Police reforms stuck

Each time there is a major crime in a metro or terror attack on the country’s mainland, there is a renewed nationwide cry on reforming India’s archaic police system. However, it has fallen on the government’s deaf ears, leaving recommendations on the much-needed reforms — as suggested by various expert panels as well as the Supreme Court — gathering dust.
Neither the Centre nor states have been proactive in improving the quality of policing. Official records show that only 14 states have either enacted the new Police Act or amended their existing laws to incorporate SC’s suggestions.
States like Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Odisha and West Bengal have been laggards. The SC, in its September 2006 judgment, had come out with seven key suggestions. It had prescribed a minimum tenure of two years for state police chief and officers on operational duties, separating investigation and law and order functions and measures to insulate police personnel from political interference.
Even the Model Police Act — submitted by a committee a month later — could not be translated into legislation, with the home ministry failing to put it before Parliament. Retired IPS officer Prakash Singh, on whose plea the SC gave its 2006 judgment, said, “Reforms are not happening due to states’ cussedness. Chief ministers treat police department as their zamindari (fiefdom). They are against reforms because they don’t want to give police autonomy.”