L. M. S.

LAW COLLEGE, IMPHAL

DHANAMANJURI UNIVERSITY

INTERNAL ASSESSMENT PAPER 2021

OF
SUBJECT: ADMINISTRATION OF CRIMINAL
JUSTICE AND HUMAN RIGHTS

UNDER THE TOPIC:

“ROLE OF POLICE IN DEALING WITH CRIMES AGAINST
VULNERABLE GROUPS, COMMUNAL VIOLENCE AND CAST

CONFLICTS ”

Submitted to: Submitted by:

Dr. O. Satyabati A. Athuo Luke
Lecturer LL.M 3rd Sem.
L.M.S Law College, Imphal DMU Roll No.
1958001

I
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I hereby express my deepest gratitude towards the subject expert of

“Administration of Criminal Justice and Human Rights”, Dr. O. Satyabati (Lecturer)
who gave me the golden opportunity and the freedom to explore on the wonderful
assignment topic of “Role of police in dealing with crimes against vulnerable groups,
communal violence and caste conflicts”.
It has helped me in gaining the necessary information regarding the processes
involved in writing research paper and it further improved my knowledge in the area of
the subject.

I would like to express my special gratitude towards my classmates of L.M.S. Law

College, Imphal, who provided insight and support that greatly assisted in the completion
of this assignment.

Dated: A. Athuo Luke

LL.M. 3rd Sem. 2021
DMU Roll No. 1958001

II
 Abstract:

India is a civilization of diversities and a culture of contradictions. The Indian

Constitution vide Article 15 lays down that no citizen shall on grounds of religion, race,
caste, sex or place of birth be subjected to any disability or restriction. It also guarantees that
every citizen shall have equality of status and opportunity.
The nature of the police accurately reflects the quality of democracy entertained by a
country. But it is no surprise that the menace of the current world namely crimes related to
vulnerable groups, communal violence and cast conflicts are increasingly bothering the
mechanism of peaceful and democratic administration of India. These factors together render
the police and policing the deciding parameter in determining the character of a national life.
That is why India must act to bring its police and bureaucracy on right track to fulfil its
dream of a regional power and act pronto.
The ultimate aim throughout this project is to spot out the key role of police in the
perpetuation of these human rights abuses against India’s minority population and further
intimately deals with the measures undertaken by the police in India to combat such menace.

Keywords : Equality, Police, Democracy, Vulnerable, Communal Violence, Caste

Conflicts.

III
 CONTENTS

Chapter 1
Introduction ………………………………..…1

Chapter 2
Role of Police in Vulnerable Section
………………………………..…3

Chapter 3
Role of Police in Communal Violence
………………………………..…5

Chapter 4
Role of Police in Caste Conflicts ………………………………..…8

Chapter 5
Conclusion ………………………………..…10

Bibliography ………………………………..…11

IV
 Chapter 1
INTRODUCTION
Police are one of the most ubiquitous organisations of the society. The

policemen, therefore, happen to be the most visible representatives of the

government. In an hour of need, danger, crisis and difficulty, when a citizen does
not know, what to do and whom to approach, the police station and a policeman
happen to be the most appropriate and approachable unit and person for him. The
police are expected to be the most accessible, interactive and dynamic organisation
of any society. Their roles, functions and duties in the society are natural to be
varied, and multifarious on the one hand; and complicated, knotty and complex on
the other. Broadly speaking the twin roles, which the police are expected to play in
a society are maintenance of law and maintenance of order. However, the
ramifications of these two duties are numerous, which result in making a large
inventory of duties, functions, powers, roles and responsibilities of the police
organisation.

The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act,

1989 was designed to prevent abuses against members of scheduled castes and
scheduled tribes and punish those responsible. Its enactment represented an
acknowledgment on the part of the government that abuses, in their most degrading
and violent forms, were still perpetrated against backward classes decades after
independence. The laws, however, have benefited very few and, due to a lack of
political will, development programs and welfare projects designed to improve
economic conditions for these classes have generally had little effect. Minorities
rarely break free from bondage or economic exploitation by upper-caste
landowners. 1

1
https://www.hrw.org/reports/1999/india/India994-04.htm, accessed on 15/04/21 at 21:08.

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 After the independence of India, we had a lot of achievement in the field of
Criminal Justice System. Nevertheless, besides the changing of time we ought to be
modernized and up-to-date for our existing Criminal Justice System.2

Basically, the role of the police in general, can be classified as:

(1) Maintenance of law and order;
(2) Enforcement of laws;
(3) Prevention of crime; and
(4) Bringing the perpetrators to justice.
The necessities of reform and rethinking in existing criminal justice system
trace on Judiciary, Persecution, Investigative authority & Law Enforcement
authority i.e., Police Service and lastly Correctional Bodies includes Prison, Parole
and Probation.
Among the state agencies, the role and attitude of the police is very crucial in
the maintenance of law and order in the society. The functioning of the police must
be looked at from the point of view of the people and not just from the point of view
of the government. The emphasis must be on service with duties and accountability
and not more power and authority.
We already face some initiatives for reform and reconstructing on Courts &
Judiciary and Police & Investigation. The Independence and Separation of Judiciary
is a milestone achievement in legal system
The police are legally sanctioned coercive arm of the government and have
the authority to interfere with the life and liberty of the people but the police cannot
become a `state within a state'. It has to necessarily function under the lawful control
of the State/Central Government. 3

2
https://www.scribd.com/document_downloads/direct/114175531?extension=pdf&ft=1618762744&lt=161
8766354&user_id=411442845&uahk=BgPN6oKsm3ylu6xIxXddxS_k_zE, accessed on 16/04/21 at 15:12.
3
https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/144528754.pdf, visited on 16/04/21 at 18:13.

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 Chapter 2
Role of Police in Vulnerable Section

India is a welfare State. The strategy of a State is to secure distributive justice

and allocation of resources to support programmes for social, economic and
educational advancement of the weaker section in general and those of Scheduled
Castes and Scheduled Tribes, Backward Classes, Minorities in particular to avoid
injustice and exploitation. The relationship between the police and the minority
groups based on religion, race, or language presents some peculiar problems.4
The vulnerable groups that face discrimination include- Women, Scheduled
Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), Children, Aged, Disabled, Poor migrants,
People living with HIV/AIDS and Sexual Minorities. Sometimes each group faces
multiple barriers due to their multiple identities. For example, in a patriarchal
society, disabled women face double discrimination of being a women and being
disabled.5
However, in recent years public protection seems to have become an
increasingly important aspect of policing. While recorded crime continues to fall in
several countries, demand for police action related to, for example, child sexual
exploitation, domestic abuse and mental ill health are increasing. Reducing harm
and risk and securing public protection have become a key challenge of policing in
India. Police services have to deal with rising expectations in that they will not only
guard the streets but also protect people in their homes and online6. The growing
impact of the (social) media are an important factor in this: even individual cases of
abuse and failure to protect can generate massive public disapproval.

4
Siddique Ahmad: Criminology : Problems & Perspective, (5th Edn.), Lucknow, Publisher Eastern Book
Company, 2005 p. 311.
5
http://www.legalservicesindia.com/article/1079/Vulnerable-Groups-in-India---Status,-Schemes,-
Constitution-of-India.html, accessed on 16/04/21 at 23:22.
6
Auke van Dijk, Frank Hoogewoning & Maurice Punch (2015), What matters in policing? Change, values and
leadership in turbulent times. Bristol (UK): Policy Press, p.183.

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 Protecting the most vulnerable can be seen as part of a comprehensive
paradigm of policing, in which the social welfare and community outreach tasks –
next to crime and security management and order maintenance – are an
indispensable part of policing7.
A crucial question is how policing and police organisations specifically will
deal with the demand for protecting the vulnerable. For determining the special role
and responsibility of the police towards weaker sections of the society, it would not
be possible to evolve precise parameters for identifying and labelling any particular
section of the society as weak in absolute terms. The Police, therefore, takes up
special roles to protect the vulnerable groups in the following ways such as to:-
(i) monitor the progress of investigation of cases under the PCR Act or other
atrocities .against Scheduled Castes/Tribes registered in district police stations,
(ii) make inquiries or investigations into complaints from Schedule
Castes/Tribes or other weaker sections of the people that may be received directly
in the cell,
(iii) discuss with the prosecuting staff the progress of cases pending trial to
ensure satisfactory marshalling and presentation of evidence in court,
(iv) collect statistical and other relevant data for reviewing the state of
implementation of the PCR Act from time to time, and
(v) collect intelligence regarding the actual ground situation and identify
areas which require special attention for protecting the Scheduled Castes/Tribes
and other weaker sections of the people from exploitation and injustice.
The work of this cell will be mostly in the nature of making an inquiry after
scrutiny of departmental documents and ascertaining the factual position in the
field by examining affected persons.8

7
Ibid.p. 184.
8
https://www.angelfire.com/theforce/npcreport/Vol3Chap26.htm, accessed on 16/04/21 at 23:54.

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 Chapter 3
Role of Police in Communal violence:-

Policemen perform a statutory duty and are governed in all their actions by
the provisions of law. While the human rights can be protected by the police, people
are also bound to follow the legal norms to maintain law and order in the society.
The role of the police is to maintain public order by dealing with situations which
are likely to cause breach of the peace. The police have to check and abrogate
opportunities which are conducive to triggering of the communal violence. Role of
Police and administration in controlling communal violence has been wanting and
in fact prejudicial to minorities.

The police as an agency of the state is the only agency to employ violence as
a method to control violence but in modern times various religious organizations
use violence as a means to settle scores with their opponents as had existed earlier
during crusades. It is the failure of state to curb violence which results into cycle of
vengeance and holocaust. 9

Communal riots in India are generally well planned. Riots that are
spontaneous in nature can be controlled within 24 hours unless the police or the
district administration or the government wants it otherwise. In other words, there
are two necessary conditions for riots to continue beyond 24 hours – it should be
well planned and the administration, including police, should want it to continue
and should be otherwise complicit.10

9
https://www.scribd.com/document_downloads/direct/114175531?extension=pdf&ft=1618762744&lt=161
8766354&user_id=411442845&uahk=BgPN6oKsm3ylu6xIxXddxS_k_zE, accessed on 17/04/21 at 18:19.
10
https://twocircles.net/2013dec06/role_police_communal_violence.html, visited on 17/04/21 at 20:35.

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 The role of the police in communal violence is to arrest trouble shooters,
disperse rioters congregated at one place, protect public property from loot and
arson, prevent the spreading of rumours (which instigate people of different
communities in other districts and states), and maintain public order.

The police cannot perform the role of enforcing law and order without the
active cooperation of politicians, bureaucrats, judiciary and the people at large. It is
seen that, by and large, the bureaucrats in our country are ritualists, politicians
function on the basis of vested interests, judicial officials are traditionalists, and
people have no confidence in the police.

The police have, thus, to face many constraints in playing the roles expected
of them. Controlling riots and preventing communal violence by police have,
therefore, to be examined in the background of these constraints. The prevention of
communal violence requires a check on the symptoms of tension building and
tension management in riot-prone areas. The police has to identify riot-prone
structures in states, districts and cities where communal riots take place frequently
and keep a watch on the various polarity-based clusters of population in the city
layouts. Clusters of polarity-based populations are not alike.

Tension management in riot-prone areas requires working out indices in

relation to intergroup conflicts. These indices are: identification of tension building
issues, discovery of group anxieties, treatment of issues and restoration of fractured
status, negotiation, mobilization of functional group and stopping of rumours.
Rumour management involves isolation of rumour zone, counter-balance,
rendering rumour mongers inoperative and sensitizing public administration.11

11
https://www.yourarticlelibrary.com/essay/communalism/role-of-the-police-in-communal-violence-in-
india/43926, accessed on 17/04/21 at 22:15.

6
 The public administrative agencies and the police normally adopt following
strategies to deal with communal problems:
1) Developing constant intelligence, identification of communal problems
and the people involved in creating communal trouble.
2) Documentation for fixture, anti-riot schemes, internal security schemes
and rehearsals.
3) Issuing regulatory orders to control the conduct of a group of people in
public place.
4) Legal action and criminal prosecution against offenders.
5) Preventive actions against communal elements.
6) Police patrolling, surveillance, etc.
7) Resorting to social contact, meetings, or functions on given occasions.
8) Use of force, if so needed.

The maintenance of public order is to be comprehended as maintenance of

peace and tranquillity in the society. The outbreak of the communal violence is a
mass conflict situation. The police generally fail in its role due to the lack of
anticipating the symptoms of communal violence and even if it does, it does not
adopt the adequate measures to control the frenzy of communal violence.12
Thus, the basis of a civilized administration is questioned and the police have
to be made aware that their survival depends upon controlling fanatic religious
groups and anti-social elements usurping their role.

12
Ibid.

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 Chapter 4
Role of Police in Caste Conflicts

Notwithstanding that the Constitution has abolished untouchability under

Article 17 and forbids practice of inequality in any form, we still find reports of
atrocities against different castes appearing in the media with alarming frequency.

They point to the continuing social injustice in a system that perpetrates what is
perhaps the worst form of discrimination against a group of people born into a

community or caste.
“The constitution has merely prescribed, but has not given any
description of the ground reality. We can make a dent only if we recognise
the fact that the caste system is a major source, indeed an obnoxious one,
of human rights violations.”
— R. M. Pal, “The Caste System and Human Rights Violations”13

The Protection of Civil Rights Act 1955 defines civil rights as the rights
accruing to a person by reason of the abolition of untouchability. The Scheduled

Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocity) Act gave more teeth to the law-
enforcing agencies to bring to book those who humiliate and dishonour Dalit

women. Yet we come across rampant casteism and are witness to its practice in
various forms in our day-to-day lives.14

The police can work wonders but the beginning will have to be made at a
micro level. Policemen in their initial levels of recruitment are posted to villages and

towns they are familiar with. They are aware of the social milieu of the region and
their performance is closely monitored. Their training includes sensitisation to the

weaker sections.

13
Dr. R. M. Pal, “The Caste System and Human Rights Violations,” in Human Rights from the Dalit
Perspective, 2007, (Madras: Dalit Liberation Education Trust), p. 23.
14
A. Alexander Mohan : Policing caste discrimination, August 12, 2009, accessed from
https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/open-page/Policing-caste-discrimination/article16874728.ece, visited
on 18/04/21 at 21:16.

8
 Policemen should learn more about Dalits — the pockets in which they live,

their annual festivals, rituals, anniversaries of leaders and so on, so that they can
develop a sense of participation, on the one hand, and anticipate areas of social

tensions, on the other. Even a fiery speech or a street play can lead to caste tensions.
Treating Dalits with warmth when they come to a police station, giving them

a patient hearing, redressing their grievances at the earliest, conducting sports

meets and cultural activities where the Dalit youth can mingle with others, guiding

them to seek gainful employment, educating them on their rights and the special
laws that seek to protect them and, above all, making a constant effort to change

the mindset of people — by persuasion, education and, when necessary, force — to

take Dalits along can go a long way in ensuring that the atrocities against them

come to an end.
The National Police Commission’s recommendations include a section on

“police and the weaker sections,” which detailed police abuses specific to scheduled

castes. The section noted that “complaints against the police in their handling of
cases arising from atrocities against Scheduled Castes often relate to refusal to

register complaints, delayed arrival on the scene, half-hearted action while

investigating specific cases, extreme brutality in dealing with accused persons

belonging to weaker sections, soft treatment of accused persons belonging to

influential sections, making arrests or failing to make them on malafide

considerations, etc.”15

15
National Police Commission, “Police and the Weaker Sections of Society,” Chapter XIX, 1980, Third Report
of the National Police Commission (New Delhi: Government of India,), p. 4.

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 Chapter 5
CONCLUSION
Peace, security and national unity are the pillars on which the edifice of the
police is constructed. Social justice and removal of the injustices from the face of the
society are its prime objectives.
Human rights are attached to a person from the time of its birth as human
beings are born free and equal in the estimation of rights and dignity. The duty to
uphold this right initially lies on the police force and other law enforcing agencies
on behalf of the government or state. But sometimes, this force (police) fails to
protect the person, property of the person and even in many cases violation of rights
of the person is occurred by this force. Because, in our country most of the times,
Rule of the govt. is followed not the proper sense of Rule of Law. The police force
and other Law enforcing agency are used as a means to substantiate and perpetuate
the Rule of the govt.
By the findings of the various commissions and committees, the complaints
received by the human rights commissions, the stories reported by the press and
the experiences of the common people on the streets, the need for police reforms is
self-evident and urgent.
There are two directions in which the idea of police reforms must be pursued
simultaneously. One is to establish statutory institutional arrangements means the
police function to establish rule of law and not the rule of politics. The other
direction is to strengthen and improve the recruitment, training and leadership
standards of police.
So, only law itself is not possible to overcome all of the shortcomings rather
its proper implementation is a must to get positive result. Police as an organized
law enforcing agency should play a crucial role in this regard to upgrade the human
rights conditions.

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 BIBLIOGRAPHY
Books:-
1. Siddique Ahmad: Criminology : Problems & Perspective, (5th Edn.), Lucknow,
Publisher Eastern Book Company, 2005.

Journal:-
1. Dijk Auke van, Hoogewoning Frank & Punch Maurice (2015), What matters in
policing? Change, values and leadership in turbulent times. Bristol (UK): Policy Press.
2. National Police Commission, “Police and the Weaker Sections of Society,” Chapter
XIX, 1980, Third Report of the National Police Commission (New Delhi:
Government of India,), p. 4
3. Dr. Pal R. M., “The Caste System and Human Rights Violations,” in Human Rights
from the Dalit Perspective, 2007, (Madras: Dalit Liberation Education Trust).
4. A. Alexander Mohan : Policing caste discrimination, August 12, 2009.

Websites:-
1. https://www.hrw.org/reports/1999/india/India994-04.htm, accessed on
15/04/21 at 21:08.
2. https://www.scribd.com/document_downloads/direct/114175531?extension=pd
f&ft=1618762744&lt=1618766354&user_id=411442845&uahk=BgPN6oKsm3ylu6xI
xXddxS_k_zE, accessed on 16/04/21 at 15:12.
3. https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/144528754.pdf, visited on 16/04/21 at 18:13.
4. https://www.angelfire.com/theforce/npcreport/Vol3Chap26.htm, accessed on
16/04/21 at 23:54.
5. https://www.scribd.com/document_downloads/direct/114175531?extension=pd
f&ft=1618762744&lt=1618766354&user_id=411442845&uahk=BgPN6oKsm3ylu6xI
xXddxS_k_zE, accessed on 17/04/21 at 18:19.
6. https://twocircles.net/2013dec06/role_police_communal_violence.html, visited
on 17/04/21 at 20:35.
7. https://www.yourarticlelibrary.com/essay/communalism/role-of-the-police-in-
communal-violence-in-india/43926, accessed on 17/04/21 at 22:15.
8. https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/open-page/Policing-caste-
discrimination/article16874728.ece, visited on 18/04/21 at 21:16.
9. http://www.legalservicesindia.com/article/1079/Vulnerable-Groups-in-India---Status,-
Schemes,-Constitution-of-India.html, accessed on 16/04/21 at 23:22.

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