Indian Police Reform

[Vipul]

TARNISHED COPS SEEK MEANING IN SHARMA'S DEATH.

Standing a little distance away from the mourners at Nigambodh Ghat, and away from the camera crews, was a small knot of men from Mumbai who had flown in especially for the funeral of their brother officer and Delhi police's top encounter specialist Inspector Mohan Chand Sharma on Saturday. Sharma was killed on Friday after sustaining grievous injuries during a raid at the house of suspected terrorists at Jamia Nagar in Delhi. In the operation, two men believed to have been the main operatives behind the recent blasts in Jaipur, Ahmedabad and Delhi, were killed, and Sharma, who succumbed to his injuries later, died a hero's death.

For the mourners from Mumbai, Pradeep Sharma and Sachin Vaze, Sharma's death was a validation of their work. From his ashes they sought to polish their tarnished record. "One of our own brothers has today fallen to terrorists' bullets. Was it necessary for Sharma to die just to prove that not all encounters are fake?" Vaze told Mumbai Mirror on phone from Delhi.

Vaze who was groomed to handle complex crime-related computer applications and phone tapping by Sharma during their interactions while on joint missions has been suspended and was in jail over his involvement in a custodial death.

Likewise, the once-celebrated encounter specialist Pradeep Sharma was last fortnight dismissed from service for alleged links with the underworld. Pradeep Sharma told this newspaper that he and slain officer had worked together on a number of cases.

"I have known Mohan Chand Sharma for the last 10 years. He was an expert in technical surveillance and had a massive network of intelligence. We really benefited a lot from his knowledge, especially in cases relating to blasts at Mulund and Ghatkopar, and then later at Gateway and Zaveri Bazaar."

Sharma's third colleague, another encounter specialist Daya Nayak, who too has been under suspension for three years now, could not make it to Delhi but spoke about his long association with Sharma and tried to justify his own position.

"In a way, Sharma's death has a positive side to it. People's faith in much-maligned encounter cops has been renewed if the outpouring of grief is anything to go by. My only feeling is that it is worth dying for glory of the kind Sharma got."

"I have been shot at 12 times during encounters. It was my fate to survive. It has taken the death of a highly-decorated officer for the public's faith to revive in encounters. At least, they will realise now that not all encounters are stage-managed. Nobody likes to play a high-stake game for publicity," he said.

According to news reports, just days before his death Inspector Mohan Chand Sharma had been shunted from Delhi police's special cell to a police training college at Jharoda Kalan, widely perceived to be a punishment posting.

However, he was asked to stay back to help investigate the Delhi blasts.

[Sachin]

Got this as a forward....

Hi Folks,
My respectful, sincere and humble tributes to a noble soul, who selflessly laid down his life for a larger cause. A brave officer, who never shirked when duty called, who led his team from the front, who never hesitated to take up the cause of his subordinates with the Superiors. A loving father who could not be by the side of his sick son who was admitted in hospital for dengue fever and who will now never ever be able to provide for him.
In this Country where we have many intellecutals who raise a hue and cry about human rights, narry a whisper in support of such a brave man. Its dismissed with a shrug, after all he was doing his job!! Then again the question is how many of us would have taken up a job like his? No doubt, his wife may get a job, nevertheless a country where Corporates, Politicians and Philantropists fall over themselves in declaring prize money for winning a cricket match or when a billionare goes ahead and gets a gold medal in olympics, has anyone ever come forward to offer the much needed financial help to officers and jawans who lay down their life while protecting ours? For a change, let us contemplate on what for Inspector Sharma laid down his life. Let us contemplate on why people stereotype our securitymen. Let us contemplate on how best their lot can be improved. Let us spare a thought for these brave heroes who, in their line of duty bite a bullet for our security and safety.

Once again, tearful farewell to a noble and brave soul. May his soul rest in peace.

[Sachin]

Cross posted from the Internal Security thread...

Delhi is mourning the death of Inspector M C Sharma who dared to take on the terrorists hiding in Jamia Nagar. It's rare that police force gets such an appreciation and salute that is otherwise reserved for the armed forces. The reactions of the people and the anchors on the news channels were sad, moist and genuine.

Why did he have to have this martyrdom?

The men in Khaki are more known and portrayed in movies as lazy, corrupt, unintelligent and seekers of pleasure at public cost. Few know the trying circumstances they work in and the salaries they draw. They are facing the Communist terrorism in thirteen states, their martyrdom in action, go often less reported and almost unsung. They are given the most outdated rifles and equipment and the facilities to act against terrorists who are cunning, resourceful and heavily armed with modern weapons. The police laws are shamefully inadequate. Indian police was governed under the 1861 act of the British government that was meant for the colonial brute force to control subjugated natives till 2006.

As close as 16th July, the Maoists in Orissa killed 21 policemen. In 2007, Maoists had killed 22 policemen in Bihar. According to a newspaper report, Bihar, one of the worst Maoist affected states along with Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh, has the lowest police-people ratio. Over 19,000 posts in the state police department have not been filled up. In March 2007 the Maoists had killed 50 policemen in Chhattisgarh. During Rajasthan's Gujjar movement in May this year, unruly protestors beheaded a policeman.

Every one, including the politician, loves to deride and insult police openly and get applause. But every one wants police to help them in times of distress and crisis. From a small traffic accident to domestic violence and petty thefts to Nithari 's cannibals and Arushi murder, it's the police that faces the public and is under constant pressure to show results. The politicians use them as domestic servants and commission agents, corrupting them and in turn helping out of turn the facilitator men in Khaki. Yet the most important task - to reform and modernize the police force - remains in cold storage till something like Delhi blasts occur and there is a huge pressure built up by people and media on the government. Then just to avoid the immediate criticism a few announcements are made to spend a few more crores on police force. No body knows how many years would take to see these announcements implemented.

It was in July 2006 that the Indian government had unveiled an ambitious Rs.52 billion plan for modernising the Central and state police forces. The money is yet to be utilized. Manipur, for example, which is declared 'A' class seeing high incidents of insurgency, didn't spend eight crores earmarked for police modernization yet showed it as 'spent' in accounts, which was detected in the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General.

Lack of men power, political interference, a tendency to demoralize the honest and upright officers, lack of coordination between different forces and a complete absence of a mechanism to share information and cooperate with each other amongst various shades of police forces, including para-military security organisations make the task of police more difficult and cumbersome.

The level of demoralization in police forces is well exemplified by a recent report from Hyderabad that says: "Police stations in at least 100 mandals across the state do not want to avail four and six wheelers fearing landmine attacks by the Maoists. This comes following intelligence inputs that cops deployed in the jurisdiction of these police stations run the highest risk of being targeted by the Naxals. Currently, there are 1,559 police stations in the state of which about 700 have no four wheelers for mobility. Though the police department provided at least 207 vehicles to the police stations through the Police Transport Organisation, the Naxal-hit areas have not been included. A senior police officer said, "There are several instances of Naxals targeting police personnel moving in four wheelers. Landmines and claymore mines are a big threat to the police teams travelling in jeeps and buses in the Naxal-hit Andhra-Orissa border, Khammam-Chhattisgarh border, North Telangana and surroundings of Nallamala.' Police usually move in private vehicles and sometimes on two-wheelers in the Maoist-hit zones."
Those who shoulder the responsibility to provide security to people are left high and dry when the question of their own security arises. Just a month ago an ambitious scheme has been passed by the Union Cabinet, which aims to strengthen police force in Naxal affected areas by raising 10 battalions (10,000 personnel) at a cost of Rs 1389.47 crore. After debating on the proposal for nearly eight months, the Union Home Ministry finally moved the Cabinet Committee on Security chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for raising the Combat Battalion for Resolute Action (COBRA), which will be similar to 'Greyhounds' of Andhra Pradesh Police. The Left-extremism, termed by the Prime Minister as a "virus", has engulfed nearly 13 states.

But it's not just the Naxal affected areas but the entire police network that needs a complete and radical overhaul. Their training needs a Japanese touch which has the best of Eastern values and a tough power to eliminate the rogues. The first and foremost thing that needs to be done is to make the police set up autonomous and remove all the traces of colonialism from the police force, that essentially includes taking off the Khaki colour, which reminds of the imperial British brutishness. In UP and Bihar, old Willy's jeeps, reminding of the Sholay days and dacoit trail are in vogue with policemen wielding 303 guns.

The National Police Commission (NPC), created by the government in 1977, had submitted eight detailed reports during 1979-81, with comprehensive recommendations covering the entire gamut of police work. None was implemented completely. It was only because of a petition to the Supreme Court by one of the most able, honest and spirited police officers, Prakash Singh that the obnoxious Police Act of 1861 was struck down in one go in September 2006. That too happened, not surprisingly, having 'heard' the petition for ten long years. The Supreme Court said, "we think that there cannot be any further wait, and the stage has come for issue of appropriate directions for immediate compliance so as to be operative till such time as a new Model Police Act is prepared by the Central Government and/or the state governments pass the requisite legislations."

The Supreme Court ordered the establishment of three institutions at the state level with a view to insulating the police from extraneous influences, according functional autonomy and ensuring accountability. These were:
• A State Security Commission to lay down broad policies and give directions relating to the preventive and service-oriented functions of the police.
• A Police Establishment Board, comprising the Director-General of Police and four other senior officers to decide on all transfers, postings, promotions and other service-related matters of officers of and below the rank of Deputy Superintendent of Police. The Board was also tasked with making appropriate recommendations to the state government regarding the postings and transfers of officers of the rank of Superintendent of Police and above.
• A Police Complaints Authority at the district and state level to look into allegations of misconduct by police personnel.
In addition, the apex court ordered that the Director-General of Police should be selected by state governments from the three senior-most officers empanelled for promotion to that rank by the UPSC. It further stipulated that the DGP should have a prescribed minimum tenure of two years. Police officers on operational duty in the field, like the Inspector general (IG) Zone, Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Range, SP in charge of a district and Station House Officer (SHO) should also have a minimum tenure of two years.

But hardly these have been followed because every time there is a regime change, the entire police set up too is changed buy the incumbent political masters, bringing in their protégés and punishing those whom they thing had side with their rivals. This affects the respect for the able in the force and the virus goes down vertically.
Certainly there are still good officers in the police force and they need protection of law. It's high time that the police forces' control be taken off the authorities of the political set up and put under a professional autonomous body so that the people are secured and the moral of the brave men in khaki is also restored.

Security forces, whether in khaki or olive green, represent the spine of the land and the life of public institutions and democratic mechanism depends on them. Sadly they are the most ignored and left out segments. How the relatives of those brave security personnel, who were killed in action saving the lives of the parliamentarians, felt compelled to return the decorations given to their children is the saddest stories of state's failure in recent times.

While we are nearing another anniversary of 13th December, when Parliament was attacked, can we hope that all the parties would come together to provide more teeth and facilities to our security forces and encourage their morale so that the best talent in our society feels a pride in joining forces and be the real 'bobby' of the people? They are the fragrance of the fire of nobility in our society; let that be preserved with all our support.

The author is the Director, Dr Syamaprasad Mookerjee Research Foundation.

There was a move asking all the state governments to start working on the police commission's recommendations. Many states did not even bother to reply, some partially implemented the scheme.

In Kerala, they did try to put up the Police establishment board etc., but the home minister (a goon turned minister) removed the board's right to determine the transfers of police inspectors and other ranks. The goon's opinion was that "transfer" was the only option which can make these officers fall in line.

With a situation arising that non CPI(M) can be "arrested/detained" at many police stations (fellow comrades will attack the station and take away their men) in Kerala, the morale of the force is also going down the drain.

[Nayak]

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Citi ... 520046.cms

7 cops served notices for sleeping on duty
24 Sep 2008, 0443 hrs IST,TNN

AHMEDABAD: Seven constables were served with showcause notices on Tuesday by DCP BK Jha, zone I. The cops were caught napping when they were supposed to be patrolling.

The incident took place on Monday night when joint police commissioner Mohan Jha was on his night round. While crossing Ellisbridge, he spotted that some police officials were huddled behind Ellisbridge police station building at the parking place of Sakar complex.

On closer inspection, Jha and his team realised that these were Ellisbridge police officials. “Five of the cops belonged to police mobile van number 2 and two motorbike cops were relaxing when they should have been on patrol,” said a police official.

The cops were not only relaxing but were also lying down. “When police control room officials called them and asked for their current location, the accused cops gave false information and fooled the control room into believing that they were indeed on their night patrol.

Jha caught them red-handed and questioned them on the spot. Jha also called DCP BK Jha to the spot. He asked him to take suitable action against the cops for negligence on duty.

“During night patrolling, the cops who were supposed to be doing their rounds were behaving suspiciously. They had hidden their official vehicles and were not on their daily night round. I have asked the DCP to take suitable punitive action,” Jha said. DCP Jha later handed over investigations to Navrangpura police inspector JM Desai, who has recorded the seven cops’ statements.

I have seen these chootiyas in the hoysala snoring most of the time. That or hassle some street vendor for to provide faukat ka chai-paani.

No patrolling what-so-ever, initially when the call-center industry took off, they started hassling the empoyees standing on the street to give some money or they would arrested for loitering during the night. Took a couple of phone-calls from the industry heavy-weights to stop harassing the employees.

[Tanaji]

Sachin Vaze, another encounter specialist that has been suspended (I think) now joined the Shiv Sena. Claimed harrassment and use and throw tactics by the current police administration.

[Sachin]

Sachin Vaze, another encounter specialist that has been suspended (I think) now joined the Shiv Sena.

Sachin Hindurao Vaze was suspended from service and also charge-sheeted as a co-accused in a case of murder. One chap who was under the custody of Sachin Vaze was supposed to be 'encountered' (the initial story was that the person in custody escaped, and subsequently was encountered). Sachin Vaze then resigned from the force.

[VinodTK]

Force to fight nuke disasters

Hyderabad, Oct. 21: The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) will be setting up a battalion of trained National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) in the state to tackle all natural, nuclear, biological and chemical disasters. NDMA vice-chairman General N.C. Vij said, “Seven battalions of the NDRF are already undergoing training. They will be functional by next March and we are going to raise four more battalions. One of them will be stationed in Andhra Pradesh.”

“There are also five disaster mitigation projects coming up in the country,” General Vij added. The NDRF will function under the NDMA and will be a multi-disciplinary, multi-skilled, high-tech force to tackle all types of disasters. All the eight battalions are to be equipped and trained for natural disasters including four battalions to handle nuclear, biological and chemical disasters.

Each battalion will be provided with 18 specialist search and rescue teams of 45 personnel including engineers, technicians, electricians, dog squads, medical experts and paramedics. The total strength of each battalion will be around 1,158. General N.C. Vij added that for cyclone preparedness, a project worth Rs 1,600 crore is being taken up. Five states including Andhra Pradesh are going to be the beneficiaries of the project.

“Earthquake mitigation project worth Rs 560 crore are also coming up in 28 states and a dedicated disaster communication network will be set up with an estimated cost of Rs 500 crore,” said General N.C. Vij. He explained that the guidelines for the nuclear, biological and chemical disaster management are being drafted and safety of nuclear plants and preparedness to react to dirty bombs is also on the agenda.

Link

[AjayKK]

Sachin Vaze, another encounter specialist that has been suspended (I think) now joined the Shiv Sena.

Sachin Hindurao Vaze was suspended from service and also charge-sheeted as a co-accused in a case of murder. One chap who was under the custody of Sachin Vaze was supposed to be 'encountered' (the initial story was that the person in custody escaped, and subsequently was encountered). Sachin Vaze then resigned from the force.

The person was a certain Khwaja Younus.
Sachin Vaze in an interview recalled about the 'pressure' that the cops have to face while arresting 'certain suspects'. He said, at least he could live peacefully as he can manage his 'bread and butter' but gave the example of a sub-inspector from Bhiwandi who was suspended because he arrested a 'certain suspect of a certain community' and was close to starvation ( only earning member) when he came to Vaze. Vaze runs a legal service for such policemen and also provides some aid to them.

[Avinash R]

He said, at least he could live peacefully as he can manage his 'bread and butter' but gave the example of a sub-inspector from Bhiwandi who was suspended because he arrested a 'certain suspect of a certain community' and was close to starvation ( only earning member) when he came to Vaze.

there are many such cases were police personnel have been abadoned by their seniors due to political pressure.the policeman who filed the fir in the salman hit and run case was forced to lead a life of beggary and died of TB( a curable disease), while salman roams free. no human rights jholawalla raises his voice against the injustices meted out to this person while they will land enmasse if a terrorist is arrested or even questioned.

[Rahul M]

should have posted this earlier.
people like sachin will appreciate.

http://brmsrr.blogspot.com/2008/10/kong ... ahuja.html

It was an event that changed the course of history in the subcontinent. It brought together the nation as few other things could. It opened up the floodgates and brought out an issue that many had tried to control from the public. And the events that precipitated in the years to follow finally culminated with the launch of the Chinese invasion on 20 October of 1962 and the worst defeat the Indian armed forces have ever faced. It was supposed to have been an outlet of frustration for some in the Indian Government, tired of the passive line Prime Minister Nehru had been taking with regard to the border dispute with China. Designed to exert a physical Indian presence in the mountainous regions of Laddakh, the process had started off miserably, and for the men involved, ended in tragedy. This is the story of those men involved
at the pointed tip of what became the eloquent symbol of failed Indian foreign policy and strategic planning.

Their story has a beginning back in the late 1950s. The Chinese had started, and completed, the construction of their strategic road through the traditional caravan route that passed from Sinkiang to Tibet through the Aksai Chin. It is common belief today that its construction had gone virtually unnoticed but the fact remained that several Indian Army reconnaissance parties as far back as 1952 (four years before the construction of the road began) had come across incriminating pieces of evidence that suggested the Chinese had such intentions in the region.

[sum]

The person was a certain Khwaja Younus.
Sachin Vaze in an interview recalled about the 'pressure' that the cops have to face while arresting 'certain suspects'. He said, at least he could live peacefully as he can manage his 'bread and butter' but gave the example of a sub-inspector from Bhiwandi who was suspended because he arrested a 'certain suspect of a certain community' and was close to starvation ( only earning member) when he came to Vaze. Vaze runs a legal service for such policemen and also provides some aid to them.

I woud expect the policemen(esp of the lower ranks) to be the most rabidly right-wing(atleast after retirement) after all their encounters with the Indian style secularism and hypocrisy.

[satya]

I woud expect the policemen(esp of the lower ranks) to be the most rabidly right-wing(atleast after retirement) after all their encounters with the Indian style secularism and hypocrisy.

In my personal experience & of ones i know , most rtd. policemen end up as bitter old men having grudge against everything starting from their kids to their neighbours and apart from rtd. govt. school teachers are the most arrogant lot know it all attitude type . Things they face & do in their duty make them lose their dignity in their own eyes . How do you think a policeman on night duty feels when he drinks alcohol every night by stopping commercial vehicles & asking the poor driver openly for money so he can buy alcohol ? As for senior ones , we all know a few tell tales of humiliation they suffer . Its not anymore a job that gets you 'izzat' in our society but only curses from everyone around one and worst part people feel satisfied when they see a policeman's family suffer some tragedy blaming it on corrupt & full of vices policeman .

[Tanaji]

I woud expect the policemen(esp of the lower ranks) to be the most rabidly right-wing(atleast after retirement) after all their encounters with the Indian style secularism and hypocrisy.

On the contrary they are one of the most cynical people you will ever come across. They of all the persons, have truely seen the Indian politician, be it left, right or center: all equally corrupt, selfish and immoral.

And yes, as satya said, a measure of self loathing as well in the back of their psyche.

[Sachin]

On the contrary they are one of the most cynical people you will ever come across.

True. Infact I have seen many police men who informs others that "he is suspended" with a wide glee. He very well knows that what is in store for him, and how the politician uses him as a pawn. And he also knows what are his chances of getting back to service, and at what place and rank.

As for the lower ranks in the police. Many of them become heavy alchoholics, and I don't know why many of them have lots of family problems too. Kids going bersek, financial problems etc. seems to be the most common. Only very few of them seems to have made enough savings, and make a clean exit and the time of retirement and then have a good social life.

[Manu]

Link

State credibility at stake

Ajai Sahni

Police credibility in India has always been rather low, but it now appears to be scraping rock bottom. One of the critical contributory factors has been the highly visible ‘investigations’ into crimes — including high-profile terrorist cases — that have been carried out, apparently, with questionable competence in the fullest glare of the media. Crucially, even where the Police are right — and it is important to recognise that they often have been — they have discovered ways of undermining their own case, both in terms of credible prosecution and in terms of public perceptions.

It is now abundantly clear that there are tremendous deficiencies of training and capability in investigative procedures right up to the highest echelons of the police. This was most dramatically illustrated in the Aarushi murder case, when an officer of the rank of Inspector-General of Police from Uttar Pradesh articulated perhaps the most crassly worded cock-and-bull story at a widely reported Press conference, accusing the parents of the murdered girl of the crime, against a lurid — and wholly speculative — backdrop of wife-swapping and sexual indiscretions.

But that case was quickly abandoned and another was constructed against Dr Rajesh Talwar’s compounder Krishna and his associate Rajkumar. The CBI — India’s premier investigative agency —did little to restore the integrity to the investigative process, and failed to file a chargesheet in the case. As a result, its ‘prime accused’ were released on bail and are believed to have fled to Nepal. Thus, from a crime scene that would have been littered with forensic evidence, investigators seem to have manoeuvred themselves into a dead end.

The situation is infinitely more complex in cases of terrorism, where the intimate linkages of terrorist and victim that characterise ‘normal’ crimes do not exist, where perpetrators are backed by sizeable, often technically proficient organisations, and where linkages and networks span several States and extend across national boundaries. As in criminal investigations, terrorist investigators have largely relied on the reconstruction of crimes based on confessional statements — often coercively obtained, and increasingly procured through various pseudo-scientific procedures such as ‘brain mapping’ and narco-analysis, which have no evidentiary value. From these, investigators seek to ‘reconstruct’ the crime, effecting (and sometimes faking) ‘recoveries’, which then become the lynchpins of a tenuous prosecution.

This is fitfully backed by some rudimentary forensic evidence, but the inexorable linkage of perpetrators to the crime scene through technical evidence and independent testimony is overwhelmingly conspicuous by its absence. Inevitably, a halfway competent defence lawyer has a bulk of the evidence thrown out of court as ‘inadmissible’ and has little difficulty in casting sufficient doubt on the remaining fragments of technical evidence. Unsurprisingly, it is only in the ‘rarest of the rare’ cases of terrorism that prosecution actually ends in conviction. Even in cases of conviction, the charges proven seldom relate to the principal charge of terrorism, and are ordinarily linked to lesser offences, such as illegal possession of weapons or explosives.

Worse, the limited evidence available is increasingly compromised by premature and contradictory flows of ‘information’ to a sensationalist and ignorant media, both through official releases and an unceasing trickle of motivated ‘leaks’. In this, every line of tentative investigation is reported as ‘fact’ — and such ‘facts’ are often officially undermined by contrary, and equally preliminary, claims by other agencies, especially in crimes that have ramifications and linkages across multiple State boundaries. These apparent contradictions, which may be entirely explicable within a rational framework of analysis and investigation, have the potential to undermine eventual prosecutions, as defence lawyers cite these as evidence of inconsistent and unsustainable evidence.

Two recent cases — the Batla House encounter and the present Malegaon investigations into the ‘Hindu terror’ network — graphically illustrate all that is wrong with existing terrorism investigations. In both, the police claim they have the right suspects in hand; in both, however, premature disclosures and the absence of concrete and technical evidence, compounded by conflicting disclosures by diverse agencies, have tended to undermine public credibility. The situation is worsened with agencies overreaching themselves to tie up current investigations with a range of high profile unsolved cases, often on the most tenuous of evidence.

It is not the intention, here, to make any evaluation of the evidence in either of these cases. The full quantum of evidence is only available to the investigators at this juncture, and no outside agency has the competence or access to second guess investigators or pronounce judgement at this juncture. What is clear, however, is that police disclosures and conduct have created the spaces for, and contributed directly to, widespread politicisation of both cases.

In an ideal world, this would have no impact whatsoever on the investigative process or outcome; but conditions in India are anything but ideal. With major political formations aligning themselves — directly or implicitly — with the accused in both cases, the integrity of future investigations and prosecution is under explicit threat: Charges may, in the foreseeable future and under changing political dispensations, be diluted; evidence can be fudged; case files may disappear; the stage may well be set to get the accused off the hook.

But infinitely worse is the fact that deep and pervasive doubts have been sown in the wider public — especially among elements who share the bias of their communal affiliations. Once again, in a society with a high quotient of respect for and implementation of the rule of law, this would be irrelevant. In India, however, this is crucial. Whatever the outcome of these cases, there will be a substantial community that will remain convinced that injustice has been done — and the incoherence of the case currently being made by official agencies through the media will be cited as ‘incontrovertible’ evidence. This does not just undermine the legitimacy of the outcome in these particular cases alone; it undermines the legitimacy of the state at large. An enveloping sense of injustice consumes communities today, and is the seed of much political violence in the country.

Police officers in India have long been given a raw deal and the police have been subjected to a sustained and vicious process of class denigration from all quarters. Under the circumstances, the desire to parade their successes, to seek public reaffirmation through selective disclosures to the media, is natural and understandable. But it is proving deeply counter-productive, at once, for their own dignity, and for the larger objective of justice administration and counter-terrorism.

[Tanaji]

Didnt want to post in the main thread

The ATS of Mumbai Police had been dealt a body blow. Salaskar is gone too, though I dont think he was ATS?

Salaskar must have known MC Sharma, I wonder if he would have thought a few months later, he would see a similar fate.

Kamte is gone too, a former RAW man.

At this rate, why should any policeman put his life on the line?

[sum]

Didnt want to post in the main thread

The ATS of Mumbai Police had been dealt a body blow. Salaskar is gone too, though I dont think he was ATS?

Salaskar must have known MC Sharma, I wonder if he would have thought a few months later, he would see a similar fate.

Kamte is gone too, a former RAW man.

At this rate, why should any policeman put his life on the line?

Even ATS Chief Hemant Karkare was a ex-RAW man(had a seven year stint,IMHO)....

Heart rendering to see policemen walking around near live encounters with .303s and no BPJs...

[Tanaji]

Salaskar's final rites

http://in.rediff.com/news/2008/nov/27-f ... in-cop.htm

Sum,
Sorry I meant Karkare

[Singha]

well the ATS in mumbai and delhi are more or less finished isnt it?

delhi - zero political support , Rajbir and MC sharma gone the two leaders
mumbai - zero political support, nayak suspended, P sharma dismissed, salaskar dead.

Tanaji - any idea of the status of pradeep sawant, praful bhosale and ravindra angre?
is rakesh maria retired now?

[Vikas]

Honestly, Do we really deserve brave men in service putting their lives on line?
Look at the IA folks who defend this nation day and night and then GOI comes back and says,"ooohhh!! We can not pay you
the Salary that you deserve least some sarkari officer be offended, while we can make you work and die and worst conditions".
MC Sharma is martyred and the DDM doubts if it was fake. Amar "P!mp" singh sends a fake cheque to his family and then proceeds to trash him on national TV while expecting and demanding NSG commando's to protect him.

[Sachin]

The ATS of Mumbai Police had been dealt a body blow. Salaskar is gone too, though I dont think he was ATS?

Salaskar I feel was part of the Anti-Extortion Cell of Mumbai Police. The feeling I get is that these brave souls rushed in thinking it was some mafia gang which was doing the shoot out. Salaskar etc. have finished many of these gangsters so may have thought it was a simpler task at hand .

BTW, there are other encounter specialists like PSI V.R Dhobale etc. Dhobale was part of the police posse which finished of Vijay Tandel and another accomplice.

Is it my gut feeling that this group of policemen (encounter specialists) are slowly getting phased out?

[harik]

The ATS of Mumbai Police had been dealt a body blow. Salaskar is gone too, though I dont think he was ATS?

Salaskar I feel was part of the Anti-Extortion Cell of Mumbai Police. The feeling I get is that these brave souls rushed in thinking it was some mafia gang which was doing the shoot out. Salaskar etc. have finished many of these gangsters so may have thought it was a simpler task at hand .

BTW, there are other encounter specialists like PSI V.R Dhobale etc. Dhobale was part of the police posse which finished of Vijay Tandel and another accomplice.

Is it my gut feeling that this group of policemen (encounter specialists) are slowly getting phased out?

Sachin ,
That & more is the reason why asked ldev to reply, since he seems to be knowing..

[Tanaji]

Salaskar was transferred to ATS some time ago.

Rakesh Maria is still around. Last I heard was he was Joint commissioner for Crime. Not sure if the role has changed now.

Incidentally, ACP Kamte came from a distinguished background:

His great grandfather was Raobahaddur Kamte, Zamadar in Pune
Grandfather was Narayanrao Kamte, Maharashtra's first Commissioner
Father was Marutrao Kamte, Colonel in IA.

(from the Sakal paper)

*Sigh*

[Tanaji]

Partial list of policemen killed:

• Sashank Shinde
• Arun Chitte
• Prakash More
• Bapurao Durgude
• Vijay Khandekar
• Nanasaheb Bhonsale
• Tukaram Ombale
• Yogesh Patil
• Jaywant Patil
• Ambadas Pawar
• M. S. Chaudhary

It seems the total list is 20. I am still missing 6. If anyone knows, they can do the honours.

Almost all of them are from a poor, background being essentially farmers without land.

[Avinash R]

• Hemant Karkare
• Ashok Kamte
• Sadanand Date
• Vijay Salaskar

[Aditya G]

My list of 'best' police departments with good counter terror records:

. Special operations group - J&K
. ATS - Mumbai police
. STF - Delhi police
. Greyhounds - Andhra Prasdesh

[Sachin]

http://www.mumbaipolice.org

Their main page has the list of all policemen killed in action during the Mumbai shoot out. Except for the constables who looked very young, the other officers seems to have come up through the ranks (and were in the middle-age group).

Rakesh Maria is still around. Last I heard was he was Joint commissioner for Crime. Not sure if the role has changed now.

He is still the Joint Commissioner for Crime (IGP Rank). Guess he held the same "Crime" investigation duties even during the Mumbai blasts, with the rank of Deputy Commissioner of Police (SP Rank). The book "Black Friday" mentions in detail how Rakesh Maria's team cracked the case and went behind the terrorists and bombers.

[ramana]

x-posted with highlights

Sad state of affairs - II

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Citi ... 783461.cms



Cops just had 577 rifles, hadn't fired in 10 yrs
2 Dec 2008, 1203 hrs IST, Prafulla Marpakwar, TNN

MUMBAI: The state constabulary was grossly unprepared to deal with the worst-ever terror attacks on the metropolis because of an acute shortage of
weapons and ammunition.

Official records show that for a force of well over 1.8 lakh, the home department procured a meagre 2,221 weapons — 577 for Mumbai, and 1,644 for the rest of Maharashtra.

‘‘Under the centrally sponsored modernisation programme, we purchased almost all types of weapons, but for a state like Maharashtra, the number of weapons was grossly inadequate ,’’ a senior official told TOI on Monday.

In the absence of a firing range and of ammunition for practice, members of the law enforcement agencies have not opened fire in the last ten years. ‘‘I’ve been in the police force for a long time, but I had no occasion to open fire for practice,’’ a senior inspector of police said.

As per the police manual, officials ranking from constable to assistant inspector get rifles with 30 rounds each, and those with the rank of police sub-inspector and above get revolvers, also with 30 rounds each.

Jawans with the State Reserve Police Force are given SLRs or self-loading rifles. In addition, AK-47 rifles have been given to officials posted in areas where there is Naxal activity, while officials on VIP security duty are armed with either revolvers or carbines.

The manual also prescribes mandatory training for all officials, especially shooting practice at the firing range. According to a senior IPS official, the norms prescribed in the manual now exist only on paper because of the acute shortage of ammunition for practice and the non-availability of a firing range.

As per the rules, every district should have a firing range exclusively for the police. But official records indicate that more than half the state’s districts have no independent firing range.

‘‘We have constables who have not opened fire even for practice ever since their recruitment,’’ the official said.

T

[Sanjay]

Ramana, may I X-post my comments on this article and my assessment of police armament in India ? I have posted them in the Terror Attacks thread IV.

X-posted from Terror Attack Thread:

Gentlemen, I have read and re-read what has been posted regarding the police.

Everyone and his cat is now an expert on Indian security services and the picture is distorted with some half-truths.

First of all - that piece about the 577 weapons is quite misleading. What that is about is the quantity of weapons "procured". It doesn't even say what year.

The same piece contradicts itself when it talks about the SRPF having SLRs - that's several thousand men armed with a reasonable rifle.

There have been very substantial infusions of modern weapons to the Indian police. Please read the MHA reports over the last few years. According to the 2005-2006 report, 71,717 INSAS, 23,899 SLRs and 34,880 AK-47s have been procured for the state police forces in the last few years.

Remember Punjab got 60,000 SLRs in the 1990s, Bihar ordered several thousand and the UP PAC has fully equipped 100 companies with the type.

52 companies of the PAC in UP were put through their paces by the army and several other forces confronting Naxalites have undertaken similar programs.

The article does make a very good point about firing practice. That's why none of the cops at CST hit anything. Those rifles do take some skill to use.

Even then progress has been made in the Naxal states where policemen have been sent back for re-training after failing to pass marksmanship and physical prowess tests.

Body armour used by CPMFs and the army has been combat tested. There should be no reason why substandard stuff should be passed on to the police.

It would appear, therefore, that emphasis has been placed on providing equipment and training to the forces facing naxalites (apart from those facing insurgencies) and on the India Reserve Battalions.

Training of these units is painfully slow owing to completely inadequate infrastructure.

Let's also face the fact that it is time to do away with the concept of the unarmed constable. Every policeman in urban India must now be armed. Revolvers and pistols would do just fine.

However there is absolutely no excuse for poorly maintained weapons. The fault there lies with the police themselves. Why is it that a reliable weapon like a Sterling carbine jammed after 3 rounds and why on earth was the magazine charged with only 10 rounds ? Weapons need to be maintained properly.

But weapons and practice aren't everything. The whole psychology of the police to face these attacks has to be changed. Can one really expect a constable who is to catch a thief to play Rambo and fight a terrorist ? Can one really expect policemen who are fundamentally civilians in uniform to be soldiers ?

Even the armed police battalions are really a gendarmarie rather than paramilitary units geared up for a fight. That may slowly be changing with the army training being imparted to some APBs but the whole psychology of these units needs to be altered.

[ramana]

Please do so. I was going to x-post for completness. Thanks, ramana

[Sanjay]

Ramana, I would like to add the following comments:

Chennai and Bangalore have reasonably well equipped teams, though I have concerns regarding the preponderance of SLRs as the principal weapon. Dehli's commandos are also well equipped and trained.

Mumbai seemed to treat its ATS as a glorified Flying Squad in terms of equipment. Note its job description as per the mumbai police website:

"Created by Government of Maharashtra, vide G.R. No. SAS-10/03/15/SB-IV,
dated July 8, 2004

To get information about anti-national elements working in any part of Maharashtra

To co-ordinate with Central information agencies, like IB, RAW and exchange information with them

To co-ordinate with similar agencies of other States

To track and eliminate activities of mafia and other organized crime syndicates

To detect rackets of counterfeit currency notes and smuggling narcotic substances"


Where exactly was its mandate to act as a QRT in a terrorist attack ?

However, the city has a QRT of sorts.

Mumbai has 4 Local Armed Police Units. LA I-IV.

LA I and the Riot Control Police are deployed in Naigaon, Mumbai 14.
There are three RCP companies.
One platoon in each company is trained in what are termed "anti-insurgency tactics". These were the guys we saw in Mumbai Police helmets but wearing camouflage and carrying AKs.
At Naigaon, one company would have been available that night - therefore one platoon would have been available as a QRT.

What Mumbai really needed was for all 3 companies to be viable QRTs for a terrorist situation.

The Local Armed Police are principally a slightly more heavily armed back up for the regular street cops.

The other issue to address is mobility. Of late it seems that central assistance has focussed on naxal prone states.

Please read this: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Mumb ... 501517.cms

Talk about coming too late.

[ramana]

Sanjay, Where is you original post in rebuttal to the one I posted?

[Sanjay]

Ramana, check up the page. I inserted it my original post rather than create a new one.

[Avinash R]

My list of 'best' police departments with good counter terror records:

. Special operations group - J&K
. ATS - Mumbai police
. STF - Delhi police
. Greyhounds - Andhra Prasdesh

there are some police depts which are missing from that list which kicked the naxals(today's maoist) so hard during the 60's that even today they never dare to setup "bases" in those states.

[Sachin]

there are some police depts which are missing from that list which kicked the naxals(today's maoist) so hard during the 60's that even today they never dare to setup "bases" in those states.

One of such forces was the Kerala Police. There actions were so ruthless that Naxalites just found their business too much unprofitable. Every naxalite murder was investigated thoroughly and culprits brought to book. The police infiltration of naxalite out-fits were so complete that DIG Jayaram Padikkal (later DGP) of the Crime Branch CID had once proudly declared that "half of the naxalites today are my boys (i.e police men)" .

[Sanjay]

One thing we need to consider - did some policemen run during the attacks instead of firing back ?

[Sachin]

One thing we need to consider - did some policemen run during the attacks instead of firing back ?

On the contrary I saw some reports which said that policemen charged at the terrorists with nothing more than lathis. Even the Mumbai Fire brigade, I feel did put up a brave front and did what ever they could in the tensed times.

[Sanjay]

Sachin, I was referring to a Mumbai Mirror piece that alleged that armed policemen at CST ran away. If that is untrue, then it has to be dealt with decisively and quickly.

[Tanaji]

Isnt the opposite true? The armed policeman fired 3 shots with his .303, all 3 missed. He got shot in the encounter in the chest.

Perhaps there were others.

[Avinash R]

there are some police depts which are missing from that list which kicked the naxals(today's maoist) so hard during the 60's that even today they never dare to setup "bases" in those states.

One of such forces was the Kerala Police. There actions were so ruthless that Naxalites just found their business too much unprofitable. Every naxalite murder was investigated thoroughly and culprits brought to book. The police infiltration of naxalite out-fits were so complete that DIG Jayaram Padikkal (later DGP) of the Crime Branch CID had once proudly declared that "half of the naxalites today are my boys (i.e police men)" .

That's the state i was refering to, another is it's neighbour which was equally ruthless in teaching the naxals not to touch weapons. these naxals soon learnt the state would tolerate them if they shouted "total revolution" and "people's democracy" in the streets and then peacefully dispered but when any naxal found to have been trained in weapons handling he was marked in a list of persons who needed to be treated specially when encountered.
latter, true to their ideology of eliminating anyone opposing them, these naxals were fighting among themselves when "ideological differences" cropped up.
today most of these early naxals have surrendered and now lead normal lives while the some who got a divine message that this is not the right time for armed struggle became overground workers of naxals and formed their own ngo's to cover their activities of transporting naxal literature, weapons and ammunition. these are the people (so called intellectuals) living among us and waiting for oppurtune time to launch their bloody revolution and impose their dictatorship.