Praveen Kumar Policing The Police > Vicious Circle

CAUGHT IN THE VICIOUS CIRCLE OF CORRUPTION

The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, Mr.M.Karunanidhi, in a scathing attack on the Tamil Nadu police after he assumed charge of the State Government in 1996, said “ Three fourths of the police force, which, to the State, is like liver to human body, has become rotten.” The remark coming from an experienced chief executive of a State distinguished for its efficient police force until a few decades ago indicates the atrophy that has set in, in the Indian police. The department cannot stay untouched while there is marked fall in the standards of diligence and integrity in other walks of life. Indian police adopted and adapted itself to corrupt surroundings.

The basic ingredients of corruption in India are money and power.

As

Government service, even at the higher rungs, has lost its charm in terms of remuneration and status, it has been attracting only the second best among youth who otherwise would be left in the lurch. Professional dignity and integrity have been brushed aside leading to corruption. Priorities in service have been shuffled, the sole objective being money and power.

Organisational objectives have been completely lost sight of.

Shift in

diligence helped to build money-power while shift in loyalties facilitated proximity to power-brokers.

The

degeneration spread rapidly with the passage of time

as

organisational commitments became outdated demode and pragmatism taught that

immediate personal interests are for

leading a good life. This was the beginning of

corruption of Indian police.

A major contributing factor has been the gross fall in professional pride among the personnel. Grass and insensitive handing of the policemen and police matters by political leaders has eroded the morale and the sense of belonging to the police force. Attempts to suppress and gain complete hold over the bureaucracy and the police in democratic India have affected the police adversely causing a sense of inadequacy.

The lack of motivation to achieve organisational goals and show results is a clear manifestation of the fall in professional pride. The police, which once was proud to enforce law, to maintain order and to ensure peace and security, have lost all the enthusiasm as these factors became political and lost their

importance otherwise.

Crimes, criminals and law and order problems were all subject to political convenience. The development shattered the professional pride of the police and struck a blow to their motivation towards organisational ends. No organisation can exist without a driving force to sustain it. When there is a vacuum of a drive to carry it onward, it is filled by corruption.

Policing is more a profession than a job. While job involves performing a task entrusted, profession entails dedication and commitment to a cause; in the case of the police upholding the rule of law and safeguarding the security of the country. How

dedicated are the police to this cause in India? Simple observation of criminal activities around and police responses to them give clues to the situation.

Let us take an obvious example- open sale of smuggled articles in exclusive markets maintained for the purpose in major cities of India. The common justification of the police for allowing such markets to do business is that no hard evidences to prove offence are available. This is unbelievable. If the police, with the resources at its disposals cannot collect evidence against the illegal activities conducted openly on such a large scale, it is not worth being in existence. There is not even a single case anywhere in India of such exclusive markets dealing with smuggled articles being shut down and the illegal activities being brought to a halt by prosecuting the sharks of the smuggling world.

The same is true of stolen articles. The footpath vendors in specified market areas trade in consumer goods, running to crores of rupees each day, without paying legal dues to the Government in the form of sales and income taxes and in violation of various rules and laws. The illegal business contributes to the growth of parallel economy of black money in the country. These markets thrive before the eyes of the local police force.

Either the police do not have the professional resolve to bring the illegal activities to halt or the offenders who indulge in them have the police backing in running the business. In other words, the police are hand in glove with them.

The leeway involved in the exercise of power, coupled with the sensitivity of the job, renders the force vulnerable to corruption. Letting gambling dens flourish, backing the manufacture and sale of illicit liquor, overlooking prostitution, black-marketing and drug trafficking, changing the course of investigation to save certain criminals or deciding

the process of arrests and seizures to favour certain individuals or parties,

make life different for the people involved. On the one hand, illicit business carried out with police patronage or tacit support make huge grists in which the police naturally have a huge share. On the other hand, the culprits are prepared to pay any price in order to divert the attention of the police. Huge sums of money change hands either to avoid arrest, search and seizure or to change the very course of investigation. The police can be part of such dirty deals without leaving a clue.

A fall-out of corruption is, the dishonest thrive at the cost of honest professional. Flexible elements are useful assets to people in key positions to save their kith and kin as the when they get involved in criminal proceedings. Such characters in police are always

cultivated and posted to key positions so that compromises can be easily

mached Honest police officers are sidelined.

The need for police is limited to the need to have an obedient force at the disposal of the rulers for use wherever they feel like. The existence of such a force gives the common man a feeling of security. The force also helps to absorb the blames heaped on the rulers while things go wrong. While these cardinal goals are met by the mere existence of the police, anything in addition, say professionalism, integrity and honesty

become achronisms. The general perception is that an upright police force is always an inconvenience to the people and therefore is not always tolerated and encouraged.

Corrupt police is the product of a corrupt society and corrupt police in turn perpetuate corruption in society. This forms a vicious circle. As corruption takes control and spreads to all strata of the force, upright elements in the force become a minority and also forfeit the coveted position in the organisation as inconvenient candidates. They are scorned, detested and avoided as moles in the mainstream. Taking recourse to unfair and illegal means to crush upright officers in also not uncommon. Though courts of law can theoretically protect officers against such harassment, expenses, time and uncertainties involved and the history of court judgements render the protection meaningless and force the upright officer to silently bear all humiliations and losses or yield to the pressures. It is to the credit of Indian police that it has great officers who have withstood all slights without yielding to pressure.

In the olden days, corruption was confined to the lower strata of officials. The situation has changed now; it originates from the above and percolates downwards. An intelligence chief may drive his unwilling subordinates to adopt all sorts of illegal methods including telephone tapping, political espionage and other dirty tricks in his attempts to win over his political masters and may even succeed at the cost of more senior aspirants. Now, what about the subordinates once his business is done. His worry is how to use his new position to further his prospects before he retires in a few months.

As the date of retirement approaches, his perception of right and wrong blurs in the lust to make the most of the position. This is the crux of the problem of corruption.

Freeing the police from the grip of corruption is a priority for rebuilding India. A non-corrupt police is the beacon of a healthy society. The police can usher in a healthy social life in the country only by first getting itself rid of the cobwebs of corruption and then infusing professionalism in its work. It must elevate itself to the heights expected of it as the guardian of the rule of law, justice and fairness in the social structure of the country.