Origin of Police System in India and The World
Origin of Police System in India and The World
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ABSTRACT
Since the Vedic era, the State's primary role has been to defend life and protect the people,
despite the many shifts in government structure. Criminal justice and the internal security
system's structure are intertwined with religious, ethical, and political institutions of all
kinds. Since the police are responsible for protecting the public from the dangers of public
accidents and criminal acts, the term "police" can be used to refer to them. Ancient,
Medieval, British, Pre-Independence, Post-Independence, and Ancient times have all
contributed to the development of police forces (320-1200 A.D). To say that the Indian
police force was founded by the British is to misrepresent the country's history and the
contributions of the people who lived and worked there throughout the colonial period. The
East India Company was inspired by the Napier police to establish a uniform police force
modelled after the Irish Constabulary. The British Indian Government established a police
commission in 1860 following the first war of the uprising in 1857. Though the tasks of the
police should be solely civil, not military, the organisation and discipline in which they
perform their duties should be similar to those found in a military organisation, according
to one of the Commission's guidelines. We have a police system based on this charter. With
slight changes, the Police Act of 1861 established the essential foundations of police
organisation in India. As a result, police departments at the state and local levels are
distinct and have varying levels of resources and equipment. Despite their striking
resemblance in organisational structure and operation, each state police force has its own
purpose, vision, and history. In this paper we have tried to trace the history of police in
India, theoretical perspective and evolution of the modern police system in the world to
know how it will help in police reforms and community policing.
Keywords: police reforms, Police Act, 1861, Ancient, Medieval, Post Independence, Law
and order, East India Company, Organizational Structure, Community Policing, theory,
modern police.
1
Author is a LL.M. Student at Symbiosis Law School Noida, India.
2
Author is a LLM Student at OP Jindal Global University, India.
I. INTRODUCTION
The word 'police' is derived from the Greek word 'Polis', which means a city. The Latin term
'Politeia', refers to the state or government's conditions. It's important to remember that in
administrative terms, the police are considered to be an executive civil force of a state tasked
with upholding public order and implementing laws intended to reduce crime. It might be
claimed that the police were born out of man's existence in the world. It is defined as "a system
of regulation for the preservation and enforcement of the law" by Oxford Dictionaries. In 1929,
the Royal Commission on the Police Powers and Procedures stated that a police officer is a
person who is paid to carry out his or her duties and acts, which he or she could choose to do
voluntarily. The science of policing is the science of preserving order in an ever-changing
society. To maintain an old-fashioned policing ideology, policing practices, and policing
attitudes are no longer acceptable. Because of this, it is critical to understand how it has changed
over time and how it arrived at its current state. A study into the reasons and circumstances that
led to the current police system, its structure and functions, would be more pertinent before
then.3
Anthropological and historical data are incorporated into the theory. First, the origin of a
specialised police function is tied to the division of society into dominant and subordinate
classes with opposing interests; second, specialised police agencies are only found in societies
that are politically organised as states; and third, during periods of transition, an ongoing
attempt to converse is critical to the delineation of today's modern specialised police function.
At the same time and place, the police can be both an agent of the people it is tasked with
policing and a tool used by the dominant class to control them. An examination of the present
police function's origins in classless cultures has crucial implications for understanding current
3
Sharma, Anupam. (2004). Police in Ancient India. The Indian Journal of Political Science. Jan.-March, 2004,
Vol. 65, No. 1 pp. 101-110.
4
Cyril D. Robinson and Richard Scaglion. (1987). Vol. 21, No. 1 (1987), pp. 109-154.
Each province had its own Inspector General of Police, whose job was to maintain order across
the land. Magistrates oversaw the police administration in each province, which was overseen
by Superintendents of Police who were in charge of their respective districts. Because of these
fundamental ideas, India's modern police system was created by the Police Commission of
1860. There was some improvement in the system as a result of recommendations made by the
Police Commission in 1902.
The following were the key principles of police organisation established by the Police
Commission of 18606:
a. The elimination of military police and the development of a civil constabulary. Each
province has its own administrative civil police organisation, headed by the IGP (The post of
IGP was not established in the Bombay presidency until 1885). The IGP is now answerable to
the provincial government, whereas the Superintendent is now answerable to the city collector.
The Superintendent's primary responsibility was to oversee the village's police force.
b. The Police Act's fundamental concepts were not groundbreaking or new. In many cases,
5
ADAMS, Robert McC. (1966). The Evolution of Urban Society: Early Mesopo- tamia and Prehispanic Mexico.
Chicago: Aldine.
6
Singh, Joginder. (2002). “Inside Indian Police”. Manu Publications New Delhi.
they were just a continuation of arrangements that had already proven useful elsewhere. Instead
of disappearing, the daroga rose to the rank of sub-inspector in the police department. A few
questions may be attributed to these principles, such as the relationship between the Imperial
and Rural Police, as well as how the Imperial Police Administration should be linked with the
other imperial functions. During their second century of dominance, the British made no
structural changes to the way police departments were run.
c. The imperial police's relationships with the rural police and other imperial government
organisations were stuck in the year 1861. It is important to note that the new structure was
only implemented in British India. India as a whole continued to operate under the police
system's dictates, as it had for many years prior.
d. It's scarcely an exaggeration to state that the military police never went away, according
to David Baley, in his book The Police and Political Development in India, published in 1969
by Princeton University Press. A clear distinction was made between the police force's armed
reserve and the military troops used for police responsibilities. The former was discarded in
favour of the latter.
e. Other specialised forces, such as the railroad police, river police, and frontier police,
also increased in importance. An organisation based on the London Metropolitan Police was
adopted by the three presidency cities of Madras (Bombay), Kolkata (Calcutta), and Mumbai
(Madras). The Commissioner did not report to the province administration through the IGP,
but directly to the provincial government. Furthermore, the Commissioner merged the
functions of a district magistrate and a superintendent of police to achieve the goal of
maintaining peace and order. The Commissioner of police served as his own district magistrate
in presidency cities, which were considered urban districts.
f. The Indian Police Service was originally referred to as such in the 1917 Islington
Commission Report. First Union Home Minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel recognised the
significance of nationalising India's civil service after independence. According to him, "...the
Union shall disappear, you shall not have a united India, without a good All India Service,
which has the independence to voice out its thoughts...", he made the case for the significance
of such an agency in the Constituent Assembly in 1949. After then, the Indian Police Service
was born as an All-India Service.
RAKSINAH: Constable
DANDANYAKA: He was a police officer who held the fetters or noose of punishment.
DASAPARADHIKA: It was probably the designation of a class of officers who were in charge
of ten specified kinds of criminal offences as Aparadhas.
7
Bayley, Dawid H. (1969). 'Police and Political Development in India', Princeton University Press, New Hersey.
PRAHARPALA: The policemen were on duty for three hours which was known as prahar,
therefore, they did watch duty for a fixed period and known as praharpal.
In-depth chronicles of the Gupta regime can be found in the works of Greek Ambassador
Magasthenese and Chinese traveller Fa Hein. Those in charge were known as Dandikas.
Among those mentioned are Nagar Shreshthi and Rabasika. Five to six hundred years later, the
criminal justice system that was formed during this time period was still in use. Mauryan rule
was centralised while Gupta rule was decentralised, the only distinction between the two. It
was, however, based on the same basic organisation as the village, city, and palace police,
which were adapted by various rulers.
After the Gupta dynasty fell, India was divided into several kingdoms, each of which pursued
an aggressive policy of territorial expansion and national aggrandisement against the other. For
example, Kalhana gives us an insight into the workings of police in several north Indian states,
particularly Kashmir, where Kelhana writes that Hariraja was able to keep Kashmir free of
robbers and thieves because of his efforts (1028 AD). At night, doors in the market street were
not allowed to be closed since "he who had his instructions never broken" cleared the land of
thieves. For example, we learned from the Travelers' Tales inscription and other literature that
law and order were still in good working order under Hara and Pulkesin.
According to Islam, the system of judicial, penal, and policing administration was Islamic and
founded on the Holy Quran. Hindus in the Sultanate were subject to a different set of laws, and
the Pandits worked together to interpret Hindu law and offer their insights into the matter at
hand. Muhtasibs, or Muqaddams, were administrative officers. Following Islamic law,
punishments included flaying, chopping off the nose, ears, or forearms, elephant trampling,
and mutilation. There is no doubt that all of this has resulted in an intense animosity for police
officers.
8
Curry, J.C. (1932). 'The Indian Police' Faber & Faber Limited, MCM XXXII London.
Faujdar, the head of the provincial criminal justice system, was tasked with ensuring the peace
and security of the province during this time period. As a magistrate, he was also the head of
the police force and a municipal officer in one. It was Chaukidar's job to run the village's daily
affairs. The Mughal government was despotic and militaristic in character. During this time,
both the justice system and the police were in disrepair.
2. Early American History: It wasn't until the middle of the 19th century that the Mughal
empire began to disintegrate, mostly due to British inexperience and lack of information about
the region. When Cornwallis was appointed Governor-General of India in 1792, the Zamindars
continued to provide law enforcement. He did away with the zamindari system and put the
onus of law enforcement on Thanedars. Other changes were made as well. This culminated in
the Indian Police Act in 1861, which is based on a model devised by Napier and is still used
today.
3. Indian Police Act: Except for Bombay and Madras, which had police acts that were
nearly identical to the Central Act, this law extended across British India (Indian Police
Commission, 1902-1903, p.115). According to the preamble of the Act, it was the first law that
attempted to organise the Indian police, making it a more effective tool for preventing and
detecting crime. The Act included provisions addressing public nuisances such as traffic
regulation, animal cruelty prevention, and health hazards (Sec 21, 24 and 30 of the Police Act
1861). The Police Act served as the skeleton on which the police force was built. Additionally,
it stated that "the entire police force established under State Government shall be deemed to be
one force for the purpose of this Act" (Article 2 of the Police Act 1861), meaning that the police
are organised at the level of states or provinces. This means that the police are organised at the
federal, state, and provincial levels. So it became evident that only order, crime control, and
9
Srivastava, V.P. (1977). 'Indian Police: Law and Order Reality. Manas Publication, New Delhi.
surveillance were in the Act's structure or thinking at the time it was enacted. Nowhere was
there a sense that community involvement in policing was necessary anyway.
However, the system as it was conceived was diametrically opposed to that of the British,
whose police force was hailed around the world as a model of democracy. As a key goal, it was
to ensure that the trade route was safe and that resources could continue to be exploited
unimpeded. An important part of this system was derived from the Mughal structure of the
17th century, which included several elements and officials' names such as Daroga, Faujdar,
and Kotwal. Uniform police procedures were implemented across the country as a result of the
Act. He was released from his responsibilities as District Magistrate to keep an eye on the local
police, making it more professional and organised. The system of policing established by the
Act is still in place and has given uniformity to the administration of law enforcement. Due to
poverty and famine, as well as other adversity, crime control remained unsatisfactory in the
overall sense. In 1902, the second All India Police Commission was established to carry out a
complete investigation and make recommendations for improvements to various parts of the
institution. However, until independence, little meaningful was done to improve the forces in
accordance with the recommendations.
Through entrance exams, Indians could join the imperial armies after 1920. Despite statements
and recommendations, the Indianization of the services was relatively gradual. Due to a lack
of Europeans, additional Indians were hired into the military later. After India's independence,
the country embraced the 1861 system in all of its fundamentals.
10
Philip V. Prateep, Friends of Police Movement. (1996). A Concept for Empowerment and an Experiment in
Community Policing. Policing Central and Eastern Europe.
The police force is a state subject, according to the Constitution. In the state police manual,
each state lays down its own set of laws and regulations for officers. The structure of police
forces in India is remarkably consistent across the country's many regions. An official title for
the state's top police official is "Director General of Police" (DGP). Zones, ranges, and districts
are further subdivided within a state. a Superintendent of the Police is in charge of the district's
police force (SP). A range is made up of several districts and is led by a Deputy Inspector
General of Police (DIG). The Inspector-General of the Police officers is in charge of two or
more ranges in each zone (IG). Circles and police stations are sub-divisions of districts, each
overseen by a different rank of officer. Aside from dealing with criminal activity, the armed
police are also responsible for maintaining order and preparing for an emergency situation in
the event of a natural disaster or another calamity.
“Saudi Arabia” is a typical type of a “centralised coordinated police force”, with a single line
of command issued from the King. two positions are normally held by senior family members,
and both are appointed by the King himself. The Executive Orders and Shariah give the Public
Security Police the ability to enforce the law across the country. Regular police and Special
Investigative Police (SIP), sometimes known as "Mubahit," are two distinct branches of the
police force. The Director of Public Safety oversees the regular police force, which reports
directly to the Ministry of the Interior. General Directorate of Investigation (GIP) oversees SIP,
which handles criminal investigations and domestic security and counterintelligence activities.
Religious police, known as Mutawwiun, is also in charge of enforcing Islamic Shariah in
11
Teacher, Law. (November 2013). Comparative Study of Policing Models. https://www.lawteacher.net/free-law-
essays/administrative-law/comparative-study-of-policing-models-administrative-law-essay.php?vref=1.
addition to the Public Security Police. To put it another way, Mutawwiun is a religious group
rather than a police force, because they don't perform any broad law and order maintenance
functions. Except for the Mutawwiun, Saudi Arabia's police force is a single unit. There are
tribal authorities in Saudi Arabia who have jurisdictional pockets that are outside the reach of
the King's justice, despite the fact that this is a general picture of Saudi Arabia's police force.
Elders are sovereigns in their own right, and they refuse to be influenced by any outside
authority. So the tribal elders take care of any law and order or criminal investigation issues in
these pockets, with the regular police providing tactical assistance whenever necessary.
“In France, a police force with Multiple Coordinated Centralized Force” is a typical example.
There are two national police forces: A civilian police force under the Ministry of Interior, the
Police Nationale used to be known as the Sûreté and is primarily responsible for metropolitan
areas. As the major law enforcement agency in rural areas and on military facilities, the
Gendarmerie Nationale is overseen by the Interior Ministry but operates as if it were
independent of it. In addition to these two, the following organisations exist: The "Douane" is
a civilian customs service under the Ministry of Budget, Public Accounting, and Civil Servants,
better known as the "Douane." Police municipale, Garde municipale, or Garde champetre may
also exist in French municipalities with limited powers, such as enforcing municipal by-laws.
“England, Scotland, and Northern Ireland make up the United Kingdom (UK), which is
home to the world's oldest democracy and a police force founded on the premise of "policing
by consent”. Prior to 1066, England had a community-based policing system, which suggested
a sense of joint responsibility. It was the responsibility of all adult males in the Saxon
community to look out for each other's well-being and band together to safeguard it. They were
organised into tithings under the leadership of a tithingman in order to formalise this
commitment. Each tithe was subdivided into a hundred, each of which was led by a
hundredman who was both administrator and judge. There was a shire-reeve assigned to each
shire, which was divided into hundred-sized sections. The “Statute of Winchester of 1285”
codified the system of social obligation and provided that“ it was everyone’s duty to maintain
the king’s peace, and any citizen could arrest an offender”. In England and the United States,
the job of sheriff eventually evolved into the contemporary post of the county sheriff. The
British Police system as it currently stands is more of a reverse process of investing more
authority in individuals by legislation than policing by permission, even if the core assumption
of policing in the UK is by consent. Thus, policing in the United Kingdom is now regulated by
law, but a law that mandates public-responsible police.
function smoothly:
1. The Home Office provides funding for the police and serves as the main supervisor and
overseer of the police forces in the country.
2. Local police departments are overseen by police authorities to ensure that they run
successfully and efficiently.
3. The command and supervision of regional police units is the duty of chief police
officers.
U.S.: The policing system in London served as a model for the United States for a long time.
Early American police were heavily influenced by the English model, which historians will
discuss in detail in the following sections. London's police department was slammed by British
home secretary Sir Robert Peel in 1822. A few decades later, he was instrumental in getting
the "Act for Improving the Police in and Near the Metropolis", often known as the
Metropolitan Police Act, through the House of Representatives First large-scale police force
in the world to be constituted by legislation passed by British Parliament in 1829. The primary
function of the police is to deter crime and disruption by enforcing the law.
Sir Robert Peel’s Nine Principles of Policing: “It is impossible for the police to carry out their
responsibilities if the general public does not approve of their conduct. To earn and keep the
public's trust and confidence, the police need their participate in enforcing the law through
voluntary compliance. When physical force is necessary, public collaboration is reduced to the
point where it cannot be obtained at all. Rather than pandering to public sentiment, the police
seek and maintain public favour by consistently displaying their utter loyalty to the rule of law.
Only when the use of persuasion, advice, and warning is proved to be ineffective can the police
employ the use of physical force to enforce the law and restore order. As a rule of thumb, police
should never appear to usurp the judiciary's authority in any way. The absence of crime and
disruption, not the proof of police action, is the true gauge of police effectiveness. It is
imperative that at all times, police maintain a relationship with the public that reflects their
role as public servants, who are paid to devote all of their time and resources to community
welfare and existence, while still maintaining the historic tradition that the police are public
servants.”
In major American cities, the 1700s saw a surge in population. As a result, according to The
History of the Police, watch groups ceased to be a viable alternative and were quickly
supplanted by official police formations. A growing number of residents designated police
departments as an official in the 19th century. Along with St. Louis (1846), Chicago (1854),
and Los Angeles (1869), New York City established one in 1845. Today, states and localities
are responsible for their own policing in the United States; there is no national force. Over half
of the country's policing apparatus consists of one- or two-man sheriff's offices in tiny
communities, with a total of approximately 500,000 police personnel. It's common for many
communities to have additional, part-time police officers, and volunteer sheriff's posses (which
assist in specific regions) in addition to their normal police force. In the United States, law
enforcement is decentralized. In fractions of federal law, that fall under the purview of federal
authorities are dealt with by those authorities. In total, there are 65 federal law enforcement
agencies. Each of the 50 sovereign states has its own state legislature, which is responsible for
enacting criminal statutes in accordance with the constitutions of each of these states. There
are police forces at every level of government in most of the United States, from the local level
to the state level.
STRUCTURE12
At this point, it's important to consider India's historic policing system. Various ancient books,
such as Kautilya's Arthasastra, paint a vivid image of ancient India's police force (Chanakya).
The ancient Indian police system was built on a foundation of local accountability and mutual
assistance. Everyone in the village was responsible for maintaining a sense of safety and
tranquilly. While the gramneta, or village watchman, is tasked with keeping the hamlet safe
from outsiders, the gramneta's corporate body was obligated to make good on any losses caused
by criminal activity within the hamlet's boundaries, except in cases where they were able to
track down the perpetrators or were able to place blame for the crime on neighbouring hamlets.
Section 40 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 embodies this village-level obligation,
even if it is still in its rudiments. It requires village officers and village residents to report
certain information to the nearest magistrate or officer in charge of the nearest police station.
The government now has sole authority over all police matters in the country, according to
Lord Cornwallis's "Regulations for the Police of Collectorships of Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa,"
also known as "Regulation No. XXII of 1793."
Police under each local government or administration should form one force, under the
command of an Inspector General of Police, who would be responsible for maintaining the
organization's efficiency by paying attention to training and discipline, internal economy, and
12
Varghese. John. (2020). Police Structure: A Comparative Study of Policing Models. SSRN Electronic Journal.
its general reorganisation, according to the 1860 commission's recommendations, which led to
the Indian Police Act of 1861. Village watchmen were also urged to be kept in place because
they were "a man of the village but not enough an official to be foreign or annoying to the
people, but only an official to be... receptive to procedures and reliable for duty on behalf of
the police", according to the recommendations.
Since the Indian Police Act, 1861 had a provision that stated that the Act would only be
applicable to a province if notified by the Governor-General in Council, the Act did not enter
into force immediately in all provinces. Provinces of Madras, Bombay, and Sind have their
own unique police laws, hence the Act was never implemented there. While the Indian Police
Act, of 1861 was mostly unchanged, the Police Act of 1859 and the Bombay District Police
Act II of 1867 in Bombay had some localised differences.
It was recommended that each province have a separate criminal investigation department to
gather and distribute information on criminals and organised crime, as well as to aid in the
investigation of complex cases. It was also suggested that an organisation similar to the Police
Organization for Provinces be established under the Inspector General of Police for the entire
country of India. It also included an essential recommendation that emphasised the significance
of developing and fostering the village's police agency.
the Indian police have been probed twice at the national level. The British government
established the Indian Commission in 1902 and the National Police Commission in 1977. The
police were found to be ineffective, lacking in training and organisation, inadequate in public
relations, executing welfare measures, and providing processes for resolving disputes, among
other shortcomings. Despite our freedom, we needed greater policing. Law enforcement must
adopt a new worldview. These are all examples of police reform movements. Model of
community policing meant to serve and please citizens. A clear explanation is required for
problem-solving and community policing. Better to call it intelligence-led policing. Unlike
community policing, India needs intelligence-led policing to combat crime. Instead of
executive discretion, the emphasis should be on participatory policing, enhanced transparency,
and increased public involvement in the administration of the police in India. The role of the
police is critical to the long-term stability of a democratic society. Thus, redefining police as
allies, guides and advocates of common people in their fight against crime is critical. It is
important to protect the public and defend the law and sphere of justice, police officers must
be free from arbitrary government meddling.
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