Revision as of 21:09, 7 December 2016

Complaints

Number of complaints: 2013

Number and rate of complaints, state-wise; Graphic courtesy: The Times of India

The Times of India

May 12 2015

Deeptiman Tiwary

Visuals of a Delhi traffic cop hitting a woman with a brick may have shocked the city , but Delhi Police has for long carried the `bad boy' image, going by the government records.

According to data compiled by National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) for 2013, Delhi Police topped the charts in “complaints against police“, accounting for 24.3% of all complaints across the country . It also has the highest rate of such complaints with every sixth policeman in the city having some complaint against him.

Delhi Police also have maximum human rights violations FIRs against them with 141 cases ( 79% of all such cases in the country).And as amplified by Monday's incident, maximum cases (23) are registered against the city police under the charge of “indignity to women“.

However, in a reflection of how seriously the police brass takes these complaints, Delhi also recorded the highest number of dismissals (103) of police personnel, accounting for over 18% of all dismissals in the country in 2013, followed by Jharkhand with 57 dismissals.

According to the data, total number of complaints, both non-cognizable and cognizable, reported to the au thorities against police personnel from various states and Union Territories in 2013 stood at 51,120. Of these, 12,427 (24.3%) were against Delhi Police personnel alone.This was followed by Madhya Pradesh which accounted for 18.1% (9,297) and Maharashtra with 14.2% (7,280).Curiously , Uttar Pradesh accounted for only 7.9%(4,086) of the total complaints.

The highest number of complaints per 100 policemen was also reported from Delhi (16.4) followed by Chandigarh (12.9) and Madhya Pradesh (11.1) against the national average of 3.0 during in 2013.

It must be noted though that over 52% of the complaints against police personnel across the country were found to be false.

In the case of more serious allegations such as extortion, false implication, indignity to women etc--which NCRB clubs under human rights violations and counts only FIRs-Delhi cuts a rather sorry figure. Of 178 such FIRs across the country , Delhi accounted for 141 (79.2%). As many as 23 of such FIRs are under the category of “indignity to women“ while nine are for “extortion“.

However, an NCRB official said that Delhi had high figures also because it is difficult to brush complaints under the carpet in the national capital and police brass ensures that genuine complaints are registered.

Extra-judicial killings/ ‘Encounters’

See Extra-judicial killings/ ‘Encounters’

Law and order duties

Police firing on civilians/ 2004-13

The Times of India

2004-13: civilians killed or injured in police firing in India

Apr 09 2015

In the past ten years, police firing has caused over 2,500 civilian deaths in India while injuring over 4,000 people. The highest deaths were reported in Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh. No firing deaths were reported in Goa, Himachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Sikkim and all the UTs except Delhi. In 2013, police firing was in most cases related to riot control (50.4%), anti-extremist and anti-terrorist operations (27.8%), against others (not classified18.1%) and anti-dacoit operations (3.6%).

Personnel issues

Police recruitment

Undertrial can be MP, but not policeman: SC

The Times of India 2013/07/04

Undertrial can be MP, but not cop: SC

‘A Candidate Wishing To Join The Police Force Must Be Of Utmost Rectitude’

Dhananjay Mahapatra TNN

New Delhi: A person facing murder trial can contest elections, become an MP and even a minister in the Union government, but pendency of a criminal case will not entitle him to a job in the lowest rung of a police force.

This is the gist of the Supreme Court’s ruling, which set aside concurrent judgments of the Central Administrative Tribunal and the Delhi HC allowing a person, who was booked for rioting and assaulting but was acquitted after reaching a compromise with the victims, to join Delhi Police as constable.

A bench of Justice G S Singhvi and Justice Ranjana P Desai on Tuesday said, “A candidate wishing to join the police force must be a person of utmost rectitude. He must have impeccable character and integrity. A person having criminal antecedents will not fit in this category.”

Justice Desai added, “Even if he is acquitted or discharged in the criminal case, that acquittal or discharge order will have to be examined to see whether he has been completely exonerated in the case because even a possibility of his taking to a life of crime poses a threat to the discipline of the police force.”

Mehar Singh and his aides had assaulted a bus conductor in 2004 on being asked to purchase tickets. They also broke window panes and assaulted passengers who came to the conductor’s rescue. But the aggressors reached a compromise with the victims and were acquitted by a trial court in 2009, the year in which Delhi Police advertised for recruitment of constables.

Mehar Singh cleared the physical test, written exam and interview. But the screening committee, which examined his antecedents, did not recommend his appointment as constable.

Singh challenged it successfully before CAT after which Delhi Police’s appeal was rejected by the high court. But additional solicitor general Rakesh Khanna argued before the SC that the acquittal was not as honourable as was being projected. Accepting his argument, the bench said, “The police force is a disciplined force. It shoulders the great responsibility of maintaining law and order in society. People repose great faith and confidence in it. It must be worthy of that confidence.”

Vacancies: almost ¼th of all posts

Vacancies in police forces, state-wise: 2013; Graphic courtesy: The Times of India, July 30, 2015

police vacancies

Nearly 1/4th of 22L police posts vacant

Deeptiman.Tiwary @timesgroup.com New Delhi:

The Times of India Aug 18 2014

Battling crime, terrorism, communal violence and internal security threats, the country's police force is grappling with as many as 5.5 lakh vacancies in a total strength of around 22 lakh. Worst still, most of these vacancies are in areas plagued by insurgency or communal tension.

Gujarat has 40% vacancies in its police force while UP , which has been reeling under communal clashes in recent months, has more than 1 lakh vacancies, over 27% posts of its force. Chhattisgarh, racked by Maoist violence, has 30% vacancies.

States Facing Insurgency Or Communal Strife Worst Affected By Staff Crunch

Before the budget session drew to a close, Parliament discussed ways to stem communal violence in India. Leaders of various parties threw barbs at each other, but no one talked about one issue which is critical to tackle such situations -the strength of police force.

At a time when rising crime, terrorism and communal violence call for strengthening of security , government data pointed to a large number of posts lying vacant in police forces across the country . The vacancies account for nearly one-fourth (5.5 lakh) of the total sanctioned strength of over 22 lakh. Representation of minorities in the forces has been raised repeatedly . The home ministry's data show except BSF and Assam Rifles, all paramilitary forces such as CRPF, ITBP and CISF have less than 10% representation from the minorities.

Surprisingly, among the states with huge vacancies in police forces are those faced with insurgency or having a history of communal strife.

Gujarat, which is hailed as a model of development but has had a history of communal violence, is the worst performer with close to 40% vacancies in its police force. Uttar Pradesh, which has been reeling under communal clashes in recent months, has the highest number of vacancies at over 1 lakh, accounting for almost 20% of all vacancies in the country .

It has also the largest police force with a sanctioned strength of over 3.6 lakh. Chhattisgarh, which sees the highest incidence of Naxal violence, is also among the worst with 30% vacancies.

West Bengal is another laggard with 35% vacancies.

The best performer, on the basis of sheer scale of operation, is Maharashtra, another communally sensitive state. With a sanctioned strength of over 2 lakh (next only to UP), it has only 7% vacancies. Assam also has done well with only 695 vacancies, accounting for barely 1% of the sanctioned strength.

Personnel killed on duty

See graphic

Police personnel killed on duty in 2014, state-wise; Graphic courtesy: The Times of India, April 5, 2016

Staffing pattern

Minority representation

Among paramilitary forces, while Assam Rifles has the highest representation of minorities at 16.16%, ITBP has the lowest at 6.18%. CRPF , deployed for controlling communal clashes, has 9.24% representation from minorities.

Women in police, national average 6%/ 2014

Police personnel per lakh of population in 2014; Graphic courtesy: The Times of India, August 13, 2015

Women in the Police forces of Indian states, presumably in 2014-15; Graphic courtesy: The Times of India, December 7, 2015

The Times of India, Aug 30 2015

Percentage of women in police force, top 5 states; Graphic courtesy: The Times of India, Aug 30 2015

Anahita Mukherji

Dire lack of women in police, national average a mere 6%

In 2014, Maharashtra had more women in its police force than any other state or Union territory in India.But its 17,957 policewomen formed a minuscule 10.48% of the state's total police force.Delhi ranks 12th in the list, at 7.15%, well below Chandigarh's top tally of 14.16%. The Maharashtra numbers are particularly depressing because the state was the first to introduce 30% reservation for women in police 44 years ago. Compared to the national average of 6%, Maharashtra's numbers are good and it is far ahead of neighbour Gujarat, where women make up only 3.64% of the police force.

The data forms part of a study by Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative. Among the top four are Chandigarh, Tamil Nadu, Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Himachal. Assam is at the bottom of the list, preceded by Tripura, J&K, Meghalaya and Nagaland. When analysing quotas for women in the police force, it's important to remember that they can only be filled based on attrition and are dependent on retirements.Otherwise recruitments would be more than the posts sanctioned. For the time being, as a stop-gap arrangement in order to achieve its goal of 30% women in the police force, Maharashtra could recruit only women to fill vacant posts,“ says Devika Prasad of the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, who co-edited the report on policewomen in South Asia, released earlier this month.

Despite the reservations, Maharashtra is likely to take many more decades to achieve the 30% target, she estimates. Prasad points out that the reserved positions are largely at the lowest level in the force's hierarchy and it takes women a long time to rise up the ranks.

The officers, officers belonging to the Indian Police Service, are largely men. Prasad feels more women should be encouraged to join the police force at all levels. “Currently , they're con centrated in the lower ranks,“ she adds.

Mumbai-based Dolphy D'Souza, convenor, Police Reforms Watch, believes there is no political will in Maharashtra to achieve the state's target for women in the police forces. Policewomen are expected to visit the homes of those who call on 103, the state helpline for women. “How is this physically possible when the number of women in the force is so limited?“ he asks.

He believes that in the wake of growing crimes against women and children, there is a dire need for more women in the police force. He points to the recent case of a woman domestic help from Mumbai who alleged torture at the hands of policemen last week.

“Numerous studies have shown that the presence of policewomen in large numbers exerts a general psychological pressure on policemen to behave better with citizens. This is a point that even the former DGP of Kerala, Jacob Punnoose, mentioned at the release of the CHRI report this week: he said custodial deaths in Kerala decreased with the increase of women in the police force“ says D'Souza.

Tooth-to-tail (officers: constables) ratio

As in 2015

INDIA'S MOST TOP- AND BOTTOM-HEAVY POLICE FORCES Oct 11 2016, The Times of India

Tooth-to-tail ratio (officers: constables) in state police forces

Various commissions/ committees for police reforms have suggested that the tooth-to-tail ratio of the police force (ratio of officers ranked assistant sub-inspector and above to constables & head constables) should be 1:4 for better policing. Data on the actual strength of police shows that out of 36 states and UTs, only five have this ratio under the recommended level

See graphic.

Transgender as SI: Madras HC approves recruitment/ 2015

The Times of India, Nov 06 2015

A Subramani

Blazing a trail through intricate governmental and judicial processes, the gritty transgender K Prithika Yashini has finally realised her dream of donning the uniform of sub-inspector of police in the Tamil Nadu police department. The Madras high court on Thursday declared that she is entitled to be appointed subinspector of police. Calling for creation of separate category to accommodate transgenders in employments, the judges further said: “We are sure that by the time the next recruitment process is carried out, TNUSRB would have taken corrective measures for including the third gender as a category .“

Though Tamil Nadu police already has three transgenders on its rolls as constables, Yashini will be the first transgender-officer in the force.

Commending additional advocate-general of Tamil Nadu P H Arvindh Pandian for his fair stand on the issue and Yashini's counsel Bhavani Subbarayan, the first bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice Pushpa Sathyanarayana hoped that Yashini would carry out the duties of a police officer with “dedication and commitment to advance the cause of other transgenders“.

The judges, who helped her clear all hurdles along the way , said: “The social impact of such recruitment cannot be lost sight of, as it would give strength to the case of transgenders. Yashini must reach the finish line, and not be stopped and disqualified in the middle.“

Yashini was born K Pradeep Kumar and remained a male till she completed her post-graduate diploma in computer application from the Bharathiar University in Coimbatore. Though she had felt sweeping changes in her gait and body even during her school days, Yashini said that she could gather courage to meet a doctor only after joining a college.

Haryana

2016: Weekly holiday

The Times of India, May 02 2016

CM: Haryana cops to get a weekly off

Chetna Choudhry

Policemen in Haryana can now take a weekly off, a basic entitlement in any job in India except a cop's. Chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar made this announcement on Sunday while inaugurating the new police commissioner's office in Gurgaon, also promising that his government will fill half of the 12,000 vacancies in the state police to ease pressure and make taking a weekly break possible.

Various states have been trying to reduce stress through a system of off days but systemic change has eluded police forces. “Research shows the lifespan of a policeman is five years shorter than an average person,“ said Haryana DGP K P Singh.“They often get into depression due to stress from work.The weekly offs will help them relax, spend time with famil,“ he added.

Traffic police

State-wise strength of traffic police/ 2015

The Times of India, Sep 28 2015

Traffic police, State-wise strength; Graphic courtesy: The Times of India, Sep 28 2015

Dipak Dash

For 20 crore population, UP has only 3,656 traffic cops

With around 20 crore people, Uttar Pradesh is the most populous state in the country . It also has the highest number of registered vehicles, but it only has 3,656 policemen to deal with traffic management. It's not much different in other states since the focus of police departments is on “body-related crime“ rather than violation of traffic norms, which claim more lives.

Admitting that the number of traffic policemen was way too less for UP's size, additional director general (traffic) Anil Agrawal said it was much lower than what big cities like Delhi or Mumbai have today .“We have started the process to increase this strength to 16,000. You need to have adequate manpower to meet the requirement,“ he added. Many states including Andhra Pradesh, Telangana Karnataka, Haryana, Hima chal Pradesh, Odisha and Pun jab have submitted details of the number of traffic police men to a Supreme Court-ap pointed committee on road safety . “Most traffic policemen are deployed in the main cities and particularly to manage VIP routes. So, you hardly find traffic policemen in small cities or towns and other roads.Lack of policemen and no fear of getting caught encourage traffic violators,“ said a road transport ministry official.

Sources said the SC-appointed panel has asked the home ministry to set norms for sanction and deployment of traffic policemen in states ­ either proportionate to population or to the number of registered vehicles. TOI has learnt that the Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPRD) has recommended a formula for deployment of traffic policemen. This will be placed before the SC panel so that the proposal can be pursued.

Work load

Work overload: 2013

The Times of India, Jun 01 2015

`73% of Indian cops don't get a weekly off'

Police personnel are often inefficient and offensive because they are overworked, a study said. It found 90% of police officers worked for more than eight hours a day and 73% didn't get a weekly off even once a month. Cops were called in for emergency duties during their rare off days as well, reports Neeraj Chauhan. Long duty hours were the reason why many cops were not physically fit.

Offensive behaviour of cops due to trying work hrs: Study

The Times of India, Jun 01 2015

Neeraj Chauhan

If a police officer in your area doesn't work efficiently and has an offensive attitude, it is because he is overworked, a new study has said. The study , National Requirement of Manpower for 8hour Shift in Police Stations, carried out by Bureau of Police Research and Development and Administrative Staff College of India has found that 90% of police officers work for more than eight hours a day and 73% don't get a weekly off even once a month and are called for emergency duties from their rare off days as well. The research was conducted on 12,156 police station staff, 1,003 SHOs and 962 supervisory officers, from ranks ranging from con stables to IGPs, in 319 districts in 23 states and two UTs.

“ More than 68% of SHOs and over 76% of supervisory officers stated that staff members were on duty for 11 hours or more per day . 27.7% SHOs and 30.4% supervisory officers reported that their staff worked for more than 14 hours a day ,“ the study said.

The study said the cur rent working hours were not in consonance with Indian labour laws nor in compliance with provisions of Article 42 of the Constitution. Besides, it also violated international norms as well.

Talking about impacts, the study said, “Nearly 74% of respondents have reported health problems of different kinds . It could as well be true that government expenses to treat these health consequences, along with the quality man-hours lost due to their adverse effects, would cost the police organization more than operating in shifts.“

The study said introduction of shift system would mean rationalizing the work hour norms for police station staff to more acceptable limits. According to the SHOs, there was a need of 1.68 times strength of the present sanctioned strength for the shift system. According to 2013 figures, the total manpower strength of all police stations in India was 675,115. Given that the total manpower of state police forces as on January 1, 2013 was 22, 09,027, the manpower sanctioned for police stations would represent only about 30% of the total police strength. The 8-hour shift system in Kerala has found improved performance of the police in terms of law and order, investigation, behavior and even conviction rate.