Page 1 of 11
Journal for Studies in Management and Planning
Available at http://internationaljournalofresearch.org/index.php/JSMaP
e-ISSN: 2395-0463
Volume 01 Issue 05
June 2015
Available online: http://internationaljournalofresearch.org/ P a g e | 160
Indian Police Reform: Problems, Causes and Prospects
Razdha Parveen
* Research Scholar, Department of Sociology, A.M.U., Aligarh. Available at:
razdhaparveen@gmail.com
Abstract:
The police in India is a state subject and its
organization as well as working are governed
by rules and regulations framed by the state
governments. Policing in the country is
incredibly complex and the total range of
police responsibility is an extra ordinary
context. Nevertheless, successful functioning
of the police in a democratic society
depends upon its ability to maintain a
certain degree of order without which a free
society cannot function. Current and
emerging social media and communications
technologies open exciting and important
new frontiers for the police. The changing
nature of community has also presented
some challenges to the community policing. In
this regard, the move toward community
policing has introduced greater concern for
community into police glossary, training and
protocol. Despite this fact, much room
remains for improvement and it is not
entirely clear how or whether agencies can
accomplish such improvements. It requires a
multi-pronged approach to balance law and
order functions with social justice and
human rights concerns. The need of hour is
to create a police force which can respond
to the needs of a developing society like
India. In order to consider the vulnerability of
Indian police system, this paper is an attempt to
highlight their problems, causes and suggest
ways through which their hardships could be
minimised and a hope could touch their last
breaths. The paper is divided into six parts. The
first part deals with the introduction and police
infrastructure. The second part describes
functions and challenges to police
administration. The third part focuses upon the
community policing and role of police today.
The fourth part presents the causes of lack of
humanity in police system. The fifth part deals
with the need to reform of Indian police.
Finally, the last part presents the
recommendations along with conclusion.
Key Words: Indian Police, Infrastructure,
Problems, Causes, Reform, and Prospects.
Page 2 of 11
Journal for Studies in Management and Planning
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e-ISSN: 2395-0463
Volume 01 Issue 05
June 2015
Available online: http://internationaljournalofresearch.org/ P a g e | 161
Introduction:
The present criminal justice system in India
was designed after the British almost lost
their empire in the first war of independence
in 1857. The vital need than was a coercive
system that would brook no further
challenge to the task of ruling the people of
India and keeping a strict surveillance over
subversive activities. The creation of new
legal code defined by the Indian Penal Code
(IPC), 1860: Criminal Procedure Code
(CrPC), 1972; Evidence Act, 1872; and the
Police Act, 1861 shaped the coercive
criminal justice model for the country. The
British’s introduced hitherto unknown legal
concepts that deterred resistance against the
colonial state. These provided a mechanism
to force the consent and conformity of the
people to provisions protecting the colonial
rule (Unnithan, 2013). The effective and
efficient functioning of police administration
is vital to maintain safety security and peace.
Policing in a pluralistic democratic society
like India which is trying to emerge from the
shadow of a feudal past into a modern and
secular nation, is fraught with challenges. It
requires a multi-pronged approach to
balance law and order functions with social
justice and human rights concerns. The need
of hour is to create a police force which can
respond to the needs of a developing society
like India (Goel, 2014).
The police is a state subject and its
organization, working are governed by rules
and regulations framed by the state
governments. These rules and regulations
are outlined in the Police Manuals of the
state police forces. State/Union Territory has
its separate police force. Despite the
diversity of police forces there is a good deal
that is common among them due to four
main reasons: The structure and working of
the State Police Forces are governed by the
Police Act of 1861, which is applicable in
most parts of the country, or by the State
Police Acts modeled mostly on the 1861
legislation. Major criminal laws, like the
Indian Penal Code, the Code of Criminal
Procedure, and The Indian Evidence Act etc
are uniformly applicable to almost all parts
of the country. The Indian Police Service
(IPS) is an All India Service, which is
recruited, trained and managed by the
Central Government and which provides the
bulk of senior officers to the State Police
Forces. The quasi-federal character of the
Indian polity with specific provisions in the
Constitution allows a coordinating and
counseling role for the Centre in police
matters and even authorizes it to set up
Page 3 of 11
Journal for Studies in Management and Planning
Available at http://internationaljournalofresearch.org/index.php/JSMaP
e-ISSN: 2395-0463
Volume 01 Issue 05
June 2015
Available online: http://internationaljournalofresearch.org/ P a g e | 162
certain central police organizations.
Superintendence over the police force in the
state is exercised by the State Government.
The head of the police force in the state is
the Director General of Police (DGP), who
is responsible to the state government for the
administration of the police force in the state
and for advising the government on police
matters
(http://www.humanrightsinitiative.org/publi
cations/police/police_organisations.pdf).
Police Infrastructure:
According to National Crime Record Bureau
(NCRB) statistics in 2013, actual strength of
police force was 17, 31,537 against
sanctioned strength of 22, 43,288, thus
denoting the vacancies of 5, 11,751 police
personnel. Proportion of armed police to
civil police (actual) was reported as almost
1: 4 during 2013. Ratio of Police Officers to
the subordinate Staff (Head Constables &
Constables) in 2013 was recorded as 1:7 at
the national level. 14.7% of police personnel
belong to SC category, 10.8% to ST
category and 6.3% belong to Muslim
community out of in position strength of 17,
31,537 as on 31st December, 2013. The
strength of police personnel per unit area in
the country i.e. per 100 Sq. Km recorded as
54.7 (3.4% increase over 2012). In 2013,
529 police stations were notified women
police stations. The strength of police
personnel for every 1, 00,000 of population
was recorded as 141 during 2013.
(http://ncrb.nic.in/CD-CII2013/compendi
um%202013.pdf).
Functions and Challenges to
Police Administration:
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, the first prime
minister of India, had rightly observed, “It
would be remembered that the first duty of
the police is to obtain the goodwill of the
people through their service and integrity.
They occupy a position of great
responsibility. They can only discharge their
duties well if they had the spirit of service to
the country and the people” (Goel, 2014:
p.1). The term “police” means civil force of
a state which is entrusted with the duties of
maintaining public order and of enforcing
regulations for the prevention and detection
of crimes and maintenance of peace (Goel,
2014).The practice of criminal justice was
one of the means by which authorities, with
or without success, attempted to keep the
population in line. As the position of these
authorities changed the character of criminal
justice changed. Over the last several
decades, historians and sociologists have
devoted increasing attention to the
