Patricia Mukhim
The Conrad Sangma led Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) Government has been called a government of greenhorns with many of the elected being first time MLAs and ministers. Despite that, the first timers have been responsive and tried to give their best. That must be appreciated. Till date we have not heard of anyone of them being involved in any kind of scam, barring one Department. Indeed what’s happening in the Home Department should bother Chief Minister Conrad Sangma because it worries a lot of people who know the goings-on. In fact, the Home Department could become Conrad’s Achilles heel if he does not take stock of things and set matters right.
The recent change of trade from Armed Branch (AB) to Unarmed Branch (UB) has come under flak from the incumbents. The Home Department’s clarification carries little weight because the entire process is unprecedented. Senior police officials are appalled by this introduction of an entirely new change of trade from AB to UB constables because AB constables have to go through an entirely different recruitment process. Their physical tests of endurance and selection procedures are completely different from that adopted for the UBs. It is alleged that the AB constables who wish to convert to UBs can do so at a price with Rs one lakh being the minimum bid. It appears that this conversion racket is a package deal. The package includes not just conversion from AB to UB but also postings to Ri-Bhoi, or West/East Jaintia Hills districts so that the highest bidder can recover the amount paid for conversion within no time. The modus operandi for all this should be unearthed by the Meghalaya High Court which should, in all fairness, treat this article as a PIL.
The higher-ups in the Home Department are in the know of this. After we have had DGPs like Mr Ramchandran serving the state, those following him have fallen short of expectations. Mr Ramchandran had streamlined and digitized the recruitment process and results, thereby leaving no scope for political interference in recruitment. It is sad that the Home Department has now fallen from grace. What is happening today is a sinister ploy that has already demoralized several police officials who unfortunately don’t speak up for fear that they will be penalized. Only those who toe the line are receiving favours from the powers that be. By the time the present DGP Mr Chandranathan superannuates and leaves the state, Meghalaya Police which had once won laurels for tackling militancy in Khasi-Jaintia and Garo Hills with grit and determination, with some having given their precious lives in the process, will become a force that is corrupt to the core and without the resilience required to fight crime.
Meghalaya Police (MLP) had gone through tough times in the recent past and earned accolades of not only of the common people, but also of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) for their outstanding ability to neutralize the GNLA and other dreaded militant organizations operating from Garo Hills and West Khasi Hills. After relentless efforts and enormous sacrifice by many police officers and brave men, peace has now dawned on Meghalaya. This should be the time to take stock and strengthen the morale of the MLP to safeguard this hard earned peace through dedicated training, strengthening basic policing, and speedy investigation of heinous crimes such as rape, murder etc and work on improving the conviction rates as a whole.
But the present establishment does not have a pro-active action plan to improve the quality of investigation in major cases, to secure conviction of the guilty. Conviction is the best deterrent to crime. There is such a thing as ‘peace time policing’ where the system can afford to provide the best training to its cadres so that they are prepared for the worst case scenarios. Basic policing also includes traffic management, strengthening investigation, special training in investigation of cyber crimes amongst others. The last named – cyber crime has risen exponentially in Meghalaya. So far not a single FIR filed on cyber crime has been resolved. Isn’t it time we asked hard questions to the DGP and of course his political boss the Home Minister? Already the UB constables are up in arms against the conversion of AB to UB. Are we looking at creating a mutiny here? Will this not create bad blood within the Meghalaya Police?
For a while now senior officials have complained that transfers and postings are effected by flouting the Supreme Court guidelines given in Prakash Singh versus Union of India case. And to think that Mr Prakash Singh, an officer we all respect went to Court to bring justice and transparency in the policing system which his younger colleagues are today compromising. The Supreme Court had categorically directed that regular postings and transfers should be done after giving two years tenure in Law and Order posts. In Meghalaya, postings are given to highest bidders for the most sought after districts of Ri Bhoi, East and West Jaintia Hills – the coal belts and the trail where the coal trucks take on their way out of Meghalaya. Those who can pay huge sums are posted to these districts starting from the SP to the lowest ranking constable.
Out of forty two police stations in Meghalaya, half have no basic facilities such as clean toilets, separate resting places for women police, a decent sitting area for the public, and food for those in police lock-ups. In fact, food is brought from the nearby hotels on payment from the pockets of the local police. Now why would the police shell out money from their pockets? So there is a quid pro quo. The local hoteliers are allowed to run their illegal businesses such as selling liquor and allowing commercial sex etc. Is it not the responsibility of the DGP to address these basic requirements at the Police Stations? How many police stations has he visited since he took over?
The Station House Officers (SHOs) lament that vehicles are not available at police stations for them to arrive at a crime scene at the earliest. Response time is critical to policing but how can they do so without vehicles? Most of the new vehicles are allocated by the AIG Mr Iangrai, who it is believed has the blessings of the DGP. Senior police officers have two to three vehicles at their residence to be at the beck and call of their family members. This is common in Meghalaya where some time ago the son of a top cop was seen driving a police vehicle without any qualms.
A good leader thinks not of himself or his political boss but of his men and officers and tries to improve policing through innovative methods. The Meghalaya Police today is hugely unfit. The cops lack training in crowd control and the use of latest technical gadgets in policing, weapons training, human rights, gender and contemporary subjects such as cyber crimes. Those who are in the know speak of an allegedly, well-oiled money-collection system. This is in fact a new low for Meghalaya Police!
A look at the crime data published in National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) related to Meghalaya gives a dismal picture and speaks volumes about the prevailing sad state of affairs in the department. The Meghalaya police website for crime data has only been updated to March 2018 as if no other crime was committed thereafter. In the first three months of 2018, 766 IPC cases were registered of which 23 were murder cases; 30 rape cases; 34 kidnapping cases; 6 attempted rape cases; 286 cases of theft and 15 cases of outraging the modesty of women. Can the DGP enlighten us on the status of the above-mentioned heinous crimes? What is the conviction rate in the above cases? The conviction rate in Meghalaya is less than 6%. How incompetent is that? Is this why we have a police force in Meghalaya? Is this the professional contribution of the DGP and his team here? Who are you accountable to? Surely not to your political bosses but to the people of Meghalaya!
A word about the Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) in Meghalaya Police which has remained defunct or dysfunctional for a while now! While the Prime Minister is cracking down on white collar crimes and even the former Home and Finance Minister has not been spared how come Meghalaya is such a laggard? Are you telling us that this is a state of saints where corruption in government does not happen? The Prime Minister has to be kept informed of this huge policing default in Meghalaya. The ACB needs an overhaul and Chief Minister Conrad Sangma owes it to the public of Meghalaya to shake up the system and allow a more competent person to take over the Home Department. This is imperative if he desires to return to power after five years.
(The views expressed here are personal. The writer is former member, National Security Advisory Board)