Fearless Policing: An Art Or A Science

Dr. Meeran Chadha Borwankar needs no introduction! As affirmed by Rtn Poornima Advani, who extended a warm welcome in the form an elaborate introduction, it certainly was a matter of great pride and privilege to have had a woman of such high caliber, honor and achievement in our midst and to be addressing us.

As she took to the podium, her prodigious stature was further strengthened by the authority in her voice. Almost as though investigating a crime scene, she meticulously chose her words on ‘Fearless Policing: An art or a science’, and started by explaining why the topic given was ‘fearless policing’ and not just ‘policing’. “Going by Maslow’s Hierarchy (of Needs), the need for personal security comes above everything else. Therefore, no matter how many personal or private guards one may employ, Police is an essential part of our lives. And Police, which is supposed to be fearless, may not be so because as citizens or as community we feel that Police sometimes gets biased and influenced, and therefore, the need for us to come here and discuss fearless policing”, she exclaimed.

Going on to explain whether Policing is an art or a science, or both, she said, “The Police force is an agency that investigates crime and maintains law and order while providing internal security not only from terrorists but also from home-bred Maoists or Naxalites. An artist, on the other hand, has a lot of discretion. In the case of the Police, that discretion can lead to exploitation; do you want Police to have that discretion? Thus, considering the parameters of investigation, law enforcement and internal security, which need to be followed as per the process and the law outlined by the Indian Penal Code, my vote would be to science. Because Policing is nothing but implementing the Rule of law, and law is science!”

While countries like UK and USA have moved to scientific methods of sentencing, wherein not only the Police, but also the judicial system does not have the discretion, Dr. Meeran spoke of the extent of judiciary discretion prevalent in the country. Citing an example of a crime investigation supervised by her, she mentioned that in the case of murder, the person guilty could be sentenced anywhere from 10 years to lifetime imprisonment.

“Now, why in India there is more discretion, more of art, more of exploitation, less faith in us Police persons? Two things that come to my mind are: 1) feudal mentality and, 2) vested interest. As citizens, we love to point fingers at law enforcement, but do not introspect. Papers are full of caricatures, cartoons about us and mostly with Police persons having potbellies.”

“When I was the Commissioner of Police, Pune, I got a call from a senior officer asking me to provide passport verification for two of her friend’s employees. Here, I did not know the friend, let alone her two employees, so how could I provide verification? Therefore, when I refused, the officer was very upset. As a Commissioner, I could say ‘no’ to such feudal mentality, but can my constable, sub-inspector or inspector do that?” She questioned. “So one main reason why Police is not open, bold, or ready to take action, is because we kill them repeatedly by our own instructions, which are neither professional, nor true to the uniform, but are feudal in nature.” Speaking about vested interest, she said, “Today, everyone is in a hurry to make it big, while the poor constable with a petty salary is staying in a slum and is wearing a uniform that signifies law! In our hurry and vested interest, we make them compromise so many times, and later lament as to where is the fearless bobby? I think we are just in love with that bobby who does not exist, not even in UK! So after having butchered my constable with vested interest, with feudal wrong demands, Is it fair to expect a fearless person standing for law? Citizens have to decide!”

“Another example that I would like to talk about is from when I was Super-intendent of Police, Satara. It is a very peaceful district town, which never had a law and order issue. However, one political leader came there and excited bank employees. And to my utter horror, there was stone throwing on the main road (and there is only one main road in Satara!). My staff too got excited as it was totally unheard of. When I reached the spot, I found that while people were throwing stones, some of my staff was doing unnecessary lathi-charge, because they had never done it in their life! At one point, I had to literally push them in their vans and send them back to the Head Quarter. The stone throwing and riot had shaken all”

“Soon I got a call from a very senior politician asking me to not oppose the bail of the political leader whom we had arrested for the above riot. I was shocked. How could I be asked not to oppose the bail! I was very distressed at this instruction. Then I got a call from my Director General of Police, who was a very honest and straight man. He said, ‘why are you opposing the bail? By doing so, you’re only winning a battle, but we have to win a war’.” Saying so, Dr. Meeran reiterated the fact if we want fearless and professional policing, we have to stop giving wrong, illegal or unprofessional instructions.

As an example of providing gray instructions, Dr. Meeran spoke of an instance, where a piece of land which belonged to the Yerwada Police station, was allotted to a private person through an open tender and the highest bidder had quoted 44 crores. Knowing fully well that the land was under-valued, one of her predecessors agreed to give the land but had not signed the papers. So when she took over as the Commissioner of Police, Pune, she was asked to handover the land. “I thought to myself, why should I handover the Police land which is over 100 crores? My predecessor had been very diplomatic, and because women tend to be straight, we say yes or no. So when I was asked to handover the land, I told that very powerful politician, ‘Sir, my predecessor did not hand over, and if I give you the land, the perception will be, ‘Hi CP bai alli, ani aaliya aaliya Polisanchi zaaga deun takli’.”

“Mind you, I got two calls from very high authorities, including an IAS officer saying, ‘Meera tum kyu isme padte ho’!”

“Now if we are being given wrong instructions, how can we expect the Police to be fearless and stand tall on the ground? Therefore, if you expect fearless police officers, please invest in his character, in building his strength by strengthening the law, and stop giving instructions, which are either blatantly wrong, illegal or are gray. Gray instructions are very difficult to handle because they are neither right nor wrong, but simply unprofessional.

Finally Dr. Meeran ended her thought-provoking, emphatic talk with Rabindranath Tagore’s poem, ‘Where the Mind Is Without Fear’, which succinctly summarized her hope and intention for the country in years to come.