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Why is police atrocity in India much higher compared to West?

    Contents
  1. Introduction
  2. Cuases why India's policemen are more atrocious
  3. cause #1 : Lack of Jury and Grand Jury Systems in India
  4. cause #2 : Lack of election/recall of district police chiefs
  5. cause #3 : Overnurdening and low salaries
  6. cause #4 : Criminalizing vices like gambling, liquor, drugs and prostitution
  7. Summary
  8. How can citizens of India reduce police atrocities

Introduction

The purpose of this article is to enumerate and discuss ONLY
  1. factors which increase police atrocities that are present in India, and are absent in West.
  2. factors which decrease police atrocities that are present in US/West, and are absent in India.
The purpose of this article is NOT to enumerate factors that are present/absent in BOTH countries. Hence a large number of factors, such as moral values, greed etc will get dismissed as non-issues. Why? Becuase greed is present in US/West as well as India. And moral values are at same level in India as well as West.


Key reasons why police atrocities are higher in India than in West

Following are the key reasons why police atrocities in India are higher compared to West :
  1. Lack of the Jury and Grand Jury Systems :
    The policemen in US are supervised by senior police officers, elected persons like Governors/MLAs, govt lawyers, judges, and Jurors and Grand Jurors. Whereas in India, there is supervision ONLY by senior officers, Ministers/MLAs and judges, and there is NO supervision by Jurors and Grand Jurors. Now policemen in US as well as India, do manage to cultivate nexuses with senior policemen, MLAs/Ministers, govt lawyers and judges. But policemen in US cant manage to cultivate nexuses with Jurors and Grand Jurors. Hence in US, there is one nexusless channel of checks/balance, and so it is effective. While in India, ALL channels of checks/balances are nexusprone, nexused, and so ineffective. As a result, there is NO reason for policemen NOT to indulge into atrocities, and so they do.

  2. Lack of election/recall of district police chiefs :
    Many police chiefs in US are DIRECTLY elected by citizens. Whereas ALL district police chiefs and other senior police officers are appointed by CM or Home Ministers. The citizens of India, in ALL districts, DO NOT have any procedure to expel the district police chief. In India, the citizens need to approach CM and Home Minister in State's capital to get a police chief expelled. While in US, some districts have a formal procedure by which citizens of a district can expel a police chief without approaching ANYONE, while in other districts, the citizens can get the district police chief expelled by approaching district mayor. This makes it easier for citizens to expel the district police chief if and when the need be, and so district police chiefs in US tend discourage atrocities.

  3. Low salaries of junior policemen and too much workload :
    MLAs/MPs/Ministers of India siphon away all the funds into college education (so that intellectuals get busloads of cash in the name of education), and various subsidies and developmental projects which generate bribes. As a result police dept

Why policemen in India are more atrocious compared to US ---
cause#1 : Lack of The Jury and Grand Jury Systems

The policemen in US/West are supervisied by following persons
  1. Senior policemen
  2. Elected reps like MLAs/Governors
  3. Govt lawyers
  4. judges
  5. Grand Jurors
  6. Jurors
In India, they are supevised ONLY by first 4 agencies, as judges/MPs in India, in collusion with intellectuals etc, killed the Jury Systems in India.

In US as well as India, there is NO effective supervision from senior policemen, elected reps, govt lawyers and judges. Why? These individuals have long careers, are well known and so it is trivially easy for policemen to form nexuses with them, directly or indirectly. eg in India as well as US, the senior policemen always have close contacts with elected reps and with govt lawyers etc. And senior policemen have dense nexuses with junior policemen. In addition, the junior policemen have dense nexuses with junior politicians. And these junior politicians have dense nexuses with Ministers and senior MLAs. So when a junior policemen needs unethical favors from a Minister, he can use his nexuses with senior policemen and junior politicians to cut a deal. Therefore, we seldom see any action from Ministers against atrocious policemen, junior or senior.

In the same, the senior policemen have nexuses with judges. The govt lawyers and many private lawyers also manage to nexuses with judges. In some courts in India, the nexus formation is trivially easy and pre-fabricated, as many lawyers are close relatives of judges themselves. So when a policeman needs a favor from judge, he can always use his mexuses with senior policemen and lawyers to cut a deal. Which why, we rarely see a judge punishing a corrupt/atricious policeman in India.

And in US as well as India, the junior policemen overtime cultivate nexuses with senior policemen. So if a junior policemen needs any favor from govt lawyer or elected rep or a judge, he will can always get it via senior policemen.

In short, ALL over the world, the senior policemen, govt lawyers, Ministers and judges are mere show peices when it comes to punishing atrocious policemen.

But in US, the policemen, be junior or senior, have NO nexuses with Grand Jurors and especially with Jurors, as Jurors are chosen from a population of lakhs AFTER the prima-facie guilt is established. Hence SOME nexusless supervision over policemen in US exists. Whereas ALL channels of supervision on policemen in India are nexused. This is the MOST important reason why policemen in India are completely out of control.

The Jury System creates a "fear from citizenry" inside policemen. Such fear exists in policemen of US/West, and stops them from establishing dense nexuses with criminals, indulging into rampant and open bribery and also from indulging into atrocities (in most cases, atrocities are done to extract more bribes, or to favor some third party).

And when it comes to police atrocities, there is an additional reason why The Jury System is far far more effective than the judge system. In The Jury System, the Jurors are common men, and they know that their tenure is just a few days, and when the case ends, they will be living like a common once again. So they empathize with the victim, and also feel that if the policeman has wrongfully beaten this victim today, if he goes unpunished, tomorrow he or some other policeman may beat him or his relative the same way. Basically, the victim and Jurors are in the same boat. So the Jurors DO have a motive to ensure that policemen are NOT wrongfully misusing their power against innocent persons. Whereas a judge has NO such motive. Irrespective of the class/creed or race a judge comes from, he knows that no policeman will ever hurt him. So he has no motive to protect an innocent citizen against police atrocities.

The emperical reason is more than clear : the countries which have The Jury System are the ONLY countries who have low police atrocities. The countries which use judge system are plauges with police atrocities as well as corruption in their police force.


Why policemen in India are more defunct/corrupt compared to US ---
cause#2 : Lack of Election of District Police Chiefs, and no procedure to recall

In India, ALL district police chief are appointed by the state's Home Minister and Chief Minister. In short, the HM/CM appoint only those as district police chiefs, with whom they have nexuses. To make matter worse, the CM in India's states has administrative powers to appoint 100s of district top-officers in various dept. So 1000s and 1000s of individuals inside govt and outside govt queue up to form nexuses with CM. As a result, CM in India are highly nexused individuals. Likeiwse, the Home Minister in a state has partial power to decide appointments of 100s and 100s of govt lawyers. So a large number of lawyers, criminals etc also queue up to form nexuses with Home Minister. And so persons CM/HM choose to appoint district police chiefs are strongly based on the nexuses CM/HM have. This increases the defunctness of police chiefs.

When a senior police chief manages to become district police chief (or a or more senior position) using his nexuses with CM/HM, or using nexuses with wealthy individuals, mega-criminals etc, he in tur has little option but to accept CM/HM's requests/orders to transfer junior policemen like Inspectors, Sub-inspectors etc. As a result, the entire police becomes defunct.

Whereas in US, the district police chiefs in many districts are elected. As a result, they are independent from Governors and even MLAs. And their nexuses with Governors, MLAs and other officers are weaker. This has been one reason why police force in US/West is less nexused than that in India.

Also, there is "lack of recall factor" that increases police atrocities in India. Not all, but several districts in US, citizens have procedures by which they can recall/expel the district police chief, without lobbying before top level authorities like Governors. This puts a powerful check over govt lawyers. No such recall procedures exist in India. In other districts in US, recalling the district police chief would only need citizens to canvas before City Councilors, NOT Governor/CM. This decentralization makes it easier for citizens to expel the district police chief. While citizens in India would need hectic canvasing/appealing before CM, which due to logistic reason is nearly impossible.

IOW, there is a realistic threat on district police chiefs in US, that chronic corruption, inefficiency and atrocity in his office, or even by his juniors, may result into an expulsion. While such threat does NOT exist in the minds of India's district police chiefs. So the district police chiefs in US take extra care to weed out corruption etc in their juniors. While district police chiefs in India, in general, need NOT bother themselves.

In short, lack of effective recall procedure for district police chiefs has worsened the intigrity of policemen in India.


Why police atrocities in India is much higher than West ---
cause#3 : Overburdened and low salaries

The MLAs/MPs, Ministers and officers in India prefer to blow away money on highways, skyways, fly-overs, ports, IIMs, JNU, UGC etc and NOT spend in police force. As a result, the police depts are hopelessly understaffed and policemen are extremely overloaded with work. Typical constable works 12 to 16 hour a day 6 days a week. Such overloading makes them angry and frustrated.

Also, the salaries of junior policemen is very low. In addition, a large number of constables etc are required to live in barracks or in police stations, where the living conditions are unhygenic and appalling. Many officers who are transferred outisde do not get good housing from the department. A large number of houses are in pathetic conditions. This makes them an angry and frustrated persons.


Why are police atrocities in India is much higher ---
cause#4 : Wrong laws, which crimialize the vices

India has too many laws, that make an ordinary vice a crime. eg vices like gambling, liquor, prostitution etc are crime which policemen are required/empowered to reduce. How? by arresting those who supply/consume liquor/drugs, by arresting those who gamble and/or provide gambling facilities, and by arresting prostitutes, clients and pimps. This increases burden on policemen, and also gives bad policemen a wide oppurtunity to collect bribes. And when collecting bribes is not easy, the policemen indulge into atrocties to maximine the bribe money.

The defunct intellectuals in India, in a class of their own, believe that by making laws against vices like drugs, liquor, gambling and prostitution, and by empowering policemen to arrest drug/liquor additcts/suppliers, gamblers, prostitutes, clients etc can reduce these crimes. This defucnt approach towards vices has only resulted into a rampant increase in police atrocities in India.


Summary

The police atrocities in India is much higher compared to West becuase
  1. US has Jurors and Grand Jurors to supervise policemen. Since courts are defunct in India, govt lawyers in India are less afraid of forming nexuses with criminals and passing them unethical favors.

  2. Many district police chiefs are DIRECTLY elected by citizens, and rest are appointed by Distruct Mayors after approval of Councilors. In India, ALL district policemen are appointed by CM/HM. In addition, there is NO easy procedure for citizens in India to expel a district police chief.

  3. Salaries of junior policemen is very low, and police dept are understaffed which makes them over-burdened.

  4. A large number of laws, that make vices like gambling, prostitution, liquor etc as crimes, widen the oppurtunities to collect bribes and commit atrocities.

Solution : what can citizens do to reduce police atrocities?

  1. Steps 1-3 : The citizens of India should force Panchayat Members, MLAs and MPs to following laws : LM.01 , LM.02 , LM.03. These laws would enable citizens to take subsquent steps.

  2. Step 4 : The citizens should pass laws to enact procedure CT.02. This law will create a Jury System in every district over policemen, which will create a nexusless way of supervising junior policemen, and thus create a check on policemen. In addition, this procedure ensures that policemen are transferred strictly by a random mechanism, and NOT by discretion of some small group of individuals.

  3. Step 5 : The citizens should pass laws to enact procedure CT.12. This procedure will enable the citizens to elect/recall district police chief.

  4. Step 6 : The citizens, using LM.01 and LM.02, should raise the salaries of policemen, and provide more funds to district police chiefs to buy better/more equipment.

  5. Step 7 : The citizens, using LM.01-03 should pass laws to decriminalize vics like drugs, liquor, gambling and prostitution. This will reduce oppurtunities for policemen to collect bribes, and would give them more time and resources to chase real criminals like murderers, theives etc

These TRIVIAL steps will reduce police atrocities in India.


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