'Police officers
should be selected on merit and not on the basis of who is close to the
political party in power.'
IMAGE: Former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir
Singh who has shaken the Maharashtra police edifice with his allegations about
state Home Minister Anil Deshmukh. Photograph: ANI Photo
Dr Meeran Chadha
Borwankar, who retired from the Indian Police Service in 2017 as a director
general of police, was known for her no-nonsense approach towards corruption
and political interference in policing decisions throughout her 36-year career
as an IPS officer.
As joint commissioner of
police, Mumbai, Dr Borwankar headed the Mumbai Crime Branch and, according to
the legendary police officer Julio Ribeiro in an Indian Express article
last week, cleaned up the Crime Branch of dubious detectives.
Dr Borwankar spoke to Prasanna
D Zore about suspended Assistant Police Inspector Sachin Waze's
alleged involvement in the Antilia bomb scare case and Param
Bir Singh's transfer as Mumbai's police commissioner. The concluding segment of
a multi-part interview.
You
have served in the Maharashtra police between 1981 and 2017.
Based on this
experience, what police reforms do you think are needed to make the entire law
and order and policing system more transparent?
Three immediate reforms:
Establishment of State Security Commission and Establishmnet Boards as
suggested by the Supreme Court.
Police officers should be
selected on merit and not on the basis of who is close to the political party
in power.
In Maharashtra, even the
Establishment Board has been breached because of the police-politician nexus.
As of today, the DGs and commissioners'
post are generally going to those IPS officers who are close the chair (politicians
in power).
Setting up of a State
Security Commission will design and monitor the situation closely leading to
postings done as per the merit and record of the officer -- not only at the
senior level but at all levels: From thana (the local
police station) to the commissioner of police, DG.
The second reform would be
to separate the law and order and crime (jurisdictions).
The police are so damn
overworked that citizens are getting a terribly raw deal.
If there is a house break
somewhere today and there is a visit of the chief minister in the area, all the
cops in the police station would be on bandobast duty for the
chief minister.
Nobody will be able to
either record my FIR or even if an FIR is recorded, no further investigation
will be done because they are so overburdened with bandobast/the
law and order duties.
The third immediate reform
would be to set up an independent Police Complaints Authority consisting of
apolitical eminent citizens.
What is happening is if I
have complained against an inspector and this is being inquired into by an ACP
(assistant commissioner of police_. Whatever you may say, the uniform
has a brotherhood and sisterhood, and we try to defend each other.
An independent PCA,
separation of law and order and crime, a State Security Commission and
Establishment Boards for postings at all levels based on merit and not based on
the proximity to political parties.
In your 36 year career as
an IPS officer, what has been your most challenging time? And how did you
overcome those challenges?
In my journey as an IPS
officer between 1981 and 2017, I was fighting on two fronts. One was because of
my gender as women (IPS officers) were very rare and wherever I would go
(was posted), it would make news.
For getting the post of
district police chief in Aurangabad in 1991, my file went to the chief minister
three times. They thought how a woman would work as an independent police chief
in a district; those were the days when there was no reservation for women.
Then when I was appointed
as JCP (joint commissioner of police) and later commissioner of police,
Pune, every time the question asked was: Will she be able to do it?
Of course, I had gained
that kind of confidence that they would consider me and they would give (appoint)
me, but it was a journey of gender.
The second challenge was of
professionalism.
Everywhere I had to prove (myself)
and therefore I had to work hard. To understand what was happening I had to
learn the language (being from Punjab, she had to learn Marathi); then
the culture of the police, the state and then the intricacies of
investigations.
Luckily for me, I was
posted twice in the CID, once in the CBI, and once in the Crime Branch.
I remember once I had gone
to the Yerawada police station as commissioner of police Pune and asked for the
case diaries of investigations. I could pinpoint the flaws and make out that
investigations were very mediocre. In anger and anguish, I walked out of the
police station.
The news spread among all
police stations. I very strongly feel and used to emphasise the need for
improving our investigations. Poor conviction rate highlights the same. But if
money is the focus, how and why will officers work hard on investigation!
So, learning about
investigations, professional policing and handling law and order was a
challenge.
As a young DCP (deputy
commissioner of police) in Mumbai, there was one magisterial inquiry in an
incident where my car was burnt in a riot in the Kamathipura area (central
Mumbai); another judicial inquiry by a retired high court judge because
four people had died in the police firing in Chembur (north east Mumbai)
where I was involved.
What would be your message
to India's young women?
If we take our jobs
seriously, in whatever career we have selected, and put our best efforts, then
gender doesn't matter. Acceptance of our capabilties may take some time though.
It is always teamwork that
brings success.
Whenever we achieve
something it's not because of an individual, but for all, seniors, juniors and
colleagues joining hands with us. Whatever success we had when I was in the
Crime Branch was because of the teamwork.
Balance in life, personal
and professional is essential. And seeking our own happiness and well-being
should not make us feel guilty. It is healthy and positive. Go for it.