National Workshop on Media on Police Reforms

Conducted by

Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative

&
Press Institute of India

Venue- University of Jamia Milia Islamia, New Delhi

Dates- March 23 & 24, 2005

Report prepared by

Vaishali Mishra
 Contents

1. Introduction 3

2. The police point of view 6

3. Steeped in the past 9

4. At the root of the problem 11

5. Reforms from within 13

6. Furthering the Reform Agenda 15

7. Annexure 1 16

2
Introduction

In its last eight years of working in the human rights field, Commonwealth Human Rights
Initiative [CHRI] has strongly advocated the urgent need for police reforms. It has been
tirelessly urging all the stakeholders in the justice enforcement system to bring about
systemic changes in the policing set up of India.

At the present national level workshop CHRI, in collaboration with Press Institute of India
(PII) brought together media professionals in the belief that the media can act and advocate
the need for police reforms both at policy as well as at the ground level. The media is always
concerned about crime and punishment and makes it a point to write topical stories that have
both current value and are attractive to the reader. However, it often falls short of going
further than the immediate and sensational. In its primary role as vector for information, it
has the potential to deepen public understanding of the complexities of policing and the
underlying difficulties, challenges and potential for changing the same. It is only through this
deeper understanding that public opinion will move from being merely a general complaint
against police functioning to an effective catalyst for positive change. It was with the purpose
of taking media understanding of the standards processes and possibilities for democratic
policing to a new level that CHRI and PII embarked on the workshop.

In particular, the Workshop was designed to discuss:

 Sensitising participants about the urgent need of police reforms in the country.
 Educating media about the history of police reform, the resistances to it and the
possibilities for a new type of policing
 Motivating media to write more deeply about the underlying causes of police
misbehaviour against expected standards.
 Creating a nation-wide network of media persons who will report on issues of police
reforms thereby creating mass awareness on the subject.

Inaugural Session

Ms. Maja Daruwala outlining the purpose of the workshop set the tone of the session. CHRI’s
findings and research on policing issues have concluded that:

 Reform can come about through radical means such as changes in systems and the
law or it can come about if there is total obedience of law – neither of this is
happening.
 Much can be changed if the constitutional lens is used to examine the ends of policing
rather than accepting the old colonial reasons for policing.

She pointed out that it was not enough to keep on repeating the issue of impunity but to
understand and report on why there is impunity and why we see that though there are explicit
and detailed rules about policing and adherence to law in central, much impunity still exists.
It is public opinion that can catalyse a systemic change and compel police services to be more
accountable in its functioning. The media can prove to be a strong conveyer of this much
needed change by acting as a link between the public and the police. Ms. Daruwala
concluded that the media had everyday opportunities to build opinion for change by using the

3
knowledge gained at the workshop in their write ups and so become effective partners in a
long term fight for police reforms.

Following an ice breaker in which, participants paired in two’s talked with each other for a
couple of minutes and then introduced their partner, participants were asked to share their
first experience and impression of policing.

The participants’ point of view…

A reporter of long standing recollected, the first time I went to a police station I overheard a
young girl from a very poor family present with her grandmother reporting her rape. The
policeman seemed to be outright harassing her. I heard him say roughly, ‘Why did you go off
with your ‘yaar’ (lover) in the night?’ She was totally intimidated. I was shocked. No one
talks like this to a young woman that too in the presence of her grandmother. Very recently,
now many years later I had the chance of visiting a police station again. A husband was
registering a case of his missing wife. The policemen standing around were scoffing, ‘A 32
year old woman doesn’t go missing she runs away.’ Nothing has changed over the years.

Speaking of his own contemporaries who had gone into the police while he himself had gone
into teaching, an academic said, I have noticed the sea change in the way my friends now
come across as individuals. Before joining the police service, they were more humane, more
connected to the common man, now one feels they live on a totally different planet. They
boast of assets which have been most certainly acquired through incorrect means. If I could
help it I would never approach a police station on my own accord. There are few cultured
policemen. A complete overhaul of the system is required starting at the recruitment level. I
have spent a few years in Europe and there the police give you a sense of security, here it is
just the opposite”.

A participant with experiences of states in conflict said, my experiences of police officers are
varied – good and bad. There is no doubt that it’s difficult to find an honest officer. You see
officers with a salary of Rs. 10, 000 - 15,000 having assets double their income. I had to
remain underground for a week because of a case that I had investigated involving local cops
in Punjab carrying out an illegal racket. Working in Jammu and Kashmir was altogether a
different experience. There the police force is more civilised as compared to in Punjab.
Militancy has devastated villages after villages, in some you find only women and children,
no men. It is the police personnel that come to the aid of these poor villagers.

My press card saves me from the bad behaviour of police personnel. But you can’t really
blame them. The police are a harassed lot. Besides doing their primary job of law
enforcement they are running around handling security issues for VIPs and people in power.
The ordinary policeman has long hours, does 2 or 3 shifts on end and has a 12-hour day. His
treatment at the hands of senior police officers is bad and that reflects in his every day
functioning. In places of insurgency the police face confusion in their role. On the one hand
the situation allows them to do anything they want on the other hand there is nothing to do
because the military is paramount and dominant, said the participant with years of experience
in reporting insurgencies.

A senior woman journalist recollected, a young boy from a nearby village came to work for
me but left after a while. Extremely efficient in his work the boy would however work for a
while, then leave and go back to his village. Later we found that the boy was a compulsive

4
thief. When caught by the police, I was asked to go down to the police station and identify
him. He was chained to the floor and was being repeatedly beaten. It was savage the way he
was being mistreated by the police. Eventually he was charged and released only after I
agreed to pay a bribe.

A senior reporter from the national daily Hindustan Times recounted, that in her opinion, the
infamous Ansal plaza ‘encounter’ was an inside job. It just wasn’t a case of a simple shoot
out. Two men were trapped; then an exchange of fire took place where the heavily armed
men get killed and the police escape unscathed without injury. It was a case of cold blooded
murder. There were bruises on the dead bodies. Where did those come from if it was just a
simple case of a shoot out? When we voiced these doubts, the police came down on us
heavily, scoffing at us saying that we weren’t patriotic enough, wanted to know if we were
Pakistan Times or Hindustan Times. The question remains what were the local police doing
apprehending terrorists, isn’t this the work of the intelligence systems?

Corruption is at the heart of police misbehaviour. It drives the system today: right from the
ranks of the constable to that of the commissioner. Climbing the ladder or surviving in the
system; it is all about money. Police like lawlessness in their areas as it gives them a false
sense of power and a chance to exert their will, said a reporter from a Delhi news service.

5
The police point of view…

Before we look into the issues of police reform, it is imperative that conditions and culture
under which police personnel operate are gauged. The police see themselves as working to
deal with traditional problems of law enforcement and new and complex societal problems.
Generally unappreciated by the public at large, handicapped by poor infrastructure and bad
service conditions, police personnel often feel that they are getting a raw deal for the amount
of pressure and work they have to face1.

The greatest hurdle impinging on police functioning is the lack of legal powers or authority
assigned to the force. For example, the law doesn’t allow statements made in front of the
police by an accused be made admissible in the court of law as evidence. This indicates a
basic lack of trust in the policeman. Under Section 161 (CRPC), the law of the country
disbelieves the police version. The police top order/hierarchy is denied legal authority
making it an administrative set-up which is ironic because after all the police are meant to be
upholding the law of the land. The police in the eyes of the government continue to be an
unplanned subject which implies that budgetary allocation for reforms is non-existent. For
example, in many places across the poorer states of north India and most certainly in Uttar
Pradesh, the government has given up any pretence of supplying regular stationary to its
police force. So when a complaint is being registered, police often ask the complainant to
supply the requisite stationary such as paper, pen etc.

Service conditions of the constabulary are so pitiable that they are prime de-motivator.
Mental health, stress and tension from working in constant danger and in the absence of
regular hours or a predictable family life, have been given too little attention when assessing
performance and attitude. The sub-culture within the police favours a class system.
Categorising them as a semi-skilled worker and propagating semi-feudal relationships inhibit
innovation and initiative and the relationships between the officer and constable.

The police subculture…

Is there a general feeling that police bosses like to keep the image of policing in India as
indifferent and brutal? This plaintive question underlines the debate around police sub-culture
which is pegged as one of the important reasons for misbehaviour, dysfunction and resistance
to reform.

In India, civil services were constituted with the principles of general competence, integrity
and more importantly as a selfless service to the public. However, these principles have failed
to withstand the test of time2.

Culture is often defined as a historically defined event or situation constituted by values,

beliefs, perceptions and other symbols that a collective group comes to identify with.
Subculture is a cultural group within the larger group.

1
Mr. P. C. Sabarwal, Inspector General, PERS (Personnel)
2
Mr. P. C. Sabarwal, Inspector General, PERS (Personnel)

6
Indian police subculture has evolved around the perception that policing is more a method of
earning quick money rather than with providing a service to the community. Other defining
points are:

 Training imparted at the Police Academics are inadequate as it is theoretical in nature.

 Peer pressure might lead to police personnel employing unconventional means of
policing just to stand out in the eyes of his supervisor resulting in human rights
breaches.
 An individual policeman starts deviating from idealistic convictions to one of the
existing and preferred subcultures.

Effects of police subculture have unfortunately resulted in negative perceptions among the
policing service. Some of the more common effects and norms are:

 Hard work doesn’t result in recognition or appreciation.

 The organisation expects measures worth through achieving fixed time bound targets.
If these are not fulfilled, sanctions will be activated against erring police personnel.
This results in personnel employing extra-constitutional methods just to fulfill the
required target.
 Police officers readily provide excuses to explain bad behaviour and are supported in
this by their brethren.
 Non-Registration of First Information Reports, tailoring general diaries and planting
evidence on a need basis is an accepted norm.
 Usage of third degree practices to match statistics and expected public demands of
crime reduction is acceptable behaviour.
 Wrongful confinements and implicating persons with past records of criminal history
with cooked up cases is common.
 Extorting resources like stationary, accommodation, cars and petrol etc.

So is Police Subculture insurmountable? Bringing about large-scale police reforms, placing

adequate resources at the hands of police personnel and bringing about an attitudinal change
by sensitising police personnel about the role and responsibility they have towards the society
could be some of the ways in which the other attributes of the subculture like camaraderie
and discipline could be turned into a positive energy.

Undoubtedly there is a clash between the perceptions of the two; the police are seeking power
whereas the public is seeking services. Community policing is a very important tool that can
bring about the desired change. Contact with the community at a personal level will work
towards building a closer relationship between the two. At present there is only antagonism.

The discussion after the two presentations threw up the following:

 The police seek more power so that they can bring about a sense of accountability to
their work whereas the public believe that it is because of the unrestricted power that
the police wield that they are unaccountable for their actions.

 Everyone wants to be a beneficiary of law but no one wants to be its victim. There is
an inherent contradiction. To make civil society a reality there has to be controls;
what needs to be determined is the degree and method through which it can be

7
 achieved. Coercive power needs to be tempered with a degree of accountability on the
part of the police.

 In the absence of proper investigating techniques the easiest way to solve a crime is to
extract confessions from the accused which leads to a culture of coercion and
exercise of unauthorised power accounting for human rights excesses.

 Police derives its strength from the Constitution which is the reflection of the
aspirations of common man. Effective policing will come about only if the police see
their role as upholding the basic values of the Constitution –law enforcement doesn’t
any longer mean law and order but means upholding all the laws of the land.

 The process of advocating police reforms needs to become a demand from the
community.

8
Steeped in the past…

The archaic Police Act of 1861 has to a very large extent fuelled the autocratic functioning of
the regime police that exists in the country even after 58 long years of independence. The
Indian police by tradition have always acted as defenders of the establishment. The control
that the polity exercises over the police has made it into what it is today – a draconian
organisation. The Act has been used by political bosses to manipulate the functioning of the
police in its favour.3

The history dates back to the time of the Britishers who then inherited a system of policing
from the Mughals. The police worked at mainly two levels:

 Kotwal who supervised at the city level.

 Daroga who was the rural police personnel.

When a large influx of Europeans came into India, a different system of policing was adopted
to serve the interest of the ‘white rulers’. Charles Napier formalised the Indian Police
modeling it on the Royal Irish Constabulary. The policing system was loaded in favour of the
ruler. The Army was kept confined to the barracks whereas the police became the face of law
enforcement and more significantly an arm of the political establishment.

The chief flaw attributed to the Act is the glaring omission of human rights. The Act
promotes a police organisation that is:

 Subservient to the executive.

 Accountable mainly to their own hierarchy.
 Breeds distrust within the organisational ranks.
 Propagates a feeling of ‘us vs. them’ . It is only in India that 99% of the policing force
is termed as inferior whereas only about 1% of the force accounts for the top level of
the force.

Attempts to revise the Police Act of 1861 have failed mainly because they have been heavily
loaded in favour of the police thereby bringing in an element of distrust and unaccountability.

A scope for change…

Tenants of democratic policing if incorporated can to an extent galvanise the force into a
more proactive and motivated one4.

 Police are subject to the rule of the law, drawing its strength from the Constitution.
 The police are restricted from being a law onto itself.
 They intervene in the freedom of a citizen only under limited and carefully controlled
circumstances.
 The police are made accountable and transparent.
 Human rights are respected by police personnel.
 The police is made to function professionally.

3
Mr. K.S Dhillon, retired IPS officer
4
Mr. G P Joshi, coordinator, Access to Justice, CHRI

9
  Recognise the government’s responsibility in only providing the law rather than
interfering in the day-to-day functioning of the police. A monitored amount of
control should be given to the police to enable them to carry out their roles.
 Set up independent mechanisms to monitor police functioning and advocate
community policing.

Participants interventions

 Even though the powers of the police are legal, its misuse isn’t. An in-built system of
accountability has to be created..

 Instead of looking at revising the Police Act of 1861 in isolation, small interventions
should be made at every step of policing.

 It is imperative that whenever a debate on police reforms is initiated, participation

should involve not only the public and the police but also politicians. It is often their
interference that hampers effective policing. The Kerela case study was cited. The ex-
Chief Minister of the state, Mr. A.K. Anthony had given autonomy to the police free
from the interference of the politicians. This initiative though noble in its concept
failed because there was no legal mandate attached to it.

 People are fatigued because they are bombarded with instances of corruption and
questions being asked but with no solutions provided.

The story of a petition

A petition5, the first of its kind has been filed by a retired Indian Police Service servant in the
Supreme Court requesting the court to direct the government to act on the recommendations
set out by National Police Commission (NPC).

Some of the salient features of the Petition;

 To do away with the antiquated system of policing by repealing the Police Act of
1861.
 Change recruitment policies. If a person gets into the policing system by bribing his
way, once he gets through he will try to recover his losses thus ensuring a never-
ending line of corruption.
 Transparent and accountable police systems.
 Investigation and law enforcement should be separated from each others jurisdiction.
 Organised crime to be dealt with more effectively.

The petition has been circulated to all the state governments for their perusal. Some states
such as the government of Orissa responded positively while others such as Uttar Pradesh
disagreed with the provisions. The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) as
requested by the Supreme Court has supported the petition.

5
Mr. Prakash Singh, retired IPS officer

10
At the root of the problem…

Both police and the public recognise that the police cannot resist being the creature of
whichever is the current regime in power and acts at their bidding rather than in accordance
with the law. Police has been used to put down opposition, to cover up failures of the ruling
party and protect friends. Political interference is rife: at the local level, in the higher
echelons and in everyday functioning.

The incentive to bad officers is to benefit from powerful political patronage. Honest officers
who discern their duty as serving without bias, fear of fervour find themselves labeled as
uncooperative, difficult and unhelpful and are sidelined into non-operational roles.

The participants posted the following comments:

 The political establishment has to a large extent followed a policy of divide and rule
within the police hierarchy which has dimmed the effectiveness of the policing system.

 Nevertheless in a democracy the politician is the representative of the people and

must be trusted with oversight of the police. People have the right to approach them
for redressal so therefore the politicians should be given authority over public
services with policing being no different, though the amount of authority sanctioned
to the politicians is debatable. But that oversight cannot be allowed to degenerate into
all kinds of interference in the day to day functioning of the police. It has to be
oversight that promotes the rule of law and constitutionalism.

 In order to meet their own ends, politicians often ask that the police use a certain
amount of brute force or they condone it. The Gujarat riots were a case in point
where the government completely misused state machinery including police services
to meet its own end. They should be completely kept away from policing issues.

 Human rights activists should look at not only the human rights of the victim but also
address human rights of all parties involved including the politicians and the police
personnel. Human rights can’t be used selectively.

 The police work within the criminal justice system which is itself at a low ebb and in
chaos. It is geared toward protecting the rights of the accused and it is time to look at
the victim as well. No one should have to wait years for justice.

The story so far…

There is a common perception that the justice system in India is defunct when it comes to
addressing crime and certainly if committed by the police. Frustration is leading to an
increasingly aggressive self help approach. One the one had the public wants tough policing.
There are often calls that hardened criminals should be shot at sight and on the other there is
public outrage and violence when police are perceived as having committed crimes like rape
and murder. It is often agreed that the police should be given death sentences for such crimes
because they wear a uniform and have breached public faith.

Sometimes it is doubtful whether the public themselves really believe in the law. Examples of
women lynching a man accused of rape in Nagpur highlights the growing impatience among

11
the public at police inefficiency. The media creates heroes out of these incidents because
somewhere down the line there is a consensual feeling that at times when the police is
ineffective, law should be taken into one’s hands.

There is another face to this mob attitude; whenever the police employ extra constitutional
methods to tackle extreme cases of insurgency or militancy, it is applauded by the public.
However one has to keep in mind that these exceptions might in time become norms if
constitutional methods are abandoned by the public and the police. Short cuts to justice are
dangerous because after a point there will be no norm against which to judge acts of illegality
and all ‘law enforcement’ will seek to employ all methods to achieve quick results.

The question of accountability…

Accountability is a measure of performance against a mandate under the law, the expectations
of the people, effectiveness in upholding rule of law and respect for human rights.

Policing being a service to the public needs to be brought in line with the requirements of
democratic functioning and must take into account that Indian citizens have constitutionally
mandated fundamental rights and all instruments of government must be accountable to the
people.

Making the police Accountable6 implies that there must be a process of evaluating the
performance of the police. Various types of police misconduct such as illegal detention,
custodial violence, improper investigations have made it critical to put in place internal and
external mechanisms of accountability. The present system of evaluating police performance
is statically based i.e. how many crimes have been reported, what was the property lost, how
many crimes have been solved and what property has been recovered. This in itself leads to
distortions. Faced with compulsions of solving crimes with little resource support, there is a
tendency not to register cases and use improper methods of investigation.

6
Mr. Mandeep Tiwana, Consultant, CHRI (Please refer to the annexure 2 for the power point presentations)

12
Reforms from within…

While pushing for reforms is important, there must be an attempt made to change policing
attitudes within the existing system 7. Police investigation fails also because there is under
utilisation of the guidelines in place. Despite shared practices being documented, there is a
lack of understanding and implementation of the same. Either we wait for reforms to take
place, feel cynical about the system and play the blame game or take the option of improving
the system from within.

Police Reforms8 can come about in basic three ways that is through legislation, executive
instruction and individual initiatives. More often than not individual initiatives have proved
more effective. In Maharashtra, provincial police service personnel, Mr. Kopde, formed a
community police system called the Mohalla Committee in the district of Bhawindi which
had frequent communal clashes. The Committee advocated frequent meetings between
different communities encouraging greater interaction and community activities. Following
the intervention, clashes stopped.

The public wants good policing; a common man who has no access to law expects effective
policing within the existing resources and administrative set up. The practice of upholding the
due process of law while investigating a criminal case is important to bring about a sense of
accountability to the force. Police often take short cuts to met out justice such as in the form
of encounter killing because they lack the inclination and resources to conduct a proper
investigation. The police force has unfortunately become so brutalised that they find it
difficult to deal with normal situations.

Musings…

It is a common belief that the police find adhering to core values of human rights an
impediment to their work, however, it is beyond doubt that the police need to work within the
parameters of law9. There is a necessity for human rights to be recognised as being a core
value to all laws and law enforcement so that all state machinery works towards honoring it.
If we want change we must put in place the right sort of legal framework to make that change
take place.

It is the duty of a government in a Both media and law and order agencies need to
democracy to provide the country work in unison to equip police through training to
with an efficient effective challenge the broken down legal system.
democratic police service. This is
part of its responsibility to ensure
that all citizen’s live safe. secure
lives and have equal access to
justice. It is for the media to act as
watchdogs.

7
Mr. P.S. Bawa, retired IPS officer
8
Mr. Abraham Kurien, Director General, Prosecution, Uttar Pradesh
9
Ms. Kiran Bedi, Civilian Police Advisor to the United Nations

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Experiences from abroad…

In 2000, Pakistan reviewed and attempted to adopt some of the recommendations set out by
the National Police Commission. Some of these recommendations include:10

 Setting up state security commissions

 Selecting the right man to head policing divisions i.e. quality leadership
 Reducing the vulnerability of the police hierarchy
 Setting up mechanisms to monitor accountability and transparency of the police
service.
 Adopting a new Police Act in entirety.

The UK has a three part tiered structure of policing which is constantly revised according to
the prevailing circumstances. This has led to a clear cut definition of roles, a system of checks
and balances is in place and there is wider consultation between all the participants of the
justice system.

In Queensland, Australia there is an agreement between the police and the government which
strictly lays down the division of responsibilities, management, policy and priorities. This has
induced a level of transparency and accountability in the functioning of the police. There are
internal as well as external mechanisms of oversight in place to review the police service and
to ensure that there is minimum interference and overlapping of work between the
government and the police. The external mechanism is governed by civilians and not the
politicians.

Codes and Judgments…

There are no dearth of codes and judgments that set legal standards that bind police officers.11
In India people don’t know these standards. For example hardly anyone knows has internal
disciplinary procedures of the police work. Few if anyone knows that in where communal
tension or rioting has taken place there is inevitably a well thought out procedure for
intelligence gathering, prevention and preparation. If these were followed then riots would
diminish but they are not followed and so there are riots and these can at least in part be
attributed to not following guidelines and neglect of duty. It is important that these standards
are made clear to the public so that there is pressure created on the policing set up to be
responsible and accountable for their lapses.

10
Mr. G P Joshi, coordinator, Access to Justice, CHRI
11
Mr. Mandeep Tiwana, Consultant, CHRI

14
Furthering the Reform Agenda…

An atmosphere for change needs to be created which will catalyse police reforms. Issues
flagged-up by the participants were as follows:

 Generally it’s the police who bears the brunt of media bashing whenever there is a
crime committed. It is imperative for a reporter to go beyond the surface of what is
largely believed to be true and try and portray a more accurate picture of the event.

 The police have always been treated in isolation when it comes to tracing human
rights violations. While reporting on human rights perspective of the victim as well
the situation of the police should be taken into consideration, while remembering that
difficulty of policing is not an excuse for violence or illegality and poor service
conditions are not akin to violations of human rights.

 It is imperative that human rights organisations, politicians, the police and the media
learn to trust each other and work jointly in making police reforms a practical reality.

 Human rights organisations should have greater a field presence in smaller cities and
jurisdictions rather than restrict themselves to the bigger cities to increase awareness.

 The criminalisation process in the police has become severe. There needs to be a
mechanism where in at the time of recruitment one can carry out a systematic process
of psychological profiling of the recruits.

 Reforms should target not only the service as a whole but also individuals because
after all it is the individual who runs the system. A greater consciousness of individual
performance has to be sought thorough training and incentives.

Conclusion

Evaluations at the workshop indicated that the opportunity to take two days out to learn how
to report better and get in-depth knowledge of their subject was a welcome initiative. Several
others agreed that media needed more such interactions and appreciated CHRI’s catalytic and
convening role and promised to collaborate with CHRI to bring this kind of intervention to
their own localities. They were particularly appreciative of the level of knowledge and
insight offered by police officers about their own service and to know that there are police
officials within the institution who are for systemic changes. The media hold the requisite
power to advance the cause of reforming police through their stories to the community.

15
 Annexure 1

Know your Resource Persons

Kiran Bedi

Ms. Kiran Bedi is the first woman officer to join the Indian Police Service in 1972. A post
graduate in Political Science, Ms. Bedi went on to do a degree in Law from Delhi University
before joining the IPS. She has held several posts, the most notable among them being with
the District Police, Delhi Traffic Police during the Ninth Asian Games in Delhi, Inspector
General of Prisons, of Tihar Jails, Delhi and Inspector General of Police, Chandigarh.

She is also the founder of two voluntary organisations, Navjyoti in 1987 and India Vision
Foundation in 1994 and has authored books on transformation of a prison namely “Its always
possible” and on e-governance. She is presently on deputation to the United Nations as
Civilian Police Advisor in the department of Peacekeeping Operations.

K.S. Dhillon

Mr. Dhillon is a 1953 batch IPS officer and is best known for his position as the former
Director General of Police, Punjab. Mr. Dhillon is currently a Visiting Professor at the
Barkatullah University, Bhopal (India). He has held key assignments as the former Vice-
chancellor, Barkatullah University, Bhopal and senior faculty in the M.P. State Academy of
Administration, Bhopal.

He has also held key positions as the Police and Commandant General Home Guards-cum-
Director, Civil Defense, and Director General, Police State Bureau of Investigation, M.P. His
new book ‘Police and Politics in India’ will be launched shortly.

Maja Daruwala

Maja Daruwala a barrister by profession and a human rights advocate has been an active
member in numerous human rights organisations concentrating on areas of racial
discrimination, freedom of expression, women’s rights, literacy, police reform, prison reform,
right to information and human rights advocacy capacity building.

She currently holds the position of Director, Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative and is
the founding member of People’s Watch Tamil Nadu and South Asians for Human Rights.

G. P Joshi

Mr. Joshi who currently heads the Police Prison division of CHRI is a former police officer
with 33 years of experience, out of which he spent a good 24 years in research work on police
problems in the Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D), Ministry Home
Affairs, Govt. of India. He was awarded the President’s Police Medal for Meritorious/
Distinguished Service in 1980 and 1990 for his outstanding contribution to the criminal
justice system.

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Mandeep S.Tiwana

Mr. Tiwana is a qualified lawyer and researcher on legal reforms. Before joining CHRI in
June 2003 he researched at the Punjab State Human Rights Commission and complied their
annual reports and also worked with the Institute for Development and Communication,
Chandigarh where he helped set up Community Police Resource Centres in various districts
of Punjab.

Abraham Kurien

Mr. Kurien currently holds the post of Director General of Police (Prosecution) in Uttar
Pradesh. A scholar amongst police officers, he has extensively researched on community
policing in India as a part of the National Police Academy research fellowship.

Prakash Singh

A 1959 batch officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre, Mr. Singh served with great distinction as
Director General (DG), Border Security Force (BSF) and DG, Assam. He was awarded the
prestigious Padma Shri for his outstanding contribution to the police service while serving as
DG BSF. He is one of the two officers who have writ petitioned the Supreme Court
requesting it to order the central government to implement provisions of the National Police
Commission (NPC).

P.S. Bawa

Mr. Bawa is a retired officer of 1964 batch from the Union Territory cadre. He has served in
states of Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim. Post retirement he also served as Advisor to
LG Delhi on police matters. He has researched actively on police reforms and is a keen
participant in debates in policy matters revolving around police reforms.

P.C. Sabarwal

Mr. Sabarwal is a serving IPS officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre. He has worked in various
capacities including as the Inspector General, Border Security Force and in politically
sensitive jurisdictions of Kashmir and Varanasi and is currently serving as Inspector General
of Police, Personnel in Lucknow. He has received the distinguished PMG award in 1987 and
the PM medal for his contribution to the police department. Mr. Sabarwal has had several of
his papers published in the Indian Police Journal as well as the in the National Police
Academy Journal.

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