Context

• Police brutality in recent months occurs very frequently.
• The thrashing of a Dalit Ahirwar couple by the police in Guna district of Madhya Pradesh, the brutal torture of J. Benicks and his father P. Jayaraj in Sattankulam town in Thoothukudi district of Tamil Nadu resulting in their death and several other incidents happened recently show that we need immediate remedial measures.

Measures to be taken

• The recommendations of various commissions and committees that demands for police reforms should be implemented. 
  • The first serious attempt to overhaul the policing machinery was made when the National Police Commission (NPC) was set up in 1977. The NPC submitted eight reports to the Ministry of Home Affairs between 1979 and 1981. Most of the reports were kept in cold storage until Prakash Singh, a retired IPS officer, filed a PIL in the apex court in 1996 demanding the implementation of the NPC’s recommendations.
  • In 2006, the Supreme Court issued a slew of directives on police reform but the States and the Centre did not pay any serious attention to them. 

What is the issue?

• Of the States that constituted a State Security Commission, only Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka have made SSC recommendations binding on the State government, according to the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative. 
• Only six States provided a minimum tenure of two years to the Director General of Police (DGP). 
• Many States have not implemented a single directive of the Supreme Court.

Way forward

• Judiciary should step in and enforce the directions it had passed. The Court has to come down heavily on the States and the Centre to ensure that its directives are not dismissed lightly. 

References

1. https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/still-awaiting-police-reform/article32887625.ece 
2. https://www.humanrightsinitiative.org/programs/aj/police/india/initiatives/seven_steps_to_police_reform.pdf