Law Minister cautions police against short circuiting law

Citing omissions in developing ‘a new police system’ for an independent India, Law and Justice Minister M Veerappa Moily stressed reforms that he said ‘are still continuing.’ ‘At the dawn of independence there was no demand for a new police system for the country,’ Dr Moily told a conference on quality in governance. ‘The reason for not insisting on a new police for a new society are not yet known.’ ‘No serious search has been made as to why the police and their functions are usually relegated,’ the Law Minister acknowledged at the 5th National Conclave on Leveraging Quality for Good Governance.

Its significance was clear, he pointed out, ‘when it is widely accepted that no development is possible without order and the fruits of development would not reach the intended beneficiaries in the absence of order.’ ‘It would appear the founding fathers laid emphasis on continuity and change rather than on any violent departure from the past and demolishing the existing administrative structure... When the five year plans were introduced the police was not made a plan subject.’ The conference sponsored by Quality Council of India is to discuss issues and ideas aimed at improving ‘the quality of life of the average Indian.’ Experts say sooner or later it all boils down to the quality of governance at work. The event attended among others by former Chief Justice of India J S Verma centred on Effective Governance - Judiciary and Policing.

But as Dr Moily put it, India in its long history saw governance of all kinds, proportions and dimensions and survived through them.

‘It saw the worst and the best in its 2500 years of recorded history. The governance in India now is based on this long experience. It is the collective will for good governance that is lacking in India.’ The Law Minister renewed pledges to bring in reforms in electoral laws as well as in judiciary, which he called the ‘best in the world.’ ‘In addition to the judiciary, another institution which plays an equally or perhaps an even more important role in implementation of good governance standards is the police,’ Dr Moily remarked.

‘However, it has been seen that when discussing the inputs for good governance in any society, the police is not generally prominent or even important.’ In contrast, Dr Moily cited the handling in Britain where police ‘are the instrument for enforcing the rule of law. They are the means by which civilised society maintains order that people may live safely in their homes and go freely about their lawful business.’ Quoting from the 1962 Royal Commission on the Police, Dr Moily said ‘policemen, like everybody else, are accountable to the law.

They are also the laws agents. And the uniformed policemen have for many years been recognised and accepted as the embodiment of the laws authority.’ Dr Moily quoted Anglo-Saxon police historian Charles Reith to assert that the ‘British love for order and respect for law is the result of model behaviour on the part of the British police.’ ‘The point,’ he said, ‘is that good policing plays as equally an important role as the judiciary for the attainment of the objectives of good governance.’ In India, it was not until January 1959 that the States began police reform.

As the Kerala Police Reorganisation Committee observed, the people of independent India ‘expect a different approach by the police towards the maintenance of law and order and want them to play a new role in a progressive and enlightened democracy.’ Dr Moily counted an honest and efficient judicial and police service-- not one that ‘short circuits’ law-- among the imperatives of good governance.

‘It is quite obvious and self-evident that the foundations of good governance can be laid only on a well disciplined, accountable, efficient, honest judicial and police service.

He said ‘it is futile to expect’ good governance with a police or judicial system that does not respect human rights, violates and short circuits the law, is not accountable, lacks professionalism, is high handed, corrupt and poorly trained.

‘It is thus essential that all the institutions of the government-- and the judiciary and police most prominent among them-- must pool their energies to force a good governance for the country. Only such a collective will can devolve truly good governance for the country.’