Friday, 17 May, 2024
By: Lakshita Bhagat
India is behind various developing countries as per the index score, such as Indonesia (92), Egypt (92), Kosovo (89), Vietnam (86), Cambodia (84), Armenia (83), and even Pakistan (82).
As per the Gallup survey, the percentage of people expressing confidence in police in the South Asian region declined by three percentage points in 2021 from 2020.
In its latest edition, Gallup has published the Global Law and Order Report that measures ‘people’s perception of their own security and their faith in the rule of law in the second full year of pandemic [2021]’.
India ranked 60 out of 122 countries with an index value of 80 out of a possible 100. As per the index, the higher the score, the higher the proportion of the population that reports feeling safe.
The index employs four questions to gauge the perception of 1,27,000 adults when it came to:
(i) confidence in the local police force;
(ii) sense of safety when walking alone at night in the area of residence;
(iii) incidence of robbery with self or family member in the past 12 months; and
(iv) incidence of assault or mugging in the past 12 months.
The United Nations progress report on Sustainable Development Goals 2030 highlights how safety is linked to development by noting that ‘Feeling unsafe in public can fundamentally erode one’s sense of wellbeing and reduce trust and community engagement, becoming an obstacle to development’. SDG 1.6 is to promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all, and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels.
Analysing India’s Performance
India is behind various developing countries as per the index score, such as Indonesia (92), Egypt (92), Kosovo (89), Vietnam (86), Cambodia (84), Armenia (83), and even Pakistan (82). As per the Gallup survey, the percentage of people expressing confidence in police in the South Asian region declined by three percentage points in 2021 from 2020.
Nonetheless, India’s Index value of 80 indicates that a high number of respondents gave a positive opinion when it came to their safety and faith in the Police. Against this backdrop, India Tracker attempts to understand with data and media reports if the Gallup report presents an ideal picture in sync with reality or if there is a paradox when it comes to the police’s perception in India.
Political interference in the functioning of the police is seen as a significant obstacle which erodes public trust in the institution. As per the recently published book, The Struggle for Police Reforms in India: Ruler’s Police to Public Police, by crusader of police reforms, Prakash Singh, ‘Police should be people-friendly, and it should inspire confidence among all sections of people as the protector of their lives, property and honour. Unfortunately, we continue to be saddled with a ‘politically useful’ police which was created by the British essentially to uphold their imperial interests’. The matter of political influence on police has been widely discussed during the handling and investigation of the 2002 Gujarat and 2020 Delhi riots. Police excesses regarding custodial torture and death have also been reported throughout the country. In one of the cases involving ordinary citizens approaching police, a high court asked the Kerala police, ' If ordinary citizens are chained in police stations, will they have faith in system’. Such cases can have ripple effects in lowering the trust and faith of the general population. As per a 2018 survey conducted by the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Police Academy, only a quarter of respondents expressed confidence in the police, while a majority pinned their hopes on the Army. A three-year survey by MIT in 2009 on the Rajasthan police revealed that people have little faith in the police, and ‘71% of the people never reported crimes because most felt the police couldn’t or wouldn’t do anything, and worse, asked for a bribe’. The survey authors noted that the findings could be extrapolated to other Indian states.
Shoddy police handling of cases has been repeatedly flagged in cases of sexual violence or violence against women. According to the latest NCRB data, crime against women increased by 15.3 per cent in 2021. During the pandemic, domestic violence against women registered an increase. In such cases, engaging with institutions to seek remedy becomes incredibly challenging, even though cruelty by husband and his relatives constitutes the largest chunk of crime against women, per the NCRB data.
On top of that, the majority of sexual violence cases go unreported, especially if committed by the husband. As per one analysis, 99% of cases where mainly husband is the perpetrator of sexual assault go unreported. Even after excluding cases of marital sexual assault, only 15% of cases are reported to the police. Lack of trust in police and low conviction rates are cited as prime factors behind the underreporting of sexual assault cases. Besides being subject to socio-cultural bias, survivors of sexual assault have difficulty navigating a patriarchal institutional setup that holds women back from filing a police complaint. While the conviction rate improved in cases of crime against women to 29.8% in 2020 from 18.9% in 2016, it remains abysmally low. Keeping aside the numbers, several cases of crimes have sent shockwaves across the countries, shaking people’s confidence in the law-and-order machinery. All these cases at the national and local levels increase people’s concern about their own and their family’s security, which is palpable in parents' worry about sending their daughters to a different city either for education or work or victims not reaching out to police due to a lack of confidence in the institution.
As per the nationwide survey ‘IPF Smart Policing Survey 2021, Index of Public Perception and Citizen Satisfaction’ carried out by the Indian Police Foundation (2021), nearly 67% of respondents believed that police are doing a good job. However, most states had lower ratings pertaining to value-based indicators of fairness and unbiased policing, along with corruption-free services and integrity. Respondents, in particular, highlighted inadequate police response towards crime against women. Another survey vertical of the Perception Index for alert, helpful and friendly policing (on a scale of 1 to 10, the latter indicating the highest level of satisfaction) had an average score of 6.68. While the Southern states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana scored above 8, most states scored between 8 and 6, while the Northern states of Bihar, Punjab, and Uttar Pradesh scored below 6. It is no wonder that it is in states like Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and Jharkhand that less than 0.5% of incidents of violence against women are reported.
The Second Administrative Reforms Commission (2007) recommended the community policing model to improve police-public relations. While the centre and state governments in India have been trying to improve police connect with people through several initiatives, more reforms are certainly needed. Of many problems afflicting the institution of police in India, one is the poor police-to-population ratio, which is among the weakest globally, and the gap between sanctioned and actual police force. While the UN recommended strength is 222 police per lakh persons, India has 137 police per lakh persons (after adjusting for vacant positions). This directly translates into a higher workload affecting the police’s performance. Additionally, only 3% of the Centre and the state budget is allocated to the police. There have been calls to introduce reforms and modernise the police force over the years, such as improving the working conditions and opportunities of constables and outsourcing or reallocating some non-core police functions, and sensitisation in dealing with sensitive cases such as sexual violence.
Way Forward
It is important to note that the Gallup Index is based on perceptions which can vary by gender, place, location, or age. Nonetheless, subjective experiences are important when engaging with institutions such as the police, which are responsible for maintaining law and order. Media reports have been rife with an increased crime against women, children, and the elderly. The police force is an integral part of the system, and we need a modern police force more attuned to people’s needs and well-being without discounting their efforts to make people safe.
