Imperial Gazeteerchapter Xii

CHAPTER XII POLICE AND JAILS I. Police The indi- THE most interesting feature of the modern Indian Police genous polioc system is that, along with a regular police formed on the model system. of the Royal Irish Constabulary, it comprises as an essential part of its organization the ancient institution of the village watch. It is now generally admitted that the village community in its most complete form is of non-Aryan origin; and it is in the parts of India which have least felt Aryan influence, that is, in the country lying to the south of the Vindhya mountains, that this form of self-government has retained the greatest vitality. In many tracts within this area the old complement of village officials still exists, and, though all are not now embodied in the British system of administration, every village has retained a headman and a watchman. These officers have been from ancient times, and are still, though to a somewhat less degree, the backbone of the police machinery of India. The headman occupied the position of a police magistrate and the watchman worked under his orders. The latter's functions are thus graphically described by Mountstuart Elphinstone in his report (I8I9) on the territories conquered from the Peshw :-' His [the watchman's] duties are to keep watch at night, to find out all arrivals and departures, observe all strangers, and report all suspicious persons to the pdtel [headman]. He is likewise bound to know the character of every man in the village; and in the event of a theft committed within the village bounds, it is his business to detect the thief. He is enabled to do this by his early habits of inquisitiveness and observation, as well as by the nature of his allowance, which being partly a small share of the grain and similar property belonging to each house, he is kept always on the watch to ascertain his fees, and always in motion to collect them. When a theft or robbery happens, the watchman commences his inquiries and researches. It is very common for POLICE AND JAILS 3E5 him to track a thief by his footsteps; and if he does this to another village, so as to satisfy the watchman there, or if he otherwise traces the property to an adjoining village, his responsibility ends, and it is the duty of the watchman of the new village to take up the pursuit. The last village to which the thief has been clearly traced becomes answerable for the property stolen, which would otherwise fall on the village where the robbery was committed. The watchman is obliged to make up this amount as far as his means go, and the remainder is levied on the whole village'.' Sir Thomas Munro, who was an ardent supporter of the indigenous police, thus described that institution as it existed in the Madras Presidency: ' There is already an ancient system of police in India which answers every useful purpose. In every village there are hereditary watchmen whose business it is to guard the property of the inhabitants and travellers from

depredation, and to exert themselves in recovering it when lost or stolen; and there is, perhaps, no race of men in the world equally dexterous in discovering the thieves. They are maintained by the produce of an inim [free grant] land, by a trifling tax on each house, and by a small allowance from travellers when they watch their property at night. No war or calamity can make them abandon their heritage. If driven from it, they always return again; and often live in the village when every other person has forsaken it. This long and constant residence, together with their habits of life, make them perfectly acquainted with the character and the means of livelihood of every person in it. When, therefore, a robber is to be apprehended the new police officers apply to them, and seldom give themselves any further trouble than merely to carry the criminal, when the village watchmen have secured him, to the judge.' In the Tamil country the village police were supervised by an official styled the men kavalgdr; and it is probable that this was originally the practice everywhere, the office being eventually appropriated by the petty local chieftain or superior landlord. In Northern India the village system was less complete. There was no headman, and though every village had its watchman, he was the servant of the landowners rather than of the whole community, and the landowners were held responsible for losses occasioned by crime committed on their land. The Mughals made no change in the system of village police, Its decay but the duty of supervising them was entrusted to the revenue with the break-up officers, who were also magistrates. In the South this involved of the I G. W. Forrest's Selections from the Minutes of Jfountstuart 'Elhinstone (1884), pp. 303-4. VOL. IV. C C 386 THE INDIAN EMPIRE [CHAP. Mughal but little change, as there the petty chiefs were retained and empire. allowed to collect the revenue from the villagers; and even where the appointment of revenue officials was the rule, the tendency was for the office to become hereditary and for the tax-gatherer to merge in the landed proprietor. Each superior landlord was required to maintain a quota of troops, and these forces were utilized as police to suppress internal disorders and to deal with serious outbreaks of such crimes as dacoity and robbery. The system of spies was also developed, and Haidar All in Mysore used his postal officials as an elaborate police intelligence department. With the decline of the Mughal power the system of police fell into great disorder, and the petty chiefs and zamindars, no longer dreading punishment from above, used their adherents to ravage and plunder the lands of their neighbours. 'They extorted and amassed wealth which was dissipated in a jealous rivalry of magnificent pageantry. The weapons which were

intended for the enemies of the state were turned against the state itself, and against each other, and were used for plans of personal aggrandizement, mutual revenge, or public plunder .' This evil example was followed by the village headmen and the village police. Most of the latter became thieves themselves, and many of the former harboured criminals and connived at crime for a share of the booty. The liability of the watchmen to restore the stolen property or make good its value was disregarded, and it was impossible to enforce the old village responsibility, that 'coarse but effectual remedy,' as Mountstuart Elphinstone calls it, 'against the indifference of the neighbourhood to the sufferings of individuals.' First This was the state of things which the British found in the efforts early days of their rule, and as a first step towards reform the towards police or- zamindars were relieved of their police duties, which were ganization transferred tothe District Magistrates, each Districtbeingdivided under British into small police jurisdictions with an area of about 20 square rule. miles. This formed the charge of a daroga, who had under him twenty to fifty armed men, and was also given authority over the village watchmen. This system, which entirely disregarded the village headman and converted the watchman from a servant of the village into an ill-paid and disreputable subordinate of the daroga, proved to be an expensive failure; and, owing largely to the representations of Elphinstone and Munro, it was abolished, under orders issued by the Court of Directors in 1814, in all the Company's possessions except 1 East India Judicial Seeictions, vol. i, p. 154. POLICE Ai-D JAILS 3S7 Bengal, in many parts of which Province the village system did not exist. An endeavour was made there in 1807 to re-establish the landlords in their police functions by giving them authority to act as am.ns or commissioners of police. But the old establishments had been dissolved and the scheme did not meet with great success. It was many years before the police administration advanced Progress much beyond this initial stage. It remained, as a rule, in the of reform. Police Act immediate charge of the District Magistrate, who had under his of 1861. control a loosely organized body of civil police and the indigenous local agency. Much of the guard and escort duty incident to the work of civil government was performed by the native army, a costly and inconvenient arrangement. As work increased the Magistrate was unable to devote sufficient time to purely police duties, and his magisterial and police functions were found to clash. In the time of Lord William Bentinck, 1828-35, complaints of the inefficiency and corruption of the police were universal. The first measure of reform was the appointment of separate Superintendents for the police of the Presidency towns1. In the country generally the earliest important attempt at improvement was made by Sir Charles

Napier in Sind. He drew up a plan on the model of the Irish Constabulary, the main characteristics of which were separate organization, severance of police and judicial functions, and a reasonable degree of discipline; and this was extended a few years later to the Bombay Presidency proper. Shortly after the annexation of the Punjab a double system was introduced into that Province, consisting of a detective force on existing lines and a semi-military force for escort and guard duty. Similar arrangements were made on a more extensive scale in the Province of Agra immediately after the Mutiny. In Oudh a large body of military police had been raised during the Mutiny, and, after the pacification of the country, it was reduced in numbers and reorganized on a civil basis, unconnected with either the military or judicial authorities. Smaller battalions of military police were also raised in Bengal. In the meantime the appointment of a Commission to investigate the alleged practice of torture by native officials in Madras had drawn prominent attention to the condition of the police force in that Province. It was reorganized by an Act passed in 1859, the main features of which were similar to those of the Act which was shortly afterwards passed for India generally. The cost of I Calcutta had a Superintendent of Police as early as ISoS, but up to IS29 his jurisdiction included a large portion of the surrounding country. C2 THE INDIAN EMPIRE [CHAP. the double police force in the Province of Agra and the Punjab proved prohibitive, and it was eventually decided to introduce the Oudh system of a single body for detective, protective, and miscellaneous duty. In i860 a Commission which had been appointed to inquire into the whole subject of police administration recommended the establishment of a well-organized and purely civil constabulary, supervised by European officers, and capable of carrying out all ordinary civil duties, including the provision of guards and escorts. The village police should, the Commission advised, be retained on their existing footing, being brought, however, into direct relationship with the general constabulary. The proposals of the Commission formed the basis of an Act passed in 1861, which, with some amendment, still regulates the administration of the police throughout the greater part of India, and which permitted a considerable reduction in the native army. In Madras the Act of I859 (amended in some particulars) is still in force. A separate Act was passed for the Bombay Presidency in I867, and was replaced in I89o by a fresh Act, which was extended to Sind in I902. Further legislation will be required to carry out the orders of the Government of India on the report of the recent Commission. Organiza- The police establishment under each Local Government tion of forms in most Provinces a single force, and is formally enthe deart rolled. In Bombay there is a separate force for each District. ment. The Provincial police is under the general control of an

Inspector-General, who is in some Provinces a member of the Indian Civil Service. In most cases he is assisted by DeputyInspectors-General, who hold subordinate charge of portions of the Province. Police administration throughout a District is under an officer styled the District Superintendent. He is responsible for the discipline and internal management of the force, and is the subordinate of the District Magistrate in all matters connected with the preservation of peace and the detection and suppression of crime. In Madras the control exercised by the District Magistrate is less detailed than in other Provinces. In large Districts the Superintendent has an Assistant, who sometimes works under him at head-quarters and sometimes (usually in Madras) holds charge of a portion of the District. An officer of the superior police department enters as an Assistant, rises in due course to the post of District Superintendent, and may be selected to be DeputyInspector-General and, in some Provinces, Inspector-General. The controlling staff is composed almost entirely of Europeans. Recruitment has hitherto been partly by open competition in England, partly by examination after nomination in India, and partly by the promotion of subordinate officers; but it was decided in 1905 that appointments in India should henceforth be made only with the special sanction of the Government of India. A new grade of Deputy-Superintendents, with similar duties to those of Assistant-Superintendents, is to be created, the members of which will be exclusively natives of India. In some Provinces, and notably in Bombay, where there are no Deputy-Inspectors-General, the Commissioner of the Division has special control over the police, apart from his position as administrative head of the Districts within his jurisdiction. This principle is to be extended to all parts of India where there are Commissioners. At the head-quarters of each District a reserve is maintained Reserve, under the command of an Inspector (a chief constable in armament, and mitiBombay). This reserve supplies men for escort, guard, and tarypolice. miscellaneous duty, and serves to strengthen the police in any part of the District where disturbance may be apprehended or other emergency may arise. Recruits pass some time in the reserve for the purpose of learning their duties. The reserve is trained to act in concert and to shoot, but is not drilled up to a standard of military efficiency. The reserve and a portion ot the general-duty police are armed with breech-loading smooth-bore guns or carbines, and a small number, in tracts where they are likely to encounter armed resistance from dacoits and other law-breakers, carry rifles. The subordinate officers wear swords, and the truncheon is the general arm of the constable. About 2,600 are mounted. The proposals of the recent Commission involve an increase of the reserves in several Provinces. A force of military police, the total strength of which is about 20,000, is still maintained in unsettled frontier tracts in Bengal, Assam, and Burma, and in the North-West Frontier Province. Three-quarters of this force is maintained in Burma, and, though under the Local Government, it is organized in battalions under military officers and largely recruited from the martial races of Northern India.

The general peace of the country is secured by the provisions of the Indian Arms Act, which restricts the possession of fire-arms and other weapons within narrow limits; and the occasions on which the military have to be called on to suppress riots (mostly arising from religious or caste questions)' are comparatively rare, Districtor- Each District is subdivided for police purposes into sections ganization. under Inspectors. In Madras and Bengal the Inspector is placed in executive charge of a subdivision, and is directly responsible for the wo-king of its police. In Bombay and the United Provinces he is stationed at the District head-quarters and tours through his circle. To keep the police on the alert by constant inspections is everywhere his duty, and he does not, as a rule, personally investigate cases of crime. The Inspector's division is split up in all Provinces into areas in each of which is a police station under the charge of a subordinate officer, generally a sub-inspector in Bengal and the United Provinces, a head constable in Madras, and a chief constable in Bombay. This officer is primarily responsible for the working of the police within his charge, and is assisted by a body of petty officers and constables. It is his duty to inquire personally into cases of serious crime. It is now (1906) proposed to recruit sub-inspectors as far as possible direct, the proportion of vacancies to be filled by promotion from petty officers being fixed separately in each Province. On the other hand, Inspectors are to be recruited mainly by promotion, and not more than one-tenth will be appointed direct. In most Provinces there are subsidiary police stations known as outposts. In Bengal and Bombay these outposts are very numerous and are minor reporting and detective centres, while in the United Provinces they serve the special function of guarding the routes of traffic. Village Each police station has within its jurisdiction a number police. of villages, and for each village there is, as already explained, a chauzkidar or watchman. South of the Vindhyas the watchman is under the immediate control of the headman, on whom rests the obligation to report crime and aid the execution of justice; but in the greater part of Bengal there are no headmen, and the chazukiddrs are there virtually a low-paid regular police, while elsewhere in Northern India they are, as a rule, partly subordinate to the village elders or lamwlardsrs, and in part directly responsible to the officer in charge of the police station. In 1905 the policy of strengthening the control and responsibility of the village headmen was reaffirmed. Village watchmen are remunerated in some Provinces by allotments of land and payment of fees : in others this system has been abolished, and monthly salaries are paid from a fund formed by a cess on land or houses, and from the revenue derived from the old landed endowments. Under either system hereditary claims are, whenever possible, respected.

Imperial Gazetteer of India, v. 4, p. 406.