Politician, policeman, builder, bhai Maseeh RahmanINDIAN EXPRESS
Reform the Mumbai police? But how do you clean a cesspool of oceanic depth?
I do not claim to be an expert on the Mumbai police. But I’ve worked as a reporter in India’s richest metropolis for 25 years, and remained in close touch for another two decades. Some of this time has been spent in exploring the underbelly of Mumbai.
As a cub reporter, I was offered my first bribe on the steps of a magistrate’s court. I soon discovered that a senior reporter was running a lucrative business writing on crime. So before I learned about corrupt policemen or politicians, I was introduced to the venality of fellow journalists.
This article has obviously been occasioned by the murder of the crime reporter J. Dey. Mercifully, the killing of reporters in Mumbai has been exceedingly rare — I can recall only two such deaths before Dey’s, one of which was passed off as a road accident. I did not know Dey, but those who did remember him as a taciturn man committed to his work. There are several theories on why he met such a gory end, one of which relates to rivalry between police officers.
If this theory turns out to be true, then it’ll only confirm what’s been said for some time — that now there’s little to distinguish the Mumbai police from the city’s legendary underworld.
Some of India’s phenomenally rich policemen, serving or retired, live in Mumbai. The list includes IPS officers, an elite bunch that commanded countrywide respect and admiration up to the ’80s. Many factors brought about the descent of the Mumbai police into corruption and criminality. To begin with, there were the policy blunders, both at the state and the national level. Prohibition and the ban on the import of gold, which helped create smuggling syndicates, immediately come to mind. But IPS officers generally remained outside this circle of infamy. What ultimately sucked everyone into the whirlpool was the crazy ’90s property boom.
Stupid policies — a draconian law protecting tenants; the decision to keep big business out of construction; the land ceiling law; and the failure to create housing for the poor — all helped bring the underworld into Mumbai’s real estate business in the ’80s, either as enforcers or as builders. The ’90s boom made many fabulously wealthy. Today, the builders and land sharks, straight or “history-sheeters”, have become so influential that they virtually run Mumbai. And preside over a vast empire of graft running into thousands of crores.
It therefore surprises no one that occasionally the Mumbai police grapevine hums with rumours of the senior posts selling for as much as Rs 50 crore. These incredible amounts are allegedly paid to politicians by builders’ syndicates whenever they succeed in getting the top job for their chosen candidate — the primary qualification being willingness to serve the builders’ mafia. The builder-government nexus is so flagrant that not long ago a highly influential builder, now in jail, was virtually camped inside a bureaucrat’s office.
This sea of cash has introduced a totally new dimension to old rivalries between corrupt policemen. The stakes are now exceedingly high for everyone — politician, policeman, builder, gangster (“bhai” in Mumbai patois). As a result, top cops launch vicious campaigns against rivals in the race for senior executive posts.
In this internecine, intra-force lobbying, the capable cops become the victims. Two unquestionably brave officers didn’t get police medals for 26/11 as they don’t belong to any camp. Other honest and diligent officers are cooling their heels in non-executive posts. At the same time officers guilty of criminal dereliction of duty can be constantly rewarded. sAnd when the anti-corruption bureau wanted to investigate top officers with disproportionate assets, the request was summarily rejected. Is it any wonder then that, before he was slain on 26/11, a conscientious professional like Hemant Karkare wanted to return to RAW?
How does one change such a seemingly hopeless state of affairs? As we’ve seen in other spheres, it’s still possible in India to salvage a doomed situation. Sometimes a few good officers can do the job, provided they get the right structural support. Everybody knows what’s to be done. The basic need is to create a buffer between politicians and the police, reduce ministerial interference, ensure good officers take command, and have a watchdog committee of officials, judges and eminent citizens to oversee police functioning.
Several expert committees and a national police commission have done extensive studies and made detailed recommendations. Soli Sorabjee also produced a model draft police act. Five years ago, the Supreme Court issued seven directives to state governments on instituting police reforms. Last November, it issued a notice to Maharashtra for “total non-compliance.”
The problem is compounded in Mumbai since under the coalition government, the spoils are divided — the Congress oversees the municipal corporation, and Sharad Pawar’s NCP the police. Pawar knows the Mumbai police like the back of his hand — he could begin clearing the cesspool on his own if he so desired. But who said the NCP chief is a reformer?
But it’s not as if the Congress, or the UPA government, are pushing for police reforms. The prime minister only pays lip service to it. Meanwhile, in Mumbai, the police grapevine continues to hum.
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