Status of Policing in India Report 2020-21 (Volume I): Policing in Conflict-Affected Regions

This report was published on April 19, 2021, by Common Cause, which works on governance reforms, and Lokniti, a research programme at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies – both based in Delhi. It is the third Status of Policing in India Report; the first was released in 2018. Volume I of the 2020-21 report contains information on policing in India’s conflict-affected regions, whereas Volume II focuses on the Covid-19 pandemic.This first volume contains the results of a survey of 6,881 people – 2,276 police personnel and 4,605 civilians – conducted in 27 districts across 11 states: Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Manipur, Nagaland, Odisha, Telangana, Jammu and Kashmir, and Tripura. Using government and other data, the report studies areas affected by violence due to left wing extremism, insurgency in the northeastern states, as well as militancy in the case of Jammu and Kashmir.The survey indicates that the public is generally satisfied with the working of the police. But there exist region-specific issues, such as the fear of assault by the police or conflict groups, or being falsely implicated in cases related to such groups. Interviews of police personnel brought out common issues of understaffing and inadequate infrastructure. Personnel from conflict-affected regions also reported feeling unsafe. Many respondents – police and civilian – said they were sympathetic to the demands of the conflict groups, but not towards their violence.The 176-page publication has nine chapters: An Analysis of Official Data on Conflict States (Chapter 1); Attitudes towards Conflict and Conflict-groups (Chapter 2); Controlling the Conflict: Challenges in Policing (Chapter 3); Relationship between the Police and the People in Conflict Regions (Chapter 4); Perceptions about Police vis-à-vis Paramilitary Forces or the Army (Chapter 5); Posting to a Conflict Region: Opinions of Police and Common People (Chapter 6); General Policing amid Conflict (Chapter 7); Ensuring Better Policing: The Way Forward (Chapter 8) and Summing up (Chapter 9).