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| Disgrace for elite force | | | There cannot be any worse advertisement for the IPS as a whole then the one caused by the arrest of Jammu and Kashmir cadre officer Saji Mohan in drug smuggling case. It is no secret that, along with the rest of the civil service, integrity levels in the IPS have been declining alarmingly for more than a decade or so. The Shajji Mohan episode takes the cake. We are not talking here of a policeman receiving a bribe for favours done to one who had transgressed the law. We have on hand an IPS officer with 13 years of service breaking perhaps the most draconian law we have on the statute books. Just as we expect the highest standards of integrity from the judiciary -- which has also lately shown itself vulnerable -- the public demands the same of the police. This is because a citizen, whose civil rights have been trampled upon, has only these two guardians to approach for relief. The police is the first agency to tackle injustice and undeserved harm from a fellow-citizen or a public servant. This is why, like Caesar's wife, the police cannot afford to swerve from good conduct, whatever be the temptations. Is anything being done to salvage the police from the morass it has got into? There is no way anyone can justify Shajji Mohan's misdemeanour. The colossal political corruption that they see around them is no licence for them as if there is no code of conduct. The All India Services (Conduct) Rules do not condone misconduct. A corrupt IPS officer has no respect for these rules because he always has some state minister to back him. Such protection is not out of love for the officer concerned -- it is in return for favours done. The Union Home Ministry which is supposed to be the controlling authority for the IPS across the whole country -- watches this merry game helplessly. Many states have a sham of a Directorate of Vigilance & Anti-Corruption which cannot even initiate a preliminary enquiry against IPS officers charged with corruption, without the permission of the chief minister who invariably is also the home minister overseeing the police. Such permission, when it is grudgingly given, is after an enormous lapse of time by which time the evidence becomes unusable. This promotes an ambience of corruption of which Mohan is a direct product. Institutions like the National Police Academy (NPA), Hyderabad, where IPS officers are initially trained can infuse in officers an unshakeable belief in ethics. In fairness to the NPA, it does give such inputs to the probationers in abundance. (The NPA has had the good fortune of having successive heads, including the recently-appointed director, whose reputation for honesty and professionalism is Himalayan.) But NPA training does not have a lasting impression because once an officer begins his career, all that he sees around him is sleaze and dishonesty. A few officers stand up to temptations, but many fall prey. There is no doubt that the IPS leadership has failed to encourage fearlessness and honesty among their juniors. Even good leadership will not however work if individual officers do not come into the service with a firm faith in honesty and good conduct. There is a slight possibility of a transformation if the Supreme Court-ordered reforms come on board early.
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