Punjab cops ‘most feared’; HP, Haryana high on ‘public faith’

Geetanjali Gayatri
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, April 24

Haryana and Himachal Pradesh are among the top states when it comes to public faith in the state police, while neighbouring Punjab’s police force is the most feared by its residents in the country, according to the Status of Policing in India Report (SPIR), 2018.

In a study of performance and perception, carried out by the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies and Common Cause, an NGO, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh have earned themselves top slots, while Punjab and Delhi are way down on the assessment ladder.

The parameters include independence, favourability towards women in the force, trust in the force from the perspective of public, etc.

Haryana is the number one state when it comes to perception about the police, as also trust in senior officers, while Himachal Pradesh has earned the second place.

Punjab is placed at the bottom of the list (number 22) when it comes to perception and at number 20 when assessed for trust in senior police officers, while Delhi is placed at number 12.

However, what takes away the sheen slightly is that the rating of the two top states is not much high when it comes to trust in the local police (inspectors, sub-inspectors and SHOs), with HP placed at the sixth position and Haryana at 11.

Punjab, compared to its performance based on other parameters, is a shade better at number 16, while Delhi follows right thereafter.

While the fear of the police among people seems maximum in Punjab with the state placed at the last position, Himachal and Haryana are at number one and three, respectively.

“Haryana being small, it is easier for senior officers to exercise control and visit all areas under their jurisdiction regularly to interact with people and also monitor the working of the lower police formations. The public also has easier access to senior officers to redress their grievances. People of Haryana are also more aware of their legal rights and don’t accept violation of their legal and political rights by any state agency. This has led to the state police developing a sensitive response mechanism,” said Haryana ADGP (Law and Order) Navdeep Virk.

Placed at the 20th position when assessed on the trust in police, Punjab has little to cheer, though it can draw some hope from the fact that it is ranked higher as compared to Haryana when it comes to discrimination by the police on the basis of caste and class. Haryana stands 20th in this category, while Punjab is at the 13th position.

Haryana, however, is second only to Uttarakhand when it comes to acceptance of women in the police force given the large-scale recruitment of women police personnel in the Manohar Lal Khattar regime.

Punjab's ADGP Ishwar Singh said that he was yet to see the report. "I have not got the report. I will be able to comment only once I have seen it," he said.