From CK Nayak
NEW DELHI: Police in Meghalaya have often faced criticism on various grounds, but the hill state has one of the least police-population ratio giving rise to inefficiency.
Latest data released by the Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPRD) has revealed that shortage of staff in Northeast including Meghalaya police has forced them to handle more population and cover more areas than their effective capacity.
As per the data, Meghalaya has only 580 police per one lakh people which is the second lowest in the region after Assam (200).
The police-population ratio in the North East is highest in Manipur (1255) followed by Arunachal Pradesh (984), Sikkim (982), Mizoram (907) Nagaland (880) and Tripura (704), the data said.
Similarly, there is also less number of police forces per sq. kilometer area even though the state has a scattered hilly terrain with long international border, the study showed. There is only one policeman per 1.37 sq. kilometer of the area, it added.
Besides, there are vacant posts at all levels. The number of women police in the matrilineal state is also the least, the study said.
Among the Northeastern states, Meghalaya has the lowest percentage of women in the police with women constituting only 4.22 per cent of the Meghalaya police force.
The percentages are 8.07 in Arunachal Pradesh, 8.30 in Manipur, 7.26 in Mizoram, 7.33 in Nagaland and 5.08 in Tripura.
“Availability of adequate women in police is essential for reducing the vulnerability of women becoming victims of crime,” the report says while observing that the number of women police is still low in the country.
“People in distress first come in contact with the police and then a chain of events take place in the form of medical examination of the victims, recording of statement before the magistrate, assigning the case to a public prosecutor and appearance in court proceedings.
“Overall shortage of women police personnel is posing a challenge in the form of increased crimes against women, thereby emphasising the need to bring women police to frontline duties.”
The report says there is a tendency to engage women police only for security checks and other specialised duties relating to women, but unless they are assigned the main duties in the police stations, there will not be adequate impact on the community.
On the positive side as per the BPRD report, police stations in India have increased from 15579 to 16422 recently.
Incidentally, BPRD works under the Ministry of Home Affairs and its primary objective is modernisation of the police to ensure speedy and authentic study of police department issues through the National Police Mission.
India’s police-population ratio lags behind most countries. Policing in India is also state subject which means there is significant variation across states.