Like most professions, being in the police force comes with its usual baggage of stress and strain. Except, unlike other professions, the police deal with life-threatening situations - criminals and serial law-breakers, protests and riots. Put one foot wrong, upset your all powerful political bosses and a policeman could lose a plum posting, or get transferred to the boondocks. Given the manner in which DySP M.K.Ganapati took his own life, it’s time our men in khaki were given an avenue for a fair hearing, says Team DC.
It’s clear that traffic policemen don’t have it easy in the city, having to deal with chaotic conditions on the roads and the pollution every day of their lives. While their problems are more tangible and visible to the eye, the rot in the law and order police wing is harder to see, wrapped as it is in invisible layers of political interference and subtle harassment that the men in khaki at nearly all levels are forced to deal with in addition to the stress of handling notorious criminals, murders and riots to keep the city and state safe for its people.
It’s only occasionally that the rot comes to the surface. The recent suicides of two deputy superintendents of police, Kallappa Handibag and M K Ganapati
have been eye-openers, particularly as the latter gave a lengthy interview to a television channel ranting about the harassment he was suffering in the department. While his charges against his seniors and former home minister, K.J. George have still to be investigated and established, they point to his highly disturbed state of mind in the hours before he killed himself in a lodge.
The sudden resignation of another senior police officer, Anupama Shenoy, allegedly as a result of the powerful liquor mafia, has also strengthened public perception that all is not right in the department.
Read | Guest column: ‘Health, counselling programmes should be introduced’
A lot of the problem stems from political interference in transfers and postings as this hugely affects the working conditions of serving police officers, say insiders.
The Police Establishment Board (PEB) , headed by a DG-IGP, that deals with transfers and postings of officers from the rank of police sub-inspectors to DySPs, sees rampant interference by political masters who want ‘certain’ officers to serve in their constituencies and ‘certain others’ out. A senior police officer’s postings and transfers rests mainly with the MLAs and ministers, who give their “recommendations” to the PEB, say sources.
In fact a lot of money changes hands, placing a huge burden on the officers, who have to come up with it to please their political bosses and get postings of their choice, claim others.
While this sort of interference is enough to make any officer’s life miserable, the effect is compounded when he is shunted from an executive post(working in the field) to a non-executive post (involving desk work). Having enjoyed a great deal of respect in his peer group, among his batchmates, family and social circles in his investigative role, the officer feels stripped of all power when he is posted behind a desk. Even if his friends and colleagues seem supportive, he often begins to think they see him as ‘incapable’ and loses his self- esteem, explain others.
“Unfortunately, the system itself begins to haunt him as he becomes unhappy with his non-executive job, gets disinterested and begins to under perform. This is the mindset of most of the serving senior police officers, who have been transferred from executive to non-executive posts. The department itself calls them punishment transfers,” revealed one officer, lamenting the lack of a mechanism to reassure such officers that they were still associated with the police department and enjoyed the same rank and respect they always did.
“It should be made compulsory for an officer, who works in an executive post for a year to work in a non-executive post the next year and go back and forth similarly no matter how commendable and efficient he is or even if he has failed at his job as everybody needs a second chance. This should be imbibed into the system,” said a police officer of SP rank, pointing out that although there were referential courses and mid-career training programmes for improving comaraderie among senior police officers, there was no mechanism of counselling or assessment of their mental health to see if they were happy in their jobs.
“The PEB needs to look into such welfare reforms and take necessary steps to keep the officers healthy and happy as they deal with criminals all the time. They see gory murders, fatal accidents, child abuse, crimes against women and so on, which surrounds them with a lot of negative energy. After all, police officers are also human beings,” the officer noted.
‘Policemen used to handling pressures’
Besides the recent suicides of two senior officers, the police department was rocked by unrest in its ranks last month as its personnel decided to to take a stance and go on mass leave on June 4 to protest the harassment by senior officers, their meagre salaries, lack of leave and so on. The protest was quelled, but it was another indication of the poor working conditions of the men who are supposed to safeguard the city and state.
With the problems unlikely to go away in a hurry, does the department need to employ counsellors to help its staff cope? A retired ACP, B.B. Ashok Kumar, strongly believes it does. He suggests setting up a counselling committee for policemen with senior officers and a psychologist on board to help policemen in distress.
“The state government needs to constitute such a body where policemen can vent their frustrations. This will not only help the department to understand the force better , but also help the serving policemen learn how to deal with their problems,” he said.
But former DG and IGP, Shankar Bidari, doesn’t think the state's policemen need counsellors to deal with stress. “They are accustomed to handling all kinds of stress and pressures, be it mental or physical. Although two officers committed suicide recently due to extreme harassment or departmental issues this doesn’t warrant any change or require the setting up of any mechanism like counselling for policemen. What can be done is to provide officers of all ranks proper guidance and leadership? The Karnataka police force should be appraised and supported by the government,” he added.
Every police station is auctioned by politicians, claim insiders. Who comes in and who goes out is decided after they receive a ‘suitcase’ from the officer asking for a posting or transfer to a particular station in the city or district, they maintain. “For instance, a police inspector looking for a posting to a particular station may have to pay Rs 5 lakh for it and earn that amount while in his present job. The cycle continues as the demand for the Rs 5 lakh doesn’t stop there and is made again for the next suitable posting of his choice. In the process, the officer consciously neglects his personal and family life. This is true for senior officers like ACPs and DySPs too. Transfers and postings of IPS and KSPS officers of and above the rank of SPs or DCPs are decided by the Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms, again at the recommendations of even bigger political masters,” said an officer.
