New Delhi: At 75, former Director General of Police, Prakash Singh, is a guiding force for honest and upright policemen.
Famous for his vigorous campaign for police reforms, the distinguished officer is known for his incredible record of maintaining law and order during his several postings.
Inaction on the part of the authorities led him to approach the Supreme Court (SC). Singh filed a Public Interest Litigation in 1996, seeking separation of the investigative and law-and-order functions of the police, recruitment reforms, clear promotion and tenure policies for officers, accountability and transparency, boosting of community relations and involvement of disadvantaged groups.
His single-handed battle against the entire might of the government, forced the SC to uphold his petition. The Court directed the Centre and the state governments to address the issues raised by Singh.
"Despite that, for the last four years, I've been struggling to get the directives implemented," he said. "That's because the states are being clever and find ways and means to dodge the implementations. Some are even pretending to comply, without actually doing anything."
Frustrated, though not dejected, the retired cop said, "The police should be accountable to the people and uphold the rule of the law and not be guided by the diktat of the political masters."
Below are excerpts from an interview.
GULF NEWS: Why is Delhi and the NCR (National Capital Region) seeing an immense rise in crime rate — missing children, women being assaulted and murders all around?
PRAKASH SINGH: There is a definite increase in crime, and in the NCR it is partly because policing here is not of high standard compared to Delhi. The capital has mobile vehicles, well-equipped control rooms and their response time is faster. The other factors in and around Delhi include migration from other parts of the country by people looking for better employment opportunities and who want to get rich quickly. As for crime against women, I would attribute it to the erosion in our family values and overall disrespect towards women.
Three years into the Aarushi Talwar murder probe, the investigative agency has not been able to solve the case. Is there a need for re-investigation?
[Aarushi, 14, was found murdered on the morning of May 16, 2008 by her parents, dentist couple Rajesh and Nupur at their Jalvayu Vihar residence in Noida, Uttar Pradesh. Immediate suspicion fell on their domestic help Hemraj, who was found dead on the Talwar's house terrace. The post mortem report asserted that both died of injuries from a blunt weapon and the cuts on their neck were inflicted when they were already dead].
I cannot claim in-depth knowledge of the case, but somehow I do feel uncomfortable with the way the case has been investigated and pursued. This is because of the closure report on the case given by the CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation). Its standards are generally high, except in cases that have political implications. There were no names of the accused in the report, but when the trial court judge decided to serve summons to Aarushi's parents, the CBI too blamed the parents. I am not imputing any motives or accusing the CBI of corruption, but something is not quite right. And I do feel that Aarushi's case needs a fresh look by another batch of investigators.
As a police officer, where do you think is the lacunae?
The Uttar Pradesh police, where the crime took place, messed up the crime scene. The first few hours and the first few days are very crucial for investigations. But in this case so much was destroyed and that's why it subsequently became difficult to pick up the threads.
Going by circumstantial evidence, as there wasn't any forced entry to the house and the only living persons are the parents of Aarushi, what does it denote?
I think there is more to it and the real truth is yet to come out.
Would you term the case as ‘a perfect murder'?
It was well executed, but badly investigated. In cases like these, even a single strand of hair can lead you to detection of crime. But if everything is washed away, what can one conclude.
You had recently said ‘if the forensic experts in India were not in a position to conclusively nail or identify the accused, the CBI could have referred the matter to the best forensics available anywhere in the world.' Please elaborate.
Forensics is a very comprehensive term. All I can say is that some points were inconclusive on whatever was examined in the forensic laboratories. Surely, the finger prints, etc, gathered from the crime scene could have been better examined.
What would you suggest now?
Maybe questioning the servants again. One of them implicitly mentioned the incident during the narco or brain mapping test. But then the Talwar couple has not said anything to arouse any such suspicion of the investigators, so one can't really say.
There have been several unresolved cases of late. What's lacking in India's security system and criminal justice system?
The police are both dishonest and corrupt. It's a miracle that they are able to deliver whatever they do! The country is under-policed, especially in many states. But when the Centre asks them to increase the number of policemen, the state authorities say they do not have the money, which is an absolute lie. They have enough money for swindling and misappropriation, but none to provide security to its citizens.
The problem is also with our criminal justice system, which rests on four pillars — police, prosecution, judiciary and jails. While the judiciary takes several years to decide the cases, the jails are over-crowded, with several inmates having put in much longer time than they would have if sentenced. Then there is no co-ordination between the police and prosecution.
Unlike in India, in the West a prosecuting officer is attached to every police station and this ensures the investigation moves in the right direction. But here, the investigating machinery is poor because it has not been separated from law-and-order issues. There's a need for dedicated investigators independent of such concerns.
And what about dedication and honesty in the profession?
The quality of police officers is poor because they are seeing that what pays is not their professional efficiency, but proximity to a politician. The standard of policing will definitely go down if rise in ranks happen because of closeness to powers-that-be. It's all done at the cost of the profession.
Do the policemen have too much on their plate?
Yes, this is another major issue in our country. Nowhere in the world will you see the complexity of security as in India. It has to deal with many problems including crime, organised crime by money launderers and (arms) smugglers, drug trafficking, women and child trafficking, infiltration from across the borders, illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, guarding coastal areas, the problem of Jammu and Kashmir, keeping vigil on borders of China and Burma, and regional concerns like caste, elections and river disputes.
Imagine, all these have to be tackled by the police. In a nutshell, they have to atone for the sins of omissions and commissions of the politicians.
Years of distinguished service
Prakash Singh was born on January 10, 1936 to Ram Pyari Devi and Suraj Nath Singh in Azamgarh, Uttar Pradesh.
Studied in Allahabad. After graduation, he did his Masters in History from Allahabad University in 1957.
- Worked as a teacher in Allahabad University for a year.
- Appeared for the Civil Services Examinations and qualified for the Indian Police Service, which he joined in 1959.
- Served in several disturbed areas of the country including Nagaland as an intelligence officer from 1965 to 1968.
- As Inspector General, he served in Punjab from 1987 to 1991 when terrorism was at its peak.
- Posted to Assam in 1991 as Director General Police after the separatist group ULFA (United Liberation Front of Asom), threatened to disrupt elections in the state.
- Served as Director General of Police, Uttar Pradesh, from 1991 to 1993.
- Director General of Border Security Force from 1993 to 1994.
- Retired from service in 1994.
- Currently engaged in public interest matters including campaigning for police reforms and crusading against corruption.
