Prison & Police Reforms

Prison Reforms
Gandhiji — “Hate the crime and not the criminal”.

Context

1. SC constituted 3-member committee headed by Justice Amitava Roy to look into the issues pertaining to jails.‘
2. Thoothukudu Incident - death of a father-son duo from TN.

Data & Stats

1. National Police Commission - 60% of arrests were “unnecessary”.

2. NCRB - B/w 2001 & 2018, only 26 policemen were convicted of custodial violence despite 1,727 such deaths.
3. Prison is under state list.
4. Prison governed by Prisons act 1894 and Prison manual of resp states.

Need of Reforms

Ramamurthy v. State of KR on conditions of prison identified foll problems:

1. Overcrowding: As per NCRB’s ‘Prison Statistics India’ 2015 - avg occupancy rate of 114% in jails i.e. 14% more
than the capacity.
2. Undertrial: 67% of people in Indian jails undertrial against 11% in UK, 20% in US — violate Sect 436 A of CrPC.
LCI, in this regard said, 60% of arrest are unnecessary cos — a] no bail money; b] unnecessary arrest like 377, 66A
of IT.
3. Custodial deaths: Include torture, rape and abuse. Acc to National Campaign Against Torture, 3/4th deaths in
police custody occurred due to torture in 2019.
4. Reintegration in society is completely absent → facilitate re-offending, ignoring reformative justice.
5. Staff crunch: ratio b/w prison staff and prison pop is approx 1:7.
6. Prison infra: built in the colonial era & need repair.
7. Lack of Communication facilities: Prisoners left to live in isolation and remain uninformed about the lives and
well-being of their family.

SC Judgements

1. Sobhraj Case: SC in Charles Sobhraj case, said, there should be no total deprivation of person right to life in
prison.
2. Prem Shankar Shukla case: on hand cuffing.
3. Rama Murthy case 1996: SC identified ‘Torture and ill treatment’ in prisons as an area that needs reform.
4. DK Basu Judgement: SC issued 11 directions to inc transparency & fix responsibility while making an arrest.

Through multiple cases, SC upheld 3 broad principles wrt imprisonment & custody - a] a person in prison should not
become non-person; b] entitled to HR; c] no justification for aggravating suffering.
Challenges

1. Lack of strong legislation against torture: Ind not have anti-torture legislation and is yet to criminalise custodial
violence despite signing UN Convention Against Torture 1997.
2. Under-utilisation of funds for modernisation of Police Sch: as highlighted by CAG report.
3. Lack of accountability & impunity enjoyed by Police: Law not permit common citizens to sue a police officer. SC
(Prakash Singh Case 2006) and 2nd ARC recommended for constituting independent complaint authority to
inquire into the cases of police misconduct.
4. NHRC as Toothless Inst: recommendation are not mandatory.
5. Popular Support: Public openly support police ‘Thoki Raj’ and violation of RoL.

Steps Taken

1. Prison Discipline Committee, 1836: recommended increased rigorousness of treatment.

2. Modernisation of prison: conceptualised by TB Macaulay in 1835.
3. E-prison project.
4. Draft Nat Policy on Prison Reforms and Correctional Admin - a] include prison in concurrent list; prov alternatives
to prison such as community service, property forfeiture, payment of compensation, etc.
5. NALSA with National Informatics centre (NIC) is working on national digital database of under trails.
6. All India Jails Manual Committee 1957-59 to prepare a model prison manual.

Steps Needed

1. Open Prison.
2. Ratify UN convention against torture 1997.
3. Police Training in HR: A report by Common Cause & CSDS-Lokniti, 12% of police never receive human rights
training.
4. Mulla Committee [1983]: a] Setting up Nat Prison Comm to oversee modernisation of prison in Ind; b] undertrails
to be kept separate from convicted prisoners; c] All India Prison Service as professional career service.
5. Krishna Iyer Committee [1987]: undertake a study on the situation of women prisoners in Ind and
recommended induction of more women in the police force to tackle women and child offenders.
6. LC Recommendations: a] Under trials completed 1/3rd of max sentence for offences up to 7 yr should be released
on bail; b] For more than 7 yrs, bailed out if completed more than one-half of their sentences.

BP

1. Mandela Rules - UN Standard Min Rules for treatment of prisoners: a] Prisoners must be treated with respect and
dignity - HR; b] No torture; c] Prison should be safe.
2. Swadhar Greh: rehabilitation of women victims.
3. TL Model: Ambulance available 24×7 to tackle emergencies; b] Unhygienic toilets transformed into clean private
places by paying prisoners to clean them.
4. Parivarthana programme of AP.

Police Reforms
Max Weber defined 'State' as org that has a monopoly on the legitimate use of physical force. The police act as an
instrument of physical force of the state as recently seen in Thoothukudi Incident wherein father-son duo from TN was
sexually assaulted & tortured by police while in custody.

The Judgement

SC in landmark case of Prakash Singh Badal case of 2006 set the much needed tone of police reforms and
recommended measures to redefine role of police as instrument of governance & welfare state rather than oppressive
institution.

Data

1. Shortage of policemen - 17 million against 22 million.

2. 138 police personnel per lakh pop against 222 as recommended by UN.
3. Acc to Bureau of Police R&D, Ind’s general conviction rate is 47% but conviction rate is 21% in crimes against
women.
4. Police is in state list.
5. Overburdened & underpaid - 68% of SHO reported that there subordinates work more than 11 hr. Madras
HC ruling in this regard directed state govt to give policemen 1 day off a week.

Evolution of Police System

1. 1st Phase: Initial period [colonial period] — Acted as colonial agent & was oppressive → suppression → Non-
Representative.
 2. 2nd Phase: Police acted as agency of govt & responsible for enforcement of law → more representative.
3. Future Phase: Police should be citizen centric, to be efficient, professional & citizen friendly → represent all
sections.
Issues

1. Legal: Colonial era laws.

2. Infrastructure: As per CAG report, shortages in weaponry with state police force but funds for modernisation aren’t
utilised fully.
3. Institutional: Lack of training, rigid hierarchy, cyber crimes.
4. Social: suicide among police personnel [SHO report].
5. Functional: Low quality investigation [Need DNA Bill], politicisation of police, corruption [underpaid], custodial
torture. overburdened police force.
6. India 's failure to ratify UN convention Against Torture.

SC Directive

1. State govt should send their proposal for appointment of DGP to UPSC, 3 months before incumbent is due to
retire.
2. UPSC to prepare panel of officers fit to be DGP in the state concerned.
3. SC described torture as ‘instrument of human degradation’ used by the state.

Committees

1. Gore Comm — On Police Training.

2. Nat Police Commission: recognises coordinating role of District Magistrate, having more leverage than the police.
3. Padmanabhaiah Committee: recruitment procedures for police force, police officers’ behaviour, police
investigations and prosecution.
4. Soli Sorabjee Committee: draft a new model police law.
5. Law Commission in its 198th and 273rd report proposed an anti-torture law.

Steps Needed

1. Victim Impact Statement - SC in Malikarjun Kodagil v. State of KR, stressed the need to have VIS so that an
appropriate punishment is awarded to convict.
2. Automated Facial Recognition System - Recommended by NCRB to ‘zero in’ on images or videos related to crime
or mob violence and compare select facial features with an existing image database.
3. Community Policing - Community act as eyes and ears of police.

WF

1. SMART Police - Sensitive, Mobile, Alert, Reliable, Techno-savy.

2. Mera Paibi - Women social mov in Manipur against drug addiction, alcoholism & sexual violence.
3. KE’s Jan Maitri Suraksha Police - To help police & communities build trust.
4. Prevention of Torture Bill 2017: definition to torture; state responsible for injury inflicted by its agents on people,
courts to provide justiciable compensation for victims.

Conclusion
Strategy for New Ind @ 75 - Niti Aayog

1. Model Police Act 2015 - can serve as the basis for legislative reforms.
2. Identification and outsource of non-core functions.
3. Women participation.
4. Intro e-FIRs.
5. Transparent transfer & postings.
6. Technological initiatives.