CAUGHT IN THE VICIOUS CIRCLE

OF CORRUPTION

The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, Mr.M.Karunanidhi, in a scathing attack on

the Tamil Nadu police after he assumed charge of the State Government in 1996,
said, “Three fourths of the police force, which, to the State, is like liver to human
body, has become rotten.” The remark coming from an experienced chief
executive of a State distinguished for its efficient police force until a few decades
ago indicates the atrophy that has set in, in the Indian police. The department
cannot stay untouched while there is marked fall in the standards of diligence and
integrity in other walks of life. Indian police adopted and adapted itself to
corrupt surroundings.
The basic ingredients of corruption in India are money and power. As
Government service, even at the higher rungs, has lost its charm in terms of
remuneration and status, it has been attracting only the second best among youth
who otherwise would be left in the lurch. Professional dignity and integrity have
been brushed aside leading to corruption. Priorities in service have been shuffled,
the sole objective being money and power. Organizational objectives have been
completely lost sight of. Shift in diligence helped to build money-power while
shift in loyalties facilitated proximity to powerbrokers. The degeneration spread
rapidly with the passage of time as organizational commitments became
outdated demode and pragmatism taught that immediate personal interests are for
leading a good life. This was the beginning of corruption of Indian police.
A major contributing factor has been the gross fall in professional pride
among the personnel. Grass and insensitive handing of the policemen and police
matters by political leaders has eroded the morale and the sense of belonging to
the police force. Attempts to suppress and gain complete hold over the
bureaucracy and the police in democratic India have affected the police adversely
causing a sense of inadequacy.
The lack of motivation to achieve organizational goals and show results is a
clear manifestation of the fall in professional pride. The police, who once was
proud to enforce law, to maintain order and to ensure peace and security, have

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lost all the enthusiasm as these factors became political and lost their importance
otherwise. Crimes, criminals and law and order problems were all subject to
political convenience. The development shattered the professional pride of the
police and struck a blow to their motivation towards organizational ends. No
organisation can exist without a driving force to sustain it. When there is a vacuum
of a drive to carry it onward, it is filled by corruption.
Policing is more a profession than a job. While job involves performing a task
entrusted, profession entails dedication and commitment to a cause; in the case
of the police upholding the rule of law and safeguarding the security of the
country. How dedicated are the police to this cause in India? Simple observation
of criminal activities around and police responses to them give clues to the
situation.
Let us take an obvious example—open sale of smuggled articles in exclusive
markets maintained for the purpose in major cities of India. The common
justification of the police for allowing such markets to do business is that no hard
evidences to prove offence are available. This is unbelievable. If the police, with
the resources at its disposals cannot collect evidence against the illegal activities
conducted openly on such a large scale, it is not worth being in existence. There
is not even a single case anywhere in India of such exclusive markets dealing with
smuggled articles being shut down and the illegal activities being brought to a halt
by prosecuting the sharks of the smuggling world.
The same is true of stolen articles. The footpath vendors in specified market
areas trade in consumer goods, running to crores of rupees each day, without
paying legal dues to the Government in the form of sales and income taxes and
in violation of various rules and laws. The illegal business contributes to the
growth of parallel economy of black money in the country. These markets thrive
before the eyes of the local police force.
Either the police do not have the professional resolve to bring the illegal
activities to halt or the offenders who indulge in them have the police backing
in running the business. In other words, the police are hand in glove with them.
The leeway involved in the exercise of power, coupled with the sensitivity of
the job, renders the force vulnerable to corruption. Letting gambling dens
flourish, backing the manufacture and sale of illicit liquor, overlooking
prostitution, black-marketing and drug trafficking, changing the course of
investigation to save certain criminals or deciding the process of arrests and
seizures to favour certain individuals or parties, make life different for the people
involved. On the one hand, elicit business carried out with police patronage or
tacit support make huge grist in which the police naturally have a huge share. On

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the other hand, the culprits are prepared to pay any price in order to divert the
attention of the police. Huge sums of money change hands either to avoid arrest,
search and seizure or to change the very course of investigation. The police can
be part of such dirty deals without leaving a clue.
A fall-out of corruption is the dishonest thrive at the cost of honest
professional. Flexible elements are useful assets to people in key positions to save
their kith and kin as the when they get involved in criminal proceedings. Such
characters in police are always cultivated and posted to key positions so that
compromises can be easily matched. Honest police officers are sidelined.
The need for police is limited to the need to have an obedient force at the
disposal of the rulers for use wherever they feel like. The existence of such a force
gives the common man a feeling of security. The force also helps to absorb the
blames heaped on the rulers while things go wrong. While these cardinal goals
are met by the mere existence of the police, anything in addition, say
professionalism, integrity and honesty become acronyms. The general
perception is that an upright police force is always an inconvenience to the people
and therefore is not always tolerated and encouraged.
Corrupt police is the product of a corrupt society and corrupt police in turn
perpetuate corruption in society. This forms a vicious circle. As corruption takes
control and spreads to all strata of the force, upright elements in the force
become a minority and also forfeit the coveted position in the organisation as
inconvenient candidates. They are scorned, detested and avoided as moles in the
mainstream. Taking recourse to unfair and illegal means to crush upright officers
is also not uncommon. Though courts of law can theoretically protect officers
against such harassment, expenses, time and uncertainties involved and the
history of court judgments render the protection meaningless and force the
upright officer to silently bear all humiliations and losses or yield to the pressures.
It is to the credit of Indian police that it has great officers who have withstood
all slights without yielding to pressure.
In the olden days, corruption was confined to the lower strata of officials. The
situation has changed now; it originates from the above and percolates
downwards. An intelligence chief may drive his unwilling subordinates to adopt
all sorts of illegal methods including telephone tapping, political espionage and
other dirty tricks in his attempts to win over his political masters and may even
succeed at the cost of more senior aspirants. Now, what about the subordinates
once his business is done. His worry is how to use his new position to further
his prospects before he retires in a few months. As the date of retirement

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approaches, his perception of right and wrong blurs in the lust to make the most
of the position. This is the crux of the problem of corruption.
Freeing the police from the grip of corruption is a priority for rebuilding
India. A non-corrupt police is the beacon of a healthy society. The police can
usher in a healthy social life in the country only by first getting itself rid of the
cobwebs of corruption and then infusing professionalism in its work. It must
elevate itself to the heights expected of it as the guardian of the rule of law, justice
and fairness in the social structure of the country.

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