there is a high possibility that they would be harassed. There are many NGO which
supports women in reporting crimes and those NGOs make sure the police take appropriate
action. The police have been criticized for using foul language against the women who
come to report the crime. Also, there is very less scope of employment of women in the
police sector. This is viewed to be a great fault in the administrative system.

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  Political interference and police
In a democratic country, each branch of the government must be individually accountable
to the people. It is constitutionally necessary that the people under public service is
accountable to the representatives of the people at the place of state legislative at the state
level and parliament at the central level. We can witness at present the change in the
structure of the society and how the government is going towards a more totalitarian form
of government and police, who is the custodian of the well-established system of
government, are being heavily criticized by such political groups. When there exists a high
level of interference of political working in police administration, there is an increased
division in the police officers based on their political inclination. A police force may not
be directly involved in the political affairs but they have to manage the pressure and
influences built by the higher hierarchical politicized officers disturb the entire stability.
Political favouritism plays a major role in departmental investigation and punishment
proceedings. This influence even affects the appraisals and awards that a given to the police
officers. Even after the 2006 judgement Prakash Singh v Union of India4, this has not
stopped. This case was based on the separation of power which is contemplated in the
constitution. It was held in this case, that all matters regarding the transfer of officers should
be outside the realm of the political atmosphere.

 Communal Riots and police

In case of communal riots, the role of the police is to disperse rioters those who gathered
together at one place, to arrest the troubleshooters, to defend the public property from arson
and raid and prevent spreading to false news. The main role of police in such riots is to
maintain public order, peace and tranquillity in the society. To effectively uphold law and
order in the society, it is necessary that the politicians and bureaucrats’ co-ordinate with
the police. Failure of this has led to people losing their faith in the police. Prevention of
such riots can increase the level of tension in the society and it becomes necessary for the
police to opt for tension management in those areas. The National Human Rights
Commission have a list of complaints against police for the inhuman actions of the police
during the controlling of the communal riot. After independence, after each communal riot,
there would be a judicial enquiry on why such riot occurred and what went wrong in the
administration.

 Technological changes and police

The 21st era is marked by technological achievements and this has changed the lifestyle of
mankind. This technology has not only proved to be a great weapon for the layman but also
for criminals. They use technology the most and get the most out of it. The reason why
cyber crimes are increasing in the present society is that the police are not adapting
themselves to the new technological aspects. Police lag behind the criminals when it comes
to technology-related crimes. But at the same time police are trying to cope up and adapt
themselves to the technological evolutions. Technological advancements in the

4 Prakash Singh v Union of India,(1996) 42 W.P. 310 (2010)(India)

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 administrative system play an efficient role in potent and powerful communication systems,
traffic administration, gathering intelligence from various sources and arriving at
administrative solutions. Using the effective use of technology in exposing organized
crimes and fight against terrorism. But the real challenge is that police has to plan within
the budget that is allocated to them and usage of high tech gadgets can be expensive. But
there is a high possibility that the police may misuse the technology to extract the details
of citizens illegally, which amounts to infringing the right to privacy of individuals.
In our present society, people file complaints against police for police harassment while it
is the duty of the police to prevent such harassment. There many laws and remedies for the
citizens who get affected because of police officials. The court has provided certain
guidelines to evade harassment by police wherein, it clearly states that a citizen cannot be
harassed by the police during the course of investigation and has to note down the details
of the investigation which includes the total time of investigation in the station diary. If any
person has been summoned by the police for investigation in the name of complaint or
witness of the incident, then a written summon has to be provided to that person and this
summon is under Section 160 of the Code of Criminal Procedure in which date and time in
which the citizen has to appear for investigation. Preliminary inquiry can be conducted only
if the information obtained in a case does not reveal a cognizable offence and inquiry can
be conducted only up to the extent of obtaining cognizability of the offense. The
cognizability is proved, then FIR or First Information Report has to be filed by the police.
If a police officer fails to file an FIR, then the complainant can report to Superintendent of
Police. The victim can also file a complaint before the magistrate which will be regarded
as private complaint. As per Section 29 of the Indian Police Act, 1861, if the person is
harassed by the police due to the failure of police performing his duty, then the officer can
be punished with imprisonment term up to 3 months and can be penalized by withholding
3 months’ salary. In 2006, police complaint authority was set up to handle police
complaints and improve the manner and structure of the functioning of the police system.
The police can be held liable if he is proved to be engaged in serious misconduct. In case
of PCA complaint, it is necessary that the affected party had to file the complaint but even
person who has witnessed the harassment can file a complaint. If a police should arrest a
person, there should be two documents given, one is inspection memo and other is memo
of arrest. Inspection memo is the physical condition of the arrested person. It is to make
sure that police had not physically harassed the arrested person. Memo of arrest contains
the details about the arrest along with the details of the witnesses. The court advised people,
that is better to take along a lawyer while filing a complaint.

People’s opinion on Indian police

When it comes to public view on police, police are viewed in negative sense. But police are
trying to come up to meet the expectations of the people. The police must promptly perform
their duty so that peace prevails in the society. The maintenance of law and order in democratic
society depends upon the police and public relation and their confidence, but the mutual trust
and confidence between the two do not exist. This distrust was engendered on account of
occasional delays in the registration of cases and the harsh treatment given to the complaints
and suspects. However, the public was as much responsible for this distrust and their attitude

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was rather prejudiced and biased against the police. Almost all the political parties today
painted the police as black as possible. Every act of the police was viewed with suspicion. The
causes of distrust of the public for the police were the discourteous and dishonest behaviour of
the police delay in doing justice; non-observance of law and procedure by them, the resort of
third degree methods and the inability of the police to give adequate protection to the public
from anti-social elements.

Conclusion 

To conclude, no one is considered above the law, and all Indian citizens are equal under the
eyes of the law and should not be subject to any discrimination mainly at the hands of police.
Whenever citizens face such kind of barbarity, they should always be aware that there is a
requirement to have a self-awareness of the existent laws as the remedies given to them or
whenever facing such kind of atrocities always discuss with a lawyer. Apart from this, there is
also a provision under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, to file a writ petition in the High
Court and Article 32 of the Constitution of India, to file a writ petition in the Supreme Court.
The Court here issued the guidelines, as needed to be recorded to create a level of transparency
in their work while addressing the same whenever, there is state of conflict founded and by
abiding through Chapter XII of the Code of Criminal Procedure and the Police Act which
explicitly states that every activity related to investigation and as well as the other activities
should have a written record in the police diary or general station diary. By abiding through
the Guidelines here the Police Officials not only create a level of transparency as well as it will
create a faith on the Police Authorities as well as it will deplete the amount of time which is
given by the court, to entertain such kind of cases which are just being created because of
misconducts on the behalf of a Police Personnel, as well it will give opportunity to the court to
address more cases which require much more important time of the court. This is how the
relationship between the public and the police can be enhanced and maintained.

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