Public Order | Indian Polity for UPSC CSE PDF Download

 Page 1


public order 5
p ublic  order
FiFth report
Second AdminiStr Ative reformS commiSSion
	 	 	 	 	 	 	 Justice	for	each	.	.	.	Peace	for	all
June 2007
Second Administrative reforms commission
Government of india
2nd Floor, Vigyan Bhawan Annexe, Maulana Azad road, New Delhi 110 011
e-mail : arcommission@nic.in    website : http://arc.gov.in
Page 2


public order 5
p ublic  order
FiFth report
Second AdminiStr Ative reformS commiSSion
	 	 	 	 	 	 	 Justice	for	each	.	.	.	Peace	for	all
June 2007
Second Administrative reforms commission
Government of india
2nd Floor, Vigyan Bhawan Annexe, Maulana Azad road, New Delhi 110 011
e-mail : arcommission@nic.in    website : http://arc.gov.in
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
SECOND ADMINISTRATIVE REFORMS COMMISSION
FIFTH REPORT
Publ Ic O RDER
Ju NE 2007
Page 3


public order 5
p ublic  order
FiFth report
Second AdminiStr Ative reformS commiSSion
	 	 	 	 	 	 	 Justice	for	each	.	.	.	Peace	for	all
June 2007
Second Administrative reforms commission
Government of india
2nd Floor, Vigyan Bhawan Annexe, Maulana Azad road, New Delhi 110 011
e-mail : arcommission@nic.in    website : http://arc.gov.in
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
SECOND ADMINISTRATIVE REFORMS COMMISSION
FIFTH REPORT
Publ Ic O RDER
Ju NE 2007
PREFACE
“If real criminals in our society are left without punishment for years, because of delay in criminal justice 
for various reasons, it will indeed result in the multiplication of people taking to criminal acts.”
Dr. A.P .J. Abdul Kalam
Maintenance of public order and the rule of law is a key sovereign function of the State, as 
important in its own way as defending the nation from external aggression or maintaining the 
unity and integrity of the nation State. “It is through the rule of law”, wrote Harold laski, “that 
we have sought to avoid not merely the obvious dangers of unfettered executive discretion in 
administration, we have sought also to ensure that the citizen shall have his rights decided by a body 
of men whose security of tenure is safeguarded against the shifting currents of public opinion”. 
Rule of law has been defined by Dicey as “the absolute supremacy and predominance of regular 
law as opposed to the influence of arbitrary power, and excludes the existence of arbitrariness, 
of prerogative or even wide discretionary authority on the part of government”. The eminent 
jurist, locke, put it succinctly, “wherever law ends, tyranny begins”. by putting the lives and 
liberty of common citizens at risk, the possible collapse of public order and of the rule of law 
has the potential to destroy the faith of citizens in its government and erode its legitimacy. large 
scale violence and disruption can threaten a country’s social fabric, endanger national unity and 
destroy prospects for economic growth and development. If there is a failure of public order, it 
is because of the inadequacies of the legislature, the executive and the judiciary and we need to 
address them holistically in order to change things for the better. 
The police have always been recognised as a vital arm of the State, whether in the ancient 
kingdoms that ruled India or in the city states of Greece. Our colonial rulers recognised the 
importance of maintaining public tranquility through the use of an armed police force knowing 
that the tenuous grip of a few thousand british over India’s teeming millions would not survive any 
large scale public upsurge. They did so by establishing good communication links - the railways 
and the postal services - and by using the strong arm of the State to put down, with the use of 
force, any sign of challenge to the authority of the british c rown. They therefore developed the 
police in India as an armed force, as an organisation oriented not to the service of the people of 
India but principally to maintain the authority of the c rown. It was an agency of oppression, of 
subjugation, used for protecting british interests and to sustain their empire. The relationship 
between the police and the public was one of suspicion.
At Independence, Sardar Patel, even though a witness throughout the freedom struggle to 
the indiscriminate use of the bullet and the lathi by the police, knew that the police and the 
civil services were but the instruments of the government of the day. He felt that if these services 
could serve a foreign power, efficiently and effectively, there was no reason why they could not 
be expected to serve much more efficiently and with a greater sense of dedication, their own 
i
Page 4


public order 5
p ublic  order
FiFth report
Second AdminiStr Ative reformS commiSSion
	 	 	 	 	 	 	 Justice	for	each	.	.	.	Peace	for	all
June 2007
Second Administrative reforms commission
Government of india
2nd Floor, Vigyan Bhawan Annexe, Maulana Azad road, New Delhi 110 011
e-mail : arcommission@nic.in    website : http://arc.gov.in
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
SECOND ADMINISTRATIVE REFORMS COMMISSION
FIFTH REPORT
Publ Ic O RDER
Ju NE 2007
PREFACE
“If real criminals in our society are left without punishment for years, because of delay in criminal justice 
for various reasons, it will indeed result in the multiplication of people taking to criminal acts.”
Dr. A.P .J. Abdul Kalam
Maintenance of public order and the rule of law is a key sovereign function of the State, as 
important in its own way as defending the nation from external aggression or maintaining the 
unity and integrity of the nation State. “It is through the rule of law”, wrote Harold laski, “that 
we have sought to avoid not merely the obvious dangers of unfettered executive discretion in 
administration, we have sought also to ensure that the citizen shall have his rights decided by a body 
of men whose security of tenure is safeguarded against the shifting currents of public opinion”. 
Rule of law has been defined by Dicey as “the absolute supremacy and predominance of regular 
law as opposed to the influence of arbitrary power, and excludes the existence of arbitrariness, 
of prerogative or even wide discretionary authority on the part of government”. The eminent 
jurist, locke, put it succinctly, “wherever law ends, tyranny begins”. by putting the lives and 
liberty of common citizens at risk, the possible collapse of public order and of the rule of law 
has the potential to destroy the faith of citizens in its government and erode its legitimacy. large 
scale violence and disruption can threaten a country’s social fabric, endanger national unity and 
destroy prospects for economic growth and development. If there is a failure of public order, it 
is because of the inadequacies of the legislature, the executive and the judiciary and we need to 
address them holistically in order to change things for the better. 
The police have always been recognised as a vital arm of the State, whether in the ancient 
kingdoms that ruled India or in the city states of Greece. Our colonial rulers recognised the 
importance of maintaining public tranquility through the use of an armed police force knowing 
that the tenuous grip of a few thousand british over India’s teeming millions would not survive any 
large scale public upsurge. They did so by establishing good communication links - the railways 
and the postal services - and by using the strong arm of the State to put down, with the use of 
force, any sign of challenge to the authority of the british c rown. They therefore developed the 
police in India as an armed force, as an organisation oriented not to the service of the people of 
India but principally to maintain the authority of the c rown. It was an agency of oppression, of 
subjugation, used for protecting british interests and to sustain their empire. The relationship 
between the police and the public was one of suspicion.
At Independence, Sardar Patel, even though a witness throughout the freedom struggle to 
the indiscriminate use of the bullet and the lathi by the police, knew that the police and the 
civil services were but the instruments of the government of the day. He felt that if these services 
could serve a foreign power, efficiently and effectively, there was no reason why they could not 
be expected to serve much more efficiently and with a greater sense of dedication, their own 
i
At the same time, the incidence of prevalent social evils such as untouchability, dowry, child 
labour and physical and mental violence against women and children has continued unabated. 
These evils are both a cause and a consequence of deep rooted discriminatory practices against 
the vulnerable and deprived sections of our society. In particular, violence against women is 
complex and diverse in its manifestations. Its elimination requires a comprehensive and systematic 
response. Ending impunity and ensuring accountability for violence against women are crucial 
to prevent and reduce such violence. Often, the victims of such crimes that are rooted in the 
discriminatory practices of society suffer secondary victimisation at the hands of the police and it 
is critical therefore to sensitise police personnel to gender issues as well as other social disparities. 
This has to be backed by political commitment, systematic and sustained action and strong, 
dedicated and permanent institutional mechanisms to eliminate such offences that stem from 
social disparities.
The incidence of crime and violence is a reasonably good index of the efficacy or otherwise 
of the rule of law. The conviction rate in IPc cases which was 64.8% in 1961, has dropped to 
42.4% in 2005. Rampant crime accompanied by low conviction rates attest to our failure in 
enforcing the rule of law and as a result, we have the phenomenon of glorification of vigilantism 
in our popular culture as testified by the success of the film – Rang de Basanti.
As has been stated by Dicey, “every office, from the Prime Minister to a constable is under the 
same responsibility for every act done without legal justifications as any other citizen”. Rule of law 
is a fundamental feature of our constitution. No one, not even the Home Minister in charge of 
the police administration and answerable to Parliament in the matter, has the power to direct the 
police as to how it would exercise its statutory powers, duties and discretion. At the same time, 
as noted by the National Police commission in its 1981 report, what is required is creation of 
the awareness of direct accountability to the people at the various levels in the police hierarchy. 
but this also requires an aware and vigilant citizenry, because, as pointed out by Montesquieu, 
“the tyranny of a prince in an oligarchy is not as dangerous to the public welfare as the apathy of 
a citizen in a democracy”. Hence the vision for the future has to focus on the citizen as depicted 
in the accompanying figure (Evolution of Police - Shifting Roles and Perspectives).
In our report, we have tried to chalk out a reform agenda for the principal agencies responsible 
for enforcing the rule of law and maintaining public order, viz. the police and the criminal justice 
system. In respect of police reforms, we have tried to rise above the cacophony of the recent, rather 
sterile, debate on police reforms in the country in the context of the proposed amendments to 
the Police Act and have come out, instead, with a holistic and long term view of what needs to 
be done. Our focus is not on pitting one organ of the State against another but on creating new 
structures, based  on the best international examples that would usher in an era of accountability, 
functional autonomy, transparency, responsiveness and professionalism in the Indian police. The 
emphasis is on changing the character of the police from a “force” meant to enforce the writ of 
the State to a “service” meant to secure the lives and liberty and constitutional freedoms of the 
citizens of a free and democratic country. 
country when free. but, he envisaged quite a different role for the police in independent India. 
He observed, “You have served the previous regime under different conditions. The people then had a 
different attitude to you, but the reasons for that attitude have now vanished. Now the time has come 
when you can secure the affection and regard of the people.” 
However, the transformation that Sardar Patel envisaged is still to be fully achieved in post 
independence India even after the lapse of more than half a century. As noted by the National 
Police c ommission, “ the present organisation of the police, based on the Police Act of 1861, is not 
suited for the current times because an authoritarian police of the imperial regime cannot function 
well in a democratic country.” The ugly fact is that no one appears to be sincerely interested in 
moulding the police into what Sardar Patel envisaged. This is particularly unfortunate because 
new threats to internal security in the form of terrorism and organised crime have emerged 
while the old problems of communalism, left-wing terrorism/naxalism, parochialism and social 
divisions and discrimination on the basis of caste, gender, language and ethnic identity still beset 
us. Religion, which should be a unifying force in society, has become in India, a force for discord 
and violence. It should be recognised however, that with all these problems, we have still come 
a long way in our growth and development as a nation. At the time of Independence, many 
observers wrote us off as a nation state destined to failure, teetering on the edge of anarchy and 
disintegration, unlikely to survive for long as a united entity. We continue to defy those prophets 
of doom to this day, maintaining our democratic status among a sea of failed States and repelling 
the recurrent threats to our unity and integrity by a combination of grit and determination, 
resilience and fortitude.
Yet, there comes a time when a nation has to achieve and ensure long term stability in order 
to carry out substantial economic and social transformation. India is poised for an economic 
upsurge that can potentially change the lives of its people, as it gears up to tap the demographic 
dividend available from its youthful and talented population. For the economic boom to be 
sustained, the country has to move not only to a trajectory of high and sustained growth but 
also to high levels of social stability and public tranquility. For this to happen, governance has 
to go beyond the daily dose of crisis management and administration has to rise above merely 
a “holding of the fort”. 
While threats to national security from such problems as insurgent movements in the North 
East and the secessionist movement in Jammu and Kashmir have overarching political dimensions 
as well, which we propose to deal with separately in a report on conflict Management, many 
other threats to internal security are exacerbated by our collective failure in providing good 
governance in vast swathes of the country. 
Organised crime in particular has emerged as one of the most menacing challenges faced by 
this country. Those most successful in the commissioning of crimes are often the best organised 
and garner the most profit and cause the most harm. While the realm of organised crime is 
somewhat fluid, its reach runs deep to cover areas like money laundering, drug trafficking, illegal 
immigration, fraud, armed robbery etc. It is a big business and comes with huge cost. 
ii iii
Page 5


public order 5
p ublic  order
FiFth report
Second AdminiStr Ative reformS commiSSion
	 	 	 	 	 	 	 Justice	for	each	.	.	.	Peace	for	all
June 2007
Second Administrative reforms commission
Government of india
2nd Floor, Vigyan Bhawan Annexe, Maulana Azad road, New Delhi 110 011
e-mail : arcommission@nic.in    website : http://arc.gov.in
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
SECOND ADMINISTRATIVE REFORMS COMMISSION
FIFTH REPORT
Publ Ic O RDER
Ju NE 2007
PREFACE
“If real criminals in our society are left without punishment for years, because of delay in criminal justice 
for various reasons, it will indeed result in the multiplication of people taking to criminal acts.”
Dr. A.P .J. Abdul Kalam
Maintenance of public order and the rule of law is a key sovereign function of the State, as 
important in its own way as defending the nation from external aggression or maintaining the 
unity and integrity of the nation State. “It is through the rule of law”, wrote Harold laski, “that 
we have sought to avoid not merely the obvious dangers of unfettered executive discretion in 
administration, we have sought also to ensure that the citizen shall have his rights decided by a body 
of men whose security of tenure is safeguarded against the shifting currents of public opinion”. 
Rule of law has been defined by Dicey as “the absolute supremacy and predominance of regular 
law as opposed to the influence of arbitrary power, and excludes the existence of arbitrariness, 
of prerogative or even wide discretionary authority on the part of government”. The eminent 
jurist, locke, put it succinctly, “wherever law ends, tyranny begins”. by putting the lives and 
liberty of common citizens at risk, the possible collapse of public order and of the rule of law 
has the potential to destroy the faith of citizens in its government and erode its legitimacy. large 
scale violence and disruption can threaten a country’s social fabric, endanger national unity and 
destroy prospects for economic growth and development. If there is a failure of public order, it 
is because of the inadequacies of the legislature, the executive and the judiciary and we need to 
address them holistically in order to change things for the better. 
The police have always been recognised as a vital arm of the State, whether in the ancient 
kingdoms that ruled India or in the city states of Greece. Our colonial rulers recognised the 
importance of maintaining public tranquility through the use of an armed police force knowing 
that the tenuous grip of a few thousand british over India’s teeming millions would not survive any 
large scale public upsurge. They did so by establishing good communication links - the railways 
and the postal services - and by using the strong arm of the State to put down, with the use of 
force, any sign of challenge to the authority of the british c rown. They therefore developed the 
police in India as an armed force, as an organisation oriented not to the service of the people of 
India but principally to maintain the authority of the c rown. It was an agency of oppression, of 
subjugation, used for protecting british interests and to sustain their empire. The relationship 
between the police and the public was one of suspicion.
At Independence, Sardar Patel, even though a witness throughout the freedom struggle to 
the indiscriminate use of the bullet and the lathi by the police, knew that the police and the 
civil services were but the instruments of the government of the day. He felt that if these services 
could serve a foreign power, efficiently and effectively, there was no reason why they could not 
be expected to serve much more efficiently and with a greater sense of dedication, their own 
i
At the same time, the incidence of prevalent social evils such as untouchability, dowry, child 
labour and physical and mental violence against women and children has continued unabated. 
These evils are both a cause and a consequence of deep rooted discriminatory practices against 
the vulnerable and deprived sections of our society. In particular, violence against women is 
complex and diverse in its manifestations. Its elimination requires a comprehensive and systematic 
response. Ending impunity and ensuring accountability for violence against women are crucial 
to prevent and reduce such violence. Often, the victims of such crimes that are rooted in the 
discriminatory practices of society suffer secondary victimisation at the hands of the police and it 
is critical therefore to sensitise police personnel to gender issues as well as other social disparities. 
This has to be backed by political commitment, systematic and sustained action and strong, 
dedicated and permanent institutional mechanisms to eliminate such offences that stem from 
social disparities.
The incidence of crime and violence is a reasonably good index of the efficacy or otherwise 
of the rule of law. The conviction rate in IPc cases which was 64.8% in 1961, has dropped to 
42.4% in 2005. Rampant crime accompanied by low conviction rates attest to our failure in 
enforcing the rule of law and as a result, we have the phenomenon of glorification of vigilantism 
in our popular culture as testified by the success of the film – Rang de Basanti.
As has been stated by Dicey, “every office, from the Prime Minister to a constable is under the 
same responsibility for every act done without legal justifications as any other citizen”. Rule of law 
is a fundamental feature of our constitution. No one, not even the Home Minister in charge of 
the police administration and answerable to Parliament in the matter, has the power to direct the 
police as to how it would exercise its statutory powers, duties and discretion. At the same time, 
as noted by the National Police commission in its 1981 report, what is required is creation of 
the awareness of direct accountability to the people at the various levels in the police hierarchy. 
but this also requires an aware and vigilant citizenry, because, as pointed out by Montesquieu, 
“the tyranny of a prince in an oligarchy is not as dangerous to the public welfare as the apathy of 
a citizen in a democracy”. Hence the vision for the future has to focus on the citizen as depicted 
in the accompanying figure (Evolution of Police - Shifting Roles and Perspectives).
In our report, we have tried to chalk out a reform agenda for the principal agencies responsible 
for enforcing the rule of law and maintaining public order, viz. the police and the criminal justice 
system. In respect of police reforms, we have tried to rise above the cacophony of the recent, rather 
sterile, debate on police reforms in the country in the context of the proposed amendments to 
the Police Act and have come out, instead, with a holistic and long term view of what needs to 
be done. Our focus is not on pitting one organ of the State against another but on creating new 
structures, based  on the best international examples that would usher in an era of accountability, 
functional autonomy, transparency, responsiveness and professionalism in the Indian police. The 
emphasis is on changing the character of the police from a “force” meant to enforce the writ of 
the State to a “service” meant to secure the lives and liberty and constitutional freedoms of the 
citizens of a free and democratic country. 
country when free. but, he envisaged quite a different role for the police in independent India. 
He observed, “You have served the previous regime under different conditions. The people then had a 
different attitude to you, but the reasons for that attitude have now vanished. Now the time has come 
when you can secure the affection and regard of the people.” 
However, the transformation that Sardar Patel envisaged is still to be fully achieved in post 
independence India even after the lapse of more than half a century. As noted by the National 
Police c ommission, “ the present organisation of the police, based on the Police Act of 1861, is not 
suited for the current times because an authoritarian police of the imperial regime cannot function 
well in a democratic country.” The ugly fact is that no one appears to be sincerely interested in 
moulding the police into what Sardar Patel envisaged. This is particularly unfortunate because 
new threats to internal security in the form of terrorism and organised crime have emerged 
while the old problems of communalism, left-wing terrorism/naxalism, parochialism and social 
divisions and discrimination on the basis of caste, gender, language and ethnic identity still beset 
us. Religion, which should be a unifying force in society, has become in India, a force for discord 
and violence. It should be recognised however, that with all these problems, we have still come 
a long way in our growth and development as a nation. At the time of Independence, many 
observers wrote us off as a nation state destined to failure, teetering on the edge of anarchy and 
disintegration, unlikely to survive for long as a united entity. We continue to defy those prophets 
of doom to this day, maintaining our democratic status among a sea of failed States and repelling 
the recurrent threats to our unity and integrity by a combination of grit and determination, 
resilience and fortitude.
Yet, there comes a time when a nation has to achieve and ensure long term stability in order 
to carry out substantial economic and social transformation. India is poised for an economic 
upsurge that can potentially change the lives of its people, as it gears up to tap the demographic 
dividend available from its youthful and talented population. For the economic boom to be 
sustained, the country has to move not only to a trajectory of high and sustained growth but 
also to high levels of social stability and public tranquility. For this to happen, governance has 
to go beyond the daily dose of crisis management and administration has to rise above merely 
a “holding of the fort”. 
While threats to national security from such problems as insurgent movements in the North 
East and the secessionist movement in Jammu and Kashmir have overarching political dimensions 
as well, which we propose to deal with separately in a report on conflict Management, many 
other threats to internal security are exacerbated by our collective failure in providing good 
governance in vast swathes of the country. 
Organised crime in particular has emerged as one of the most menacing challenges faced by 
this country. Those most successful in the commissioning of crimes are often the best organised 
and garner the most profit and cause the most harm. While the realm of organised crime is 
somewhat fluid, its reach runs deep to cover areas like money laundering, drug trafficking, illegal 
immigration, fraud, armed robbery etc. It is a big business and comes with huge cost. 
ii iii
That is why, in the context of reforms to the police set-up in the country, we have focused on 
separation of and independence for, the crime investigation branch of the police from the general 
law and order branch under the supervision of an independent board of Investigation. This would 
insulate crime investigation, which is a specialised function, both from political interference and 
from the day to day law and order functions that the police are saddled with. At the same time 
we have recommended an officer oriented civil police with initial recruitment at the level of the 
Assistant Sub Inspector (ASI). Autonomy for the law and order branch of the police is sought to 
be ensured by providing for a collegial system for appointments and transfers of police officers, 
a move that will also ensure security of tenure. Independent accountability mechanisms have 
been recommended at the state and district levels to look into complaints against the police. The 
traditional accountability structures such as the practice of the annual performance report of the 
SPs/Dy SPs being written by the collectors and of the DGP/IGPs by the chief Secretary should 
also be revived. While the ultimate accountability of the police to the elected government of the 
day cannot be diluted, its operational grip on day to day matters has to be relaxed in order to 
guarantee operational freedom and autonomy for the police to fulfill their statutory functions 
without fear or favour.
Most of all, the mindset of negativism has to go. Police stations should become service 
centres rather than power centres. They have a role which is multi-dimensional, encompassing 
responsive policing, preventive policing, proactive policing and developmental policing. Police 
stations have to register complaints immediately even on email, and training of the personnel 
has to be reoriented to focus not only on structural skills but also the neglected soft skills such 
as communication, counselling, team building and leadership. The police service is the primary 
agent of the criminal justice system and its role has to be to protect human rights including 
the particular rights of the most vulnerable victims, such as women and children. The ethos of 
the police should reflect accommodation for all, prompt response to emergencies, professional 
problem solving, courteous behaviour, process based service dealing and public partnership in 
policing decisions.
Aristotle had said, “It is in justice that the ordering of society is centered”. The criminal justice 
system is in many ways the bedrock of a democratic society since it upholds the rule of law which 
is a fundamental feature of a true democracy. Our criminal laws have to be sensitive to the changes 
in social structure and social philosophy, a reflection of contemporary social consciousness and a 
mirror of our values as a civilization. Delay in justice is justice denied, denial of justice is justice 
buried and non-accessibility of justice is justice aborted. A study undertaken by Dr. Wolfgang 
Kohling and the World bank found a relationship between the quality of the judiciary and 
economic development based on data for Indian states. Quality was measured in terms of backlog 
of cases and frequency of appeals. It was found that a weak judiciary has a negative effect on social 
development, economic activity and on poverty and crime. Our criminal justice system, with a 
staggering 2.63 crore cases pending in the district and subordinate courts (though the number is 
less intimidating when we recognize that 29.49 lakh cases pertain to traffic challans and motor 
vehicle claims) is close to collapse with relatively unimportant cases clogging the judicial system. 
In these days when modern technology is available, delays in the courts are unpardonable. u se of 
e-governance tools to speed up the processing of criminal cases is imperative. The costs involved 
are quite insignificant when compared to the economic and social costs of the delay.
In a court of law, legal technicalities must not override the basic requirement of providing 
justice. In this context, wide ranging recommendations have been made on issues such as the 
constitution of local courts, the right to silence of the accused, the admissibility of a statement 
made to a police officer, provisions for enhanced penalties for those guilty of instigating and 
fomenting mob violence, a functional linkage between crime investigation and prosecution 
to improve conviction rates and facilitating the police and courts to concentrate on their core 
function of handling serious crimes by outsourcing enforcement of social legislations and minor 
offences to the concerned departments. Other relevant issues such as guidelines for sentencing 
so that penalties are deterrent and not discretionary, how to tackle the problem of perjury that 
bedevils our courts, how to use the preventive provisions of our statutes to preempt mob violence 
etc. have also been covered in our Report.
The criminal justice system needs to be rearranged to inspire public confidence by serving 
all communities fairly, to provide consistently high standards of service for the victims and the 
witnesses, and to bring more offences to justice through a modern and efficient justice system 
with rigorous enforcement so as to usher in compliance with the rule of law. The criminal justice 
system should be combined with modern and well run police and other services to render justice 
for all. It is by ensuring justice for each that we can assure peace for all.
Public order and rule of law should be embedded in the minds of the people from childhood 
itself. The areas of vulnerabilities will have to be identified and dealt with at a young age by 
means of appropriate education and by removal of discrimination and fear. This applies to all 
communities, majority or minorities. The mind is the breeding ground for violation of rules 
which graduates to conflicts and terrorism.
A new doctrine of policing and criminal justice embedded in an inclusive approach to 
governance, with zero tolerance towards those who violate the law is what has been propounded 
here. When we consider reforms in the criminal justice system or in police administration we 
should go for an integrated and holistic approach and mere tinkering or expediency will disrupt 
the reform process. The ‘justice gap’ between the number of crimes committed, recorded by police 
and the number where an offender is brought to justice in the court needs to be scrupulously 
bridged and the rule of law should reign in the realm. I may state, in conclusion, that the approach 
we have taken is to recommend “big bang” reforms that are structural, and not incremental in 
nature. This is not to state that their implementation cannot be incremental; it can, and probably 
has to be, on the basis of consensus building among our political parties and more importantly, 
in public opinion; but the implementation should be with a clear cut idea of what is the eventual 
outcome envisaged and what is the road map regarding how to get there. If this Report has sent 
a clear signal to those committing offences that the criminal justice system is united in ensuring 
their detection, correction and punishment we would have achieved our objective. 
iv v