If Our politics is criminalised, the Police Force Politicised and Our courts do not function, How th | Course for UPPSC Preparation - UPPSC (UP) PDF Download

“If Our politics is criminalised, the Police Force Politicised and Our courts do not function, How then can we check violence and crime in our society?”

structure

(1) Opening    —    Is the system failed?

(2) Body    —    Difference between rich and poor.

    —    Police performance has fallen.

    —    Quote NPC.

    —    State of judiciary not much better.

    —    Organised crime has spread.

    —    Terrorism and secessionist movement.

    —    Youth organisation of political parties.

(3) Closing    —    There are no short-cuts and quick-fix solutions.

Has the system failed? A question like this should cause us serious concern. Rising violence, all round increase in crime, and a state of chaos on our roads and everywhere else is creating havoc in our society. People feel insecure. They are loosing confidence in the criminal justice system to provide them security of life and property.

The rich and the powerful can manipulate the system to their own advantage. The weak—socially, economically or physically—have little hope of getting justice against the strong. An ordinary citizen avoids lodging a complaint with the police and does not even think of going to the court for the redressal of his grievances. Police, for him, means trouble and courts mean unending harassment. The system has become corrupt, inefficient, and partisan.

Functioning under the constraints and handicaps of an outmoded system, police performance has undoubtedly fallen much short of public expectations. The public looks upon the police as an instrument of coercive power more to serve its political masters than to provide security of life and property to ordinary citizens. According to the National Police Commission, “the egregious features of the police are: politically oriented partisan performance of duties, brutality, corruption and inefficiency. The present culture of police system appears a continuation of what obtained under the British regime when the police-functioned ruthlessly as an agent for sustaining the government in power.”

The state of the judiciary is not much better. It is simply not able to cope with the tremendous increase in the workload. Cases are piled up in the courts, some pending for years. A paradise for the lawyers, our legal system has become too expensive and slow and cumbersome.

Should we then be surprised that people are increasingly taking recourse to extra-legal methods to settle their disputes? Goondas and toughs are hired to evict a tenant or to settle other scores. Criminal political police nexus is the logical outcome of this development.

Organised crime has spread its tentacles deep and wide with links at all levels of the criminal justice system. It is becoming so strong that it is posing a threat to our national security. The investigation of the Bombay blast cases has shown how powerful these criminal mafias have become. If not checked in time they could subvert our entire political and economic system.

In a plurist society like ours, ethnic, religious, linguistic, caste and regional conflicts are bound to take place, but they degenerate into violent clashes only when our political and administative structure is unable to resolve them. Terrorism and secessionist movements in many parts of the country have completely disrupted normal life. Had the local police and the criminal justice system been able to control the situation at the initial stages, the situation might not have taken such a sinister turn. Unable to contain the situation any longer, the army and the para-military forces are being frequently called upon to perform internal security duties. These are danger signals which cannot and should not be ignored.

Militarisation of the police can pose a serious threat to our nascent democracy. The system is screaming for reform, but there are few signs that the authorities have the will to take up its task. and is required is political will.

What does one mean when one says that politics has been criminalised? The answer is not so simple as to say that every political party now has criminals in them. What is important is to know that these criminals are the products of the existing social and political system.

Take for instance, the case of the youth organisations of most of the parties being full of the so-called lumpens and criminals. But who are they? They are essentially an educated but unemployed bunch. When they realise that they cannot get jobs, they join youth organsiations with the hope that under proper political patronage they will be not only able to earn money but also assume influence over society.

When people talk of Bihar being the worst manifestation of the criminalisation of politics, they do not realise that the problem is essentially due to the tardy implementation of land reforms, as a result of which, there has been a tremendous tussle between the landowing and landless class. This, in turn, has given rise to various caste leaders forming private militias.

With the declining consensus in the society and among the political and social groups, violence is bound to erupt more frequently and with greater intensity. While every effort should be made to tackle the root cause of violence, there is no alternative to dealing with it in an effective manner, but within the legal framework. The threat which crime and violence are posing to the very survival of our democratic system cannot be ignored. The system is under tremendous strain. If it is not to collapse, then it must be reformed. There are no short-cuts and quick-fix solutions.