By Mohammad Ali, TwoCircles.net,
New Delhi: The relationship between police and minorities, is being considered as one of the most serious problems in policing the world over. In India, minorities, specially Muslims accuse police of having a strong anti-Muslim bias.
Even though the picture is not as simple as it appears, the perception of the Muslim community has often been found, even by the government commission of inquiries, as largely true.
Taking an important step in the context of minorities-police relationship, the National Commission for Minorities (NCM) has decided to frame a “training module” which will, after the approval of the Home Ministry, be sent to the central and state police training academies, so that the trainee police officers are instructed on how to win the confidence of minorities.
Union Minister for Law and Justice and Minority Affairs, Salman Khurshid delivering the keynote address at the Annual Conference of State Minorities Commissions to focus on the theme ‘Police and Minorities’, in New Delhi on March 13, 2012. The Governor of West Bengal, M.K. Narayanan, the Chairperson of the National Commission for Minorities, Wajahat Habibullah and the Vice Chairperson of the National Commission for Minorities, Dr. H.T. Sangliana are also seen.
This was one of the major decisions taken at the concluding day of the two day conference on the theme of police-minorities relations, which was organised by the NCM and was attended by the State Minority Commissions Chiefs, representatives of society groups as well as those from police in the national capital on 13-14 March.
The focus of that training module will be to instruct the trainee cops on how to win the confidence of the minority communities, which will go a “long way in improving the police-minorities relations, which has been one of India’s thorniest law enforcement issues.”
The training module will emphasize, for instance on increased interaction and coordination between the representatives of minority communities and police. The module, which was proposed by state minority commissions, will also instruct police officers on how to control rumors during any communal riot.
The training module will be formulated by retired police officers and senior journalists who have covered communal riots.
“It was important that both police and the minority communities understand each other, without which police-minorities relations can’t be improved,” said NCM chief Wajahat Habibullah while talking to TwoCircles.net.
The training module becomes important also after both, MK Narayanan, the former Intelligence Bureau chief and Salman Khurshid, union minister for law and minority affairs, acknowledged a huge “trust deficit” between Minorities and police while speaking on the first day of the conference.
Even though Narayanan, the present Governor of West Bengal, asked the police not to stereotype Muslims by equating them with criminals, he also requested the minorities to have a “sympathetic understanding” of the policeman’s job.
“There can’t be any justification for police over-zealousness but the minorities commission should not be merely judgmental,” Narayanan, a former National Security Advisor said at the first day of the conference on 13th March.
Khurshid, however, apparently differed with Narayanan and talked about the need for police to have a humane and compassionate approach towards minorities. “The law requires proof beyond reasonable doubt,” Khurshid added.
Many social activists feel that the agencies like police and Intelligence agencies need to go beyond stereotypes of the minority community, specially Muslims while dealing with the community because it has been established that in several cases the terror accused have been found completely innocent by courts even after spending decades in jail. It’s also a fact that the anti-terror policing has alienated the Muslims, the largest minority of the country.
(Photo courtesy- PIB)