organization and structure

1. Organization and structure of
Indian police
Unit II

2. Intelligence Branch
• During the British rule in India, the Government was
usually dependent on the village-watch system for
the collection of information about crime and socio-
religious developments in the remote areas.
• In India, the Police force is entrusted with the
responsibility of maintaining public order, prevention
and detection of crimes. Each states and union
territories of India has its own separate police force.
• Article 246 of the Indian constitution designates
police as a state subject, which means that the state
governments have the authority to frame rules and
regulations governing each police force.

3. • The Police force is headed by the Director General of
Police/Inspector General of Police.
• Each State is divided into convenient territorial
divisions called ranges and each police range is under
the administrative control of a Deputy Inspector
General of Police.
• A number of districts constitute the range. District
police is further sub-divided into police divisions,
circles and police-stations.
• Besides police, states also maintain their own armed
police and have separate intelligence branches, crime
branches, etc.

4. • Police set-up in the cities like Delhi, Kolkata,
Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad,
Ahmedabad, Nagpur, Pune, Bhubaneswar-Cuttack
etc. is directly under Commissioner of Police who is
empowered with magisterial powers.
• Recruitment of senior police posts in various states
is manned by the Indian Police Services (IPS) cadres,
on all-India basis.

5. • Central Police forces, Intelligence Bureau (IB),
Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) institutions for
training of police officers and forensic science
institutions are under Central Government.
• These agencies assist the state in gathering
intelligence, maintaining law and order, investigating
special crime cases and providing training to the
senior police officers of the state governments.

6. The Intelligence Wing in Indian Police:
• Every government requires an agency that keeps
track of the activities of anti-social and anti-national
elements, who aim at fomenting disaffection against
the lawfully constituted government and disrupting
normal life.
• Also needed is a facility to monitor public opinion or
the performance of the government so that quick
corrective action is initiated to prevent a breakdown
of law and order or economic stability.

7. • This twin role is fulfilled by the Intelligence branch at
district and state levels.
• It is sensitive group, which has to be manned by
personnel proven integrity and ability for collecting
information in an unobtrusive manner.
• On matters of mutual interest, such as terrorism, VIP
security, religious feud (especially Hindu-Muslim
conflict), the State Intelligence coordinates with the
Intelligence Bureau (IB) of the central government.

8. • The Intelligence Wing in Indian Police: Every
government requires an agency that keeps track
of the activities of anti-social and anti-national
elements, who aim at fomenting disaffection
against the lawfully constituted government and
disrupting normal life.
• Also needed is a facility to monitor public
opinion or the performance of the government so
that quick corrective action is initiated to prevent
a breakdown of law and order or economic
stability.

9. • This twin role is fulfilled by the Intelligence branch at
district and state levels.
• On matters of mutual interest, such as terrorism, VIP
security, religious feud (especially Hindu-Muslim
conflict), the State Intelligence coordinates with the
Intelligence Bureau (IB) of the central government.

10. Formation of Intelligence Wing:
• During the Congress movement, Lord Dufferin, the
then viceroy of India became aware of the
inadequacy in the system of political intelligence and
perceived Indian National Congress, a threat to the
stability of the empire, thereby submitted a proposal
for creating a system of collecting political
intelligence.

11. • In response of Dufferin's proposal, the Secretary
of State for India on December 22, 1887 issued an
ordinance for setting up a Central Special Branch
and Special Branches of the Police Department at
the headquarters of each provincial Government.
• Initially, The Central Special Branch did not have
any unit solely under their control and were
merely collating and compiling their reports
received from the provincial Special Branches.

12. • It was then in 1901, Central Special Branch which
was only responsible for the collection of political
intelligence , was decided to expanded its power to
include a small staff of selective detective agents, ,
employed to monitor political movements and to
deal with those forms of organized crimes that
extended beyond the limits of a single province.

13. Formation of District Intelligence Branch Office:
• The idea of forming Intelligence Branches at
district headquarters considered serious, when
ramification of the underground conspiratorial
organization was not confined to Calcutta alone
but had spread to the districts.
• In early 1908, the Special Branch was set up
some centers in places such as Midnapore,
Barishal, Deoghar, Kustia, Khulna, Jessore, as
these places had underground organizations.

14. • Each of these centers was in-charge of an Inspector
who was detailed from Calcutta and remained
stationed at the Centre till he was relieved by
another.
• In some of the affected districts, Additional
Superintendents of Police was posted to head the
district Intelligence Branches, where there was no
Additional Superintendent of Police, the
Superintendent of Police was designated as
Superintendent of Police in-charge of the District
Intelligence Branch.

15. • The larger districts like Midnapore, Dhaka,
Chittagang etc. had one Additional Superintendent of
Police in-charge of the District Intelligence Branch.
The duty of the Intelligence Branch of the District
Police was twofold:
i. Collecting of information regarding the ramification
of the conspiracy organization.
ii. Investigating specific offences committed in
furtherance to the common object of the conspiracy.

16. The Criminal Investigation
Department C.I.D
• A special group of investigators called the
Criminal Investigation Department (CID) is
available at every state police headquarters to
take the investigation of grave occurrences, such
as a political murder, large scale rights, bank
robbery involving large sum of money or theft of
precious art etc.
• This wing is also used for conducting inquiries
into allegation of misconduct by police personal
and other police agencies.

17. Formation of C.I.D:
• In 1906, when the provincial Criminal Investigation
Department was formed, there was no organizational
linkage between the Special Branch already existing
and the C.I.D.
• Both functioned separately - one as a part of the
office of the Inspector General of Police, Bengal,
while the other was headed by a Deputy Inspector
General who was in-charge of the C.I.D. and
Railways.

18. • During the Swadeshi Movement of 1905 following
the Partition of Bengal, the Special Branch was being
headed by Denham and monitored the Movement
with its meager resources.
• The C.I.D. during the time was divided into two
sections – Investigation of ordinary crimes, and the
other, acting as auxiliary to the Special Branch,
investigating political crimes and offences arising out
of political agitation.

19. • The Special Branch was attached to the office of
the Inspector General of Police, but in 1908 it had
to be shifted to a rented office at 41, Park Street
that also accommodated the C.I.D.
• Denham was then acting as Special Assistant to
the Inspector General of Police and was in-charge
of the Special Branch.
• His services were transferred to C.I.D. as Special
Assistant to D.I.G., C.I.D. in charge of the Special
Branch. The traumatic events of 1908, however,
called for considerable expansion of the Special
Branch. (A Case Study of Bengal)

20. Directorate of Vigilance and Anti
Corruption
• The Directorate of Vigilance & Anti Corruption
deals with the disciplinary cases against
delinquent gazetted officers of all departments
under the concerned state government.
• Complaints received against
gazetted/nongazetted employees from various
sources are also processed.
• In regard to specific serious irregularities,
investigation is done through Anti Corruption
Branch.

21. • The branch conducts surveillance and apprehends
corrupt public servants through laying traps and
raids, and are presented in the Criminal Court.

22. Directorate of Vigilance:
• The Directorate of Vigilance functions under the
supervision and control of Chief Secretary, who is
also Chief Vigilance Officer for the Government of
the National Capital Territory of Delhi.
• Directorate is headed by the Director (Vigilance),
who is also ex-officio Joint Commissioner of Police
Anti Corruption Branch. It consists of two wings

23. 1. Anti Corruption Branch, supervised by the Joint
Commissioner of Police (A.C. Branch)
2. Vigilance Branch, which is being looked after by the
Addl. Secretary (Vigilance).
• This Directorate also functions as nodal agency for
advice on vigilance matters to CVO's of local bodies,
Vigilance Officers, HOD's and other Organizations of
Govt. of Delhi.

24. Working:
• The Director (Vigilance) held meetings with vigilance
Officers of various Departments from time to time.
• It monitors the work of the officers and provides
suitable instructions / guidance to them.
• Important cases are frequently monitored by
Director. Quarterly reports from all vigilance Officers
are obtained in a business like Performa.
• The performance of the Directorate is reviewed from
time to time by the Chief Secretary / CVO.

25. • Anti Corruption Branch not only investigates the
cases of corruption and bribery against public
servants for offences punishable under Chapter IX of
IPC and various other provisions of Prevention of
Corruption Act, 1988, but also conducts vigilance
enquiries against them.

29. Intelligence Branch
• Intelligence branch is also known as intelligence
bureau is India's domestic internal
security and counter-intelligence agency
under Ministry of Home Affairs.
• It was founded in 1887 as Central Special Branch,
and is reputed to be the oldest such organization in
the world.
• Until 1968, it handled both domestic and foreign
intelligence after which Research and Analysis Wing
was formed specifically for foreign intelligence
following that IB was primarily assigned the role of
domestic intelligence and internal security.

30. • Tapan Deka, the current director of the IB, took over
from Arvind Kumar on 24 June 2022.
Responsibilities
• Shrouded in secrecy, the IB is used to garner
intelligence from within India and also execute
counter-intelligence and counter-terrorism tasks.
• The Bureau comprises employees from law
enforcement agencies, mostly from the Indian
Police Service (IPS) or the Indian Revenue Service
(IRS) and the military.

31. • However, the Director of Intelligence Bureau (DIB) has
always been an IPS officer. In addition to domestic
intelligence responsibilities, the IB is particularly tasked
with intelligence collection in border areas, following
the 1951 recommendations of the Himmat Singh Ji
Committee a task entrusted to the military intelligence
organisations prior to independence in 1947.
• All spheres of human activity within India and in the
neighborhood are allocated to the charter of duties of
the Intelligence Bureau. The IB was also tasked with
other external intelligence responsibilities as of 1951
until 1968, when the Research and Analysis Wing was
formed.

32. Workings
• The Group A (Gazetted) officers carry out
coordination and higher-level management of the IB.
• Subsidiary Intelligence Bureaus (SIBs) are headed by
officers of the rank of Joint Director or above, but
smaller SIBs are also sometimes headed by Deputy
Directors.
• The SIBs have their units at district headquarters
headed by Assistant Director (AD) or Deputy Central
Intelligence Officers (DCIO).
• The IB maintains a large number of field units and
headquarters (which are under the control of Joint or
Deputy Directors).

33. • It is through these offices and the intricate
process of deputation that a very organic linkage
between the state police agencies and the IB is
maintained.
• In addition to these, at the national level the IB
has several units (in some cases SIBs) to keep
track of issues like terrorism, counter-intelligence,
VIP security, threat assessment and sensitive
areas (i.e. Jammu and Kashmir and such).

34. • IB officers get monthly special pays and an extra
one-month salary every year, as well as better
promotions. IB Officers are either directly recruited
or are deputed from CAPFs and Armed Forces.

35. Constitutionality
• IB was created on 23 December 1887, by the British
Secretary of State as a sub-sect of the Central Special
Branch but there is no act of the Indian parliament
nor executive order relating to the functioning of the
IB.
• In 2013, a public interest litigant challenged the
legality of IB.