My vote is for Shiela Dixit to head police reforms

11 January, 2013

My vote is for Shiela Dixit, a woman who has proven her administrative abilities on more than one occasion. Put her in charge of a new police force meant for the national capital and give her a whip. She will see to it that criminals are taken to task and women are made secure.

UNDOUBTEDLY, THE Delhi chief minister Shiela Dixit is an extremely sensible woman. Being a woman, she would naturally sympathise with women. The Delhi police do not report to her. Yet as a woman she was blamed for police inaction in a crime against a woman. It was like blaming the milkman for the poor quality of biscuits in the market. And in the turmoil, the champions of the streets emerged in the form of BJP’s Sushma Swaraj and her team of ABVP enthusiasts.

The Delhi state police is a highly patriarchal force. In fact, it accepts male domination easily which is why crimes like rape do not figure in its list of priorities. If we see closely, most of the constables and junior officials are from communities known for having villages with Khaps, so-called honour killings, dowry deaths and female infanticide.

To clean up the police of the national capital for the NCR, we need to recruit from the North East, from the South and from all parts of India. After all we need a gender sensitized police and a man coming from a background where there is no respect for women cannot be gender sensitized. To give Dixit a chance to prove herself we should put her in charge of a committee that has a time-bound plan to recommend these police reforms. I am sure she will live up to the mark.

Let us see what plagues Delhi. Delhi does share its borders with Haryana and Uttar Pradesh - two states with a horrible record of crimes against women.

According to RTI information accessed by Karnal-based Janhit Social Welfare Society, 61% of police personnel in Rohtak district are from the Jat community. Faridabad has 35% and Mahendergarh has got 29% Jats in the police force.

It would therefore be safe to assume that this highly patriarchal police force in Delhi too has a large percentage of Jats, Rajputs and members of communities that come from highly patriarchal backgrounds. These personnel will as a rule report first to their Khap Panchayats and their villages and after that the Indian Penal Code and Constitution.

Since the Delhi State Police doesn’t report to the chief minister what role can she play in the reforms of the police force? She can definitely head a panel suggesting reforms in the police force in the National Capital.

Delhi is unique for more than one reason; it is a state as well as the national capital where people from all states come to live and work. So should the police only be from Delhi state? Why not a national police force recruited from all over the nation?

Secondly, Delhi is a Congress-ruled state with a leader who can be the Congress’ response to the BJP’s hat trick man; we do not dare mention his name here, but he was greeted with cries of PM recently.

A vital part of police reforms would be police training but a more vital part would be to recruit properly so that the force is democratic, secular and non-patriarchal. Otherwise, crimes like rape, molestation and eve-teasing will never be properly investigated and prevented.