By Arushi Sharma
A recent study report released by the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai revealed that 75% people—especially women and marginalised sections—do not report crimes due to the unwelcome behaviour of the police staff. Titled “Non-registration of crimes: Problems and Solutions,” the study is based on the data collected from six states belonging to different zones, along with extensive focus group discussions. It aims to identify the extent to which crimes go unregistered in India. It also seeks to understand the experiences citizens have with police functionaries, as well as pinpoint the critical causes for such non-registration.
The study was undertaken by a team headed by Dr Arvind Tiwari and sponsored by the Bureau of Police Research and Development, which comes under the Ministry of Home Affairs. The report also suggests workable solutions to make crime reporting more citizen-friendly.
The ground realities
A striking feature of the study is that it presents the problems from the standpoint of both police functionaries and the citizens. It identifies the lack of adequate manpower in police stations and overworked staff as reasons for cops putting off the registering of complaints. The irrefutable links between crime statistics and police performance appraisals in India also emerged as one of the other important reason. As declining crime graphs are directly related to promotions, cops prefer to quietly stifle crimes, instead of registering them.
In some states, even political executives have a major part to play. According to the report, there is stark political interference and influence in police stations, particularly in Uttar Pradesh. Moreover, due to the general public being unaware of the subtle difference between cognizable and non-cognizable offences, the police staff may minimise a complaint.
The torment for complainants
It is important to note that non-reporting of crimes could lead to serious consequences for victims, such as living in fear, physical injury, financial loss, or threats to their families. Data suggests that complainants do not view police stations as welcome places and fear the police staff. Hence, they hesitate to go alone to police stations to get their complaints registered. “When complainants were asked for the possible reason(s) to take someone else to the police stations, as many as 57.5% stated that it was to get moral support. The other common reason was ‘help in articulation’ (30.5%) of the crime incidence; while 21.9% respondents expressed that it was due to fear of police,” states an excerpt from the study.
Women and marginalised sections that have been at the receiving end of violence feel especially disconcerted in approaching police stations, which have become the embodiment of discomfort. This ensues from the absence of social workers, trained sociologists or psychologists, and the police themselves being unversed in the socio-psychological aspect of dealing with the public.
Reflections and suggestions
Filling staff shortages and gaps in infrastructure may help the situation. However, more importantly, police stations need to transform into safe spaces for victims. As regards the distinction between cognizable and non-cognizable offences, the report cites the Malimath Committee’s view of removing this classification and registering all crimes.
Non-registration ruins the already weak reputation of the Indian police and further curtails the police staff’s efforts to help the public. Thus, it is important to introduce mechanisms into the system that will improve police behaviour. For this, one of the suggestions is to provide soft-skill and sensitivity training to the civil police. Another solution is to increase the number of women in police forces.
The police function in many Indian states has to move away from a closed-off position to a more service-oriented one. Moreover, the process of crime registration should become more transparent and citizen-friendly. Learning from the innovative models like ‘Aarakshi’ and ‘e-cops’, adopted by the states of Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh respectively, can be a good starting point.
Photo by Flying Cloud on Visualhunt / CC BY
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