Supreme Court order fails to unshackle police: Study

NEW DELHI: Despite a landmark Supreme Court verdict of 2006 pushing for police reforms, State Security Commissions ( SSC) have failed to become autonomous as envisaged by the apex court.

A comprehensive study by the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative ( CHRI) has concluded that eight years after SC intervened to make police forces independent of political interference, the SSCs have not lived up to the mandate.

"The cumulative picture that emerges is one of a political executive that does not wish to let go of its firm grip on policing and perhaps also does not have the capacity to exercise a more guiding role," the CHRI study, financed by European Union noted.

The researchers tried to garner information from 28 states and seven Union Territories on the basis of series of RTI queries. It records how very few states responded positively to the RTI questions and tried to stonewall information that was sought.

Focusing on norms laid down by SC for the Commissions, the CHRI study found that ,"Compositions have been modified, mandates diluted and powers limited. As a result, the independence of the Commissions and their ability to be effective has been incrementally undermined.

"The fact that most of the Commissions have not been given binding powers renders them, at best, advisory bodies whose recommendations can be ignored by the government when they are inconvenient. It comes as no surprise, then, that the Commissions are failing to gain traction in most states, let alone make a long-lasting impact on policing policy."

Giving credit, the CHRI study says that SSCs have managed to set important policies on a range of issues including practical recommendations to increase police station force, upgrade police stations and improve measures for women's safety.

However, it adds, "that potential has in large measure been eroded by the infrequency and poor procedure of Commission meetings and the failure of the Commissions and state governments to ensure implementation of policies on the ground."

The study also criticises lack of transparency on the structure of SSCs, the substance of their meetings, their recommendations and actions taken on these.

Unless these failings are addressed, the Commissions will struggle to induce far-reaching systemic change in policing, it warns even though the "creation of State Security Commissions was a keystone of SC's holistic remedy to present day ills."