Police – necessity of shift to Concurrence

The latest case that is now in news since the last one month infact more is the suicide of Sushant Singh Rajput. The investigation has now been handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation. The visit of the officials from Bihar Police and their being quarantined by Brihanumumbai Mahanagar Palika official has shown the reluctance as far as inter-state cooperation is concerned. The question here is not as to what the case has been for there have been cases in the past too between other states viz. issue of the Bawaria gang active on Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh border districts of Bharatpur and Agra wherein the Uttar Pradesh Police had issues with regard to low level of cooperation from Rajasthan Police. On similar lines inter-state police coordination between Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh Police has also been observed. It would be wrong to squarely blame any single side or state or state police for the functioning of this institution being a state subject comes under the jurisdiction of the particular state. Thus, the police are at times put through pressure from the state government to stay neutral. The response from the state government or governments can have various reasons that are administrative and political because of which inter-state police cooperation stands affected.

The shift from being a State Subject to being made a Concurrent Subject shall give the institution a free hand more than what they enjoy at the moment as far as inter-state policing and police cooperation is concerned. The setting up of police zones across the nation that would come under the direct control of the Union Home Ministry with the state control being confined upto the level of state Director General of Police only who will have to comply with the parallel instructions of the zone or zonal directorate who will finally stand accountable to the Central Directorate that shall be set up at New Delhi the head of which shall be Director General of Indian Police; an officer who shall be of the rank equivalent to the three defence chiefs; who will have a direct say in all matters related to state policing.

At the same time there arises the need to establish a Police Commissioner System in all major cities of this country and state capitals. Therefore cities like Prayagraj, Agra, Gorakhpur, Jhansi etic n Uttar Pradesh, Dehradun in Uttarakhand, Shimla in Himachgal Pradesh, Kota, Ajmer and Udaipur in Rajasthan, Patna in Bihar and Ranchi in Jharkhand, Gwalior, Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh need to have this system. The state governments have been quite hesitant in establishing police commissionarates in their major cities of the state and have been delaying matters time and again in the name of public interest. The police commissioner system in Jaipur and Jodhpur too was established after a long legal and political battle for almost two decades. Therefore the central government must take serious cognisance to the subject.

There are modalities that will be needed to be looked into and worked out as in the case of India the states and union territories vary in size and population hence the equivalence of the ranks of the state police chiefs viz. director generals of police will have to be worked on the lines of bringing in a rank uniformity that is not the case at present. The resistance that will come from the state governments is expected but there can be ways through which the issues and apprehensions posed by the state governments can be resolved as it is time that the police department is freed from the paradigm of state government control and made an institution that enjoys the joint control of the state and central government. This is the only way that policing can be improved and will be a major step towards police reforms. The step of shifting it from being a State List to the Concurrent List will induce the spirit of camaraderie and a more organised team work. This is needed because crime has changed from being local or regional to global. It has acquired global dimensions that are not only dangerous but damaging to the social and economic order of the starte. Terrorism is one such menace there is cyber crime that has made money launderin much easier and difficult for the state authorities to put a check on. Cyber hacking has replaced burglary and house breaking in a big way and despite the steps taken the results are far from achieved. Therefore, the Government of India must take a note on the subject and start working with the desired political will and determination in this direction. The sincerity of effort shown is bound to yield positive results.