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This book is a must-read for all police officers, upwards from the rank of sub-inspector, and lawyers and human rights activists. For, it deals with a subject about which little is known among those who are supposed to be in the know of things: how to effectively deal with riots and riot-like situations. For the cops, the report offers steps that can be taken to control the out-break of riots or check their spread; for lawyers and human rights activists it provides a rare opportunity to grasp fully all rules laid in the police manual as well as the reason why, in absence of any alternative, cops and law-enforcing agencies tend to use the stick to control mobs bent upon violent outbursts. Since Independence, India has seen many riots, with most of them resulting from communal tension, including the recent infamous Gujarat riots. Though it has been over four years since the riots took place, the alleged partisan role of the police is still under the scanner. Readers of this well-researched report will get an insight into why the police, if they follow all rules, including the ‘private and confidential’ riot scheme, to the hilt, can effectively control riots without earning the label of partisan. Divided into three parts, the report starts off with the kind of role that cops are expected to play, first to check outbreak of a riot, and second, if the first does not work, to control the spread of the same. The second part deals with the controlling of the violence. But, it is the third part, placed after the epilogue, which is the most interesting. In it, the writer has made some recommendations on how the police and civil administration can check riots, how it can be done without earning a minimum of brick-bats and why there is need to diversify recruitment to give more representation to minorities because deployment of a force which has ample number from the minorities in a riot-affected area can go a long way in assuaging the feeling of hurt. The writer recommends that the state governments must make conscious efforts to recruit more members of the minorities in the police force and as a long-term measure create composite battalions of armed police comprising members of all religious communities, including scheduled castes and scheduled tribes for exclusive use in maintaining communal peace and amity. The report also talks of the need for an independent mechanism to consistently monitor, evaluate, and report upon the police’s performance to the legislature. It also suggests creation of a performance of evaluation boards and complaint bodies to deal with complaints/grievances against the police.
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