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.
