Lawless policing an abomination in a free society

Sankar Sen
Ex-Director, National Police Academy

THE basic functions of the police include law enforcement and maintenance of order. But often it is witnessed that in the rough and tumble of policing for the sake of maintaining and enforcing order, the police violate rules and norms of laws, leading to lawlessness and dishonest enforcement of laws.

This conundrum in law enforcement was driven home to me by the then Chief Justice of the Orissa High Court, RL Narasimham. At that point, I was posted as Assistant Superintendent of Police in Cuttack. While discussing law and order problems of Cuttack city, Justice Narasimham stated that the police have to constantly bear in mind that order has to be maintained through law; otherwise, dacoits can ensure better order than the police any day. It was a very perceptive observation.

The British rulers tried to build up the Indian police on the pattern of the Army. The Indian Police Act of 1861 was enacted after the ‘Sepoy Mutiny’ of 1857 as the foreign rulers wanted to set up a loyal and pliant police force. The khaki uniform and badges of ranks were similar to those of the Army and there was overemphasis on drill, parade and physical fitness.

Thus, during our training as probationers at the Central Police Training College in Mount Abu, we were constantly told that the police service was neither meant for the weak and faint-hearted nor for people with utopian thoughts and ideas. War against crime is hard and relentless — almost a Sisyphean task, meant for the tough and flint-hearted.

During my first posting in the district, the SP, a rough-hewn and weather-beaten police officer, bluntly told me to bury five fathoms deep what had been taught in the training school and adjust quickly to the stark ground realities. There were many other senior officers like him who echoed a similar view: that in policing, the ends justify the means.

In order to see that criminals and lawless elements get their just deserts, rules and laws, if necessary, have to be bent. For a firm and effective policing, a police officer should not confine himself to the four corners of the law. There is also public demand and pressure on the police to adopt shortcuts and third-degree methods with a view to punishing the hardened and dreaded criminals, who cock a snook at the prevailing and slow-moving criminal justice system.

However, illegality in the name of law enforcement is an anachronism that perverts the system and coarsens the law enforcement officers. Any monstrous act of police violence or atrocity generates police phobia and turns public anger against the police. Many laudable and courageous deeds of the police are forgotten and their follies and foibles are highlighted. The police also become the scapegoats for the deficiencies of other agencies of the criminal justice system. Deprived of solicitude from the public and media, they develop a fortress mentality and see the world as “we” and “they”.

Criminologist Gordon Misner, while explaining the police psychology, says policemen view themselves as “crime fighters standing against the Mongol hordes without the support of the public, politicians and the courts.” Even many conscientious police officers feel that they are doing a difficult and dangerous job without any understanding by the society of their moral and professional problems.

Research studies have shown that the denigration by the public and press have an unsettling impact on the police morale. In fact, the police violence and brutality, as political scientist and criminologist David Bayley says, are often correlated to the public regard for the police authority. Low public regard reduces the self-esteem of the police and, thereby, they make use of force more often. On the other hand, unwarranted use of force lowers public regard for the police. It is also seen that the misuse or excessive use of force is restricted in societies where reserve and physical restraints are valued.

This is a cultural variable. Bailey, in his book, Forces of order: Police behaviour in Japan and the United States, says in Japan, a policeman who forbears the use of force even at the risk of severe emotional repression is respected for doing so. In contrast, in the US, policemen cannot allow challenges to their authority go unmet. Backing down is considered cowardly in India. The military model of policing still continues, largely unchanged. There is a far greater emphasis on discipline and strict maintenance of order than on service to the people and upholding their rights.

In a democratic society, the law vests vast powers in the hands of the police to curb lawlessness by anti-social elements, but also keeps provisions to ensure that these powers are not used to imperil the rights of the citizens. The conviction of criminals is important, but more important is the fact that the police must function in a way that promotes the values of a liberal, democratic society. Illegal and impermissible means ultimately undermine the ends. The absence of a human rights culture also prompts the police to adopt impermissible means for the maintenance of order. The quintessence of human rights is respect for human dignity, and in India, the policemen are yet to learn to respect the rights and dignity of the minorities, women and marginalised sections of society. They often become the targets of abuse of force and violence by the police.

The mandate of the police to use force to curb violence and lawlessness raises the key issue that the police themselves should not indulge in unnecessary or excessive use of force. Lawless policing becomes an abomination in a free society. Again, lawless policing is not desirable from a practical point of view. I have witnessed many promising careers of young police officers coming to a sad end for transgressing laws and perpetrating illegalities due to the mistaken notion that the ends justifies the means and “noble cause corruption” is necessary and unavoidable. But the truth is that the adoption of illegalities damages the standing and credibility of the police and erodes their effectiveness. They forfeit public cooperation and without its support, it is not possible to effectively control public disorder.

The Independent Commission on Policing in Northern Ireland (Patten Commission) has aptly said, “Bad application or promiscuous use of the power to limit a person’s human rights by such means as arrest, strip and search and house searches can lead to bad police relations with the entire neighbourhood, thereby rendering in effect policing of those neighbourhood impossible.”

Former Chief Justice Narasimham’s observation on maintenance of order through law should be borne in mind by every police officer. It underscores the essence of law enforcement and provide a valuable insight into the core functions of the police.