1. FILLING THE PUBLIC-POLICE TRUST DEFICIT:
WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE
A comparative study between Kerala and Delhi policing scenario
JULY 2015
Submitted By:
Bavneet Singh
Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology
(IIIT-Delhi)
Mentored By:
Sri. P.V. Rama Sastry, IPS
Inspector General, National Investigation Agency

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The statutory basis for the Indian police is the Police Act of 1861. It was established by
the British in the colonial India after the mutiny of the revolt of 1857. The act was in
general authoritarian in nature. It put the police completely under the control of the
British rulers and that was indeed the purpose then. If the British irony was bad; what’s
worse is that we in India are still using the same act. `Public Order' and `Police' figure
as entries 1 and 2 respectively in the State List in the Seventh Schedule of the
Constitution. Thus, each State has exclusive power to legislate in regard to its police
system and also has full administrative control over the police in the State. The concern
is that most states are either using the Police Act of 1861 or even if they have changed it,
the core philosophical significance remains the same; authoritarian in nature. The
situation calls for an immediate check because of the far reaching changes in India’s
governance and transition from being a colonized nation to a democratic sovereign
republic.
A lot of initiatives have been taken at the centre and state level and various commissions
have come up with some extremely nourishing recommendations. The eight reports
submitted by the National Police Commission (1977-81) have been the most exhaustive
and highly comprehensive among all. The Ribeiro Committee on Police Reforms (1998)
and the Padmanabhaiah Committee on Police Reforms (2000) are also to name a few
more initiates that have studied various aspects of policing and come up with various
recommendations for healthy reforms. However, in the recent times, arguably the most
historical judgment has been the passing of the seven directives by the honorable
Supreme Court of India in 2006. These directives are to be followed by each state for the
better functioning of the police.
Sri. Prakash Singh, IPS (former Director General of Border Security Force (BSF), and
former Police Chief of UP and Assam) had filed a petition in the honorable Supreme
Court in 1996 asking the court to direct the states to comply with the recommendations
of the National Police Commission. The Supreme Court set up some new commissions

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to analyze the issue and came up with a set of directives that need to be followed by the
policing system in each state. However, because the honorable Supreme Court can only
send directives and recommend change, and not legislate, it’s very unfortunate that the
implementation has not been even close to the effort put in preparing the
recommendations for a good reform. The governments in most states have stayed
reluctant to this.
Amidst all this, a ray of hope lies in the policing scenario of Kerala. It can easily be
argued that Kerala Police has the best policing model among all the Indian states. It
might not be perfect, but it is the best among the others states and improving. Kerala
Police have come up with two community policing initiative in the name of the
Janamaithri Suraksha Program and Student Police Cadet Program.
The idea of the people’s police and policing as a service presented in Sir Robert Peel’s
Principles is central to the notion of policing. The very concept of policing is service to
the community with the support of the public. The reason we have to assign a prefix
“Community” to the word “Policing” is because of the deteriorated image and ill-
practices of policing. It just acts as a reminder of the policing reform required to change
the damaged policing system and attain a democratic police which is people friendly.
Both the community policing programs running in Kerala were studied as a part of a
field visit to Thiruvananthapuram to get the real feel of these programs and understand
the ground reality. The real picture and deeper insight came through actually seeing,
understanding and analyzing the program from the point of view of all the stake holders
in an unbiased way, which was exactly the intention.
In general the futuristic vision of the Janamaithri Suraksha program as lay down by the
masterminds of the program is shared by the actual implementers of the program in the
grass root level. The public also has shown equal interest and involvement in the
program by being proactive. I believe these have been the two most instrumental and
important virtues for the success of the program. The policemen have adapted to a

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people centric environment where they earn the respect of the public and the support of
the public helps them do their work in a more efficient way building an altogether
stronger system.
The overall major paradigm shift and transition period has taken place, now it’s just
spreading, which is comparatively the easier part. The establishment of Janamaithri in
more than 250 police stations is going to be very helpful. It becomes easier now, to keep
expanding this program and continue the legacy.
Thus, taking the example of the best available state policing model of Kerala and the
community policing programs running there, which have lead to immense improvement
in the public and police relationship, it is evident that community policing programs
should be given a lot more importance than they are being given right now in Delhi.
Neighborhood Watch Scheme and a couple of more such initiatives were started by the
Delhi Police, but they didn’t seem to make a mark in the same way as did the community
policing initiatives in Kerala. The growth rate is low and the effort in spreading
awareness about these programs is also not up to the mark. Equal importance should be
given in starting a scheme and ensuring its efficacy in implementation.
The basic idea can be on the same lines as per the Kerala model. However, modifications
and iterations must be done to arrive at the best possible model for the state considering
various factors like cultural difference in the people of the two states and their approach
towards such issue. Also the functional difference in the way a state police functions and
the police in the union territory functions.
To improve the general awareness among people and encourage them to form an
unbiased perception; involvement of police in schools and colleges through awareness
workshops, involvement of police in public activities like Raahgiri Day should be
increased so as to build a stronger relationship between public and police. This would

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improve the perception of police in the minds of people, which has been tampered more
so due to generalizations.
However, the fundamental reason for the trust deficit is the system which is not
accountable to people. Thus these above exercises will just be cosmetic remedies and
provide nothing more than a kick start to a process. The real test of police for earning
the confidence and trust of public will still remain. It can only be gained when the police
work in an efficient and professional way backed up by the statuary changes suggested
in various policing reforms.
As the government is showing apathy towards the policing reforms initiatives that have
come up, the people need to make it an election issue and make the government realize
the need of a change through pressure, if so is the only way possible. A positive
transformation can only take place when the People’s Police Movement started by Sri.
Prakash Singh (http://www.peoplepolicemovement.com/) actually reaches out to more
and more people becoming a public lead initiative. Unless the people get aware about
the problem, they will never ask for a change. And unless they ask for change by getting
involved, nothing will change.
“The answer to cynicism is not apathy, it is to get involved and change the system.”
Hence, there is a strong need for the enlightening of the democratic values among
people. More than what the government needs to do, the people also need to take charge
and get involved. The youth especially can make a difference. The potential energy in the
youth of the country should be intelligently capitalized. Hence, after much thought, I
believe my very important and most precise aim must be to suggest ways to take this
movement to the people, especially the youth of the country.