`Corrupt, pot-bellied cop won’t do’

So much so that it proposes that those who want policemen for their personal security should shell out the cost.

According to the report, the provision of personal security has been “misued in a brazen manner causing revulsion in right-thinking persons.”

For example, the report says, in states like Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh, all MLAs, MLCs, MPs are given security guards and in others, this perquisite has been extended to even Zila Parishad and Panchyat Samiti heads. In UP, following the lead given by the political masters, the bureaucracy has followed suit.

“We believe that all SPs, DIGs, IGs, DMs and ADMs are also given gun-men. We cannot see any rationale or justification for such across the board action. In Assam, 4,472 policemen and home guards are deployed on personal security. In UP, about 7,500 policemen are so deployed. In Delhi the figure is 5,364,” says the 255-page report.

The committee has recommended that security at the expense of the State should be only provided to 200 individuals in the country such as the Prime Minister, Home Minister, Chief Ministers, a few constitutional functionaries and a limited number of VIPs residing in militancy-affected areas.

The committee says that all others should be given security on the recovery of full costs. The committee has gone further and asked the government to raise a special force to be financed by users and trained. This special force would constitute a separate division of the State police.

The committee has recommended the setting up of an office of the national counter-terrorism co-ordinator to prepare a comprehensive counter-terrorism plan and budget. It also emphasizes working out a counter-terrorism policy which should be based on certain fundamental principles like making no concessions to terrorists and striking no deals with them.

Another key recommendation is the doing away with “stock police witnesses” and the police practice of burking (not registering cases) by taking disciplinary action.

On the powers of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the committee has asked for the amendment in the Special Police Establishment Act which would allow it to register cases against all Union officials. Another suggested amendment is that permission to investigate once granted by the State government cannot be withdrawn.

The committee has identified the major weakness of Indian police as “lack of fairness and impartiality in dealing with the public, a widely held perception that it is a force to take care of the interest of the political and social elite, willingness to be manipulated by the party in power, rampant corruption at various levels and non-registration of crime.”

To counter this, the committee has recommended the setting up of an “independent inspectorate of police” to carry out annual inspections of the police and to report to the state home minister whether the police force is functioning efficiently and effectively.

The committee has recommended that the age of Indian Police Service officials be brought down to 24 at the recruitment level. And toevolve “thinking policemen,” the existing constabulary be retrained to enable them to “imbibe right attitudes to work and to acquire professional skills. Those who do not successfully complete the training need to be compulsorily retired.”

The committee has recommended a joint entrance type of examination for selection. It also wants an independent committee comprising the chief justice of the High Court, an eminent public person and the chief secretary of the state to decide on the selection of the Director-General of Police and for transfers.