International Journal of Management (IJM)

Volume 10, Issue 2, March–April 2019, pp.219-226, Article ID: IJM_10_02_023

Available online at https://iaeme.com/Home/issue/IJM?Volume=10&Issue=2
ISSN Print: 0976-6502 and ISSN Online: 0976-6510

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GANDHI ON NON-VIOLENT POLICE

Dr. Manish Sharma
Department of Gandhian and Peace Studies,
Panjab University, Sector-14, Chandigarh, India

ABSTRACT
Living in 21st century in itself reminds all of us the necessity of police and its
administration. As more and more we are entering into the modern society and culture,
the more we require the services of the so called ‘Khaki Worthy’ men i.e., the police
personnel. Whether we talk of Indian police or the other nation’s police, they all have
the same recognition as they have in India. But as already mentioned, their services and
requirements are different after the like 26th November, 2008 incidents, where they
without saving their own lives has sacrificed themselves without any hitch and without
caring about their respective family members and wards. In other words, they are like
our heroes and mentors who can guide us from the darkness of fear, militancy,
corruption and other dark sides of life and so on. Now the question arises, if Gandhi
would have been alive today, what would have been his reaction/opinion to the police
and its functioning? Would he have some thing different in his mind now what he had
been in his mind before the partition or would he be going to start some Satyagraha in
the form of some improvement in the functioning of the police administration? Really
these questions or rather night mares can come to any one’s mind, when there is too
much confusion is prevailing in our minds, when there is too much corruption in the
society and when the polices working is also in the questioning because of one or the
other case throughout the India. It is matter of great concern that we have to thing over
our administration and our practical approach because the police personals are also
like us, they are part and parcel of our society and among one of us, so why we all are
pin pointing towards them.
Key words: Gandhi, Non-violent, Police, CBI, BSF, IB
Cite this Article: Manish Sharma, Gandhi on Non-violent Police, International Journal
of Management (IJM), 10(2), 2019, pp. 219-226.
https://iaeme.com/Home/issue/IJM?Volume=10&Issue=2

1. INTRODUCTION
1.1. History of Police
The origin may be traced to the feudal obligation of the landowners to maintain, by means of
an underpaid and disorderly rabble, the semblance of order on their estates. The taint of its
earliest antecedents still affects the morale of the lower ranks: the constable has inherited the
reputation, if not the methods, of the barkandaz. The history of the Indian Police under British

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role is marked by a series of attempts to introduce more advanced standards of conduct and
integrity, and to raise the tone of the force by improving the pay and prospects of its
members.[1] Further, the indigenous systems of police, based upon the responsibility of the
landholders or the village communities, were gradually modified by the progressive
intervention of the State; how a series of experiments in different provinces culminated in the
comprehensive reorganization effected by the Police Commission of 1860; and how the
arrangements then introduced and improved from time to time, as Provincial resources
admitted, fall short at the present day of the higher standard of efficiency which modern
conditions demand.[2]
When we see the chapters on the formation of Indian police we found out that the indigenous
system of police in India was very similar to that of Saxon England as both were organized on
the basis of land tenure, and just as the Thane in the time of King Alfred was required to produce
the offender or to satisfy the claim, so in India the zamindar was bound to apprehend all
disturbers of the public peace and to restore the stolen property or make good its value. Under
the large zamindars were a number of subordinate tenure-holders, all of whom were required
in their degree to perform police duties and to bear for the areas of their charges the
responsibilities which rested upon the zamindar for the whole estate; and, finally, there was, as
a rule, the joint responsibility of the villagers, which could only be transferred if they succeeded
in tracking the offender to the limits of another village. This village responsibility was enforced
through the headman who was always assisted by one or more village watchmen. These latter
were the real executive police of the country. Although there was, as a rule, only one watchman
for the village, he was, when necessity arose assisted by all the male members of his family, by
the other village servants, and in some cases by the whole village community. His duties were
to keep watch at night, find out all arrivals and departures, observe all strangers, and report all
suspicious persons to the headman. He was required to note the character of each man in the
village, and if a theft were committed within the village bounds, it was his business to detect
the thieves. If he failed to recover the stolen property, he was obliged to make up the amount
of the value of it so far as his moans permitted, and the remainder was levied on the whole
village. “The exaction of this indemnity” wrote Mountstuart Elphinstone, “is evidently unjust,
since the village might neither be able to prevent the theft, nor to make up the loss, and it was
only in particular cases that it was insisted on to its full extent; but some fine was generally
levied, and neglect or connivance was punished by transferring the Imam of the Patel or
watchman to his nearest relation, by fine, by imprisonment in irons, or by severe corporal
punishment. This responsibility was necessary, as besides the usual temptation to neglect, the
watchman is often himself a thief, and the Patel disposed to harbour thieves, with a view to
share their profits”[3] To ensure greater protection than the village police were able to afford,
payments were often made to the leaders of plundering tribes to induce them to prevent
depredations by their followers, a system which obtains to this day in many parts of the
peninsula. In large towns the administration of the police was entrusted to an officer called the
“kotwal,” who was usually paid a large salary, from which he was required to defray the
expenses of a considerable establishment of police. In Poona, for example, the kotwal received
Rs. 9,000 a month, but he had to maintain a very large establishment of peons, some horse
patrols, and a considerable number of Ramosis, while he was also answerable for the value of
property stolen. His appointment, however, was considered a lucrative one, as the pay of his
establishment was very low, and both he and his subordinates supplemented their salaries by
unauthorised exactions from the inhabitants[4]. Moreover, according to Abul Fazul, Minister
of the Emperor Akbar, shows that the Mogul system of police followed closely on the lines of
that indigenous to the country. The system of mutual security is almost identical with that which
existed in England in Anglo-Saxon times and was continued by the Normans:

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“The kotwals of cities, kusbahs, towns and villages, in conjunction with the royal clerks,
shall prepare a register of the houses and buildings of the same, which registers shall include a
particular description of the inhabitants of each habitation. One house shall become security for
another; so that they shall all be reciprocally pledged and bound each for the other. They shall
be divided into districts, each having a chief or prefect, to whose superintendence the district
shall be subject. Secret intelligencers or spies shall be appointed to each district, who shall keep
a journal of local occurrences, arrivals and departures, happening either by day or night. When
any theft, fire or other misfortune may happen, the neighbours shall render immediate
assistance; especially the prefect and public informers, who, failing to attend on such occasions,
unless unavoidably prevented, shall be held responsible for the omission. No person shall be
permitted to travel beyond, or to arrive within, the limits of the district, without the knowledge
of the prefect, the neighbours or public informers. Those who cannot provide security shall
reside in a separate place of abode, to be allotted to them by the prefect of the district and the
public informers. A certain number of persons in each district shall be appointed to patrol by
night the several streets and environs of the several cities, towns, villages, etc., taking care that
no strangers infest them, and especially exerting themselves to discover, pursue and apprehend
robbers, thieves, cut-purses, etc. If any articles be stolen or plundered, the police must restore
the articles, produce the criminal, or, failing to do so, become responsible for the equivalent.”[5]
The system described above was no doubt well suited to the needs of a simple,
homogeneous, agricultural community; but however effectual it may have once been, it could
not support the strain of political disorder and the relaxation of control from above. Extortion
and oppression flourished unchecked through all gradations of the officials responsible for the
maintenance of peace and order. Both village watchman and the heads of villages, and even the
higher officials, connived at crime and harboured offenders in return for a share of the booty.
Their liability to restore the stolen property or make good its value was disregarded; or if this
obligation was enforced, neither the property nor its value was restored to the owner. Fines
were imposed when a more severe punishment was called for; and offenders who were
possessed of any property could always purchase their liberty[6].
The history of police organization can also be traced from its foundations in a system of
village and local police and joint responsibility, through the changes introduced with somewhat
disastrous results by the early British administrators, down to the reforms that were carried out
about the year 1860[7].

2. ROLE OF POLICE
The definition of police is derived in the form of service which is a public force empowered to
enforce the law and provide security through the legitimized use of force. Further, the term is
most commonly associated with police services of a state that are authorized to exercise the
police power of that state within a defined legal or territorial area of responsibility. The word
comes via French Policier, from Latin politia (“civil administration”), from ancient Greek
(Polis) (“city”).[8]
Initially, Police was created to safe guard the basic rights of the humanity or the particular
state, where some people had started using wrong means to acquire others wealth in the form
of thefts, lootings and so on. And later on to capture the culprits, the services of the police were
required.
The First Police Commission was appointed on 17th August, 1860, contained detailed
guidelines for the desired system of police in India and defined police as a governmental
department to maintain order, enforce the law, and prevents and detects crime. The Indian
Police Service is not a force itself but a service providing leaders and commanders to staff the
state police and all-India Para-Military Forces. Its members, who are all at least university

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 Gandhi on Non-violent Police

graduates, are the senior officers of the police. With the passage of time Indian Police Service's
objectives were updated and redefined from time to time but with little improvements.
The roles and functions of an Indian Police Service Officer are as follows[9]:
• To fulfill duties based on broader responsibilities, in the areas of maintenance of public
peace and order, crime prevention, investigation, and detection, collection of
intelligence, VIP security, counter-terrorism, border policing, railway policing, tackling
smuggling, drug trafficking, economic offences, corruption in public life, disaster
management, enforcement of socio-economic legislation, bio-diversity and protection
of environmental laws etc.
• Leading and commanding the Indian Intelligence Agencies like Research and Analysis
Wing (R&AW), Intelligence Bureau (IB), Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI), etc,
Indian Federal Law Enforcement Agencies, Civil and Armed Police Forces in all the
states and union territories.
• Leading and commanding the Para-Military Forces of India (PMF) Central Police
Organisations (CPO) like Border Security Force (BSF), Central Reserve Police Force
(CRPF), Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), National Security Guard (NSG), Rashtriya
Rifles, Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), Defence Security Corps (DSC),
Vigilance Organisations, Indian Fedral Law Enforcement Agencies, Assam Rifles, etc.
• Serve at head of the departments in policy making in the Ministries and Departments of
Central and State Governments and public sector undertakings both at centre and states,
Government of India.
• To interact and coordinate closely with the members of other All India Services and
Central Civil Services and also with the Indian Armed Forces.
• Last but not the least, to lead and command the force with courage, uprightness,
dedication and a strong sense of service to the people.
• Endeavour to inculcate in the police forces under their command such values and norms
as would help them serve the people better.
• Inculcate integrity of the highest order, sensitivity to aspirations of people in a fast-
changing social and economic milieu, respect for human rights, broad liberal
perspective of law and justice and high standard of professionalism.

3. GANDHIAN APPROACH TOWARDS POLICE

Mohan Das Karamchand Gandhi is a name known for its practical approach and its working
for the betterment and upliftment of all irrespective of any colour, creed, sex and age. In his
dictionary there was no word where he can discriminate to any one on any ground and that
applies to his thoughts on the police also. According to Gandhi, “I have conceded that even in
a non-violent state a police force may be necessary...Of course, I can and do envisage a state
where the police would be unnecessary but whether we shall succeed in realizing it, the future
alone will show....Police ranks will be composed of believers in non-violence. The people will
instinctively render them every help and through mutual cooperation they will easily deal with
the ever decreasing disturbances...Violent quarrels between labor and capital and strikes will
be few and far between in a non-violent state because the influence of the non-violent majority
will be great as to respect the principle elements in society. Similarly, there will be no room for
communal disturbances....” [10] But the question arises here is that Gandhi had visualized
something like ‘Ram Rajya’ but in the present or rather in the practical truth is that it is totally
different from the same. So, the role and functioning of the police had totally changed and in
the coming times, it would be requiring more radical changes and modifications for the smooth

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 Manish Sharma

functioning of the police. The best example in terms of police as informed by one of family
member could be quoted here of the Switzerland Police, where they are following the real
Gandhian principles, as by the evening time i.e., 5pm the police stations are subject to close and
only one main police station of the city used to remain open, only for the formality purposes
and the crime record and other records are also very less, because the respective natives of the
land have the respect for each other and there are no conflicts in their minds against each other,
which is one of most important aspect of Gandhian principles. Further, they all have checks on
their wants.
While talking about police, Gandhi had mentioned in his Book ‘Voice of Truth’[11] as
above mentioned while keeping in view of the present day status, had mentioned that
“Nevertheless, I have conceded that even in a non-violent State a police force may be necessary.
This, I admit, is a sign of my imperfect Ahimsa. I have not the courage to declare that we can
carry on without police force as I have in respect of any army. Of course, I can and do envisage
a State where the police will not be necessary. But whether we shall succeed in realizing it, the
future alone will show.
The police of my conception will, however, be of a wholly different pattern from the
present-day force. Its ranks will be composed of believers in non-violence. They will be
servants, not masters of the people. The people will instinctively render them any help, and
through mutual co-operation they will easily deal with the ever-decreasing disturbances. The
police force will have some kind of arms, but they will be rarely used, if at all. In fact, the police
men will be reformers. Their police work will be confined primarily to robbers and dacoits.[12]
Further, at another point he mentioned that, in independence India of the non-violent type,
there will be crime but no criminals. They will not be punished. Crime is a disease like any
other malady and is a product of the prevalent social system. Therefore, all crime including
murder will be treated as a disease. Whether such as India will ever come into being is another
question.[13]
What should our jails be like in free India? All criminals should be treated as patients and
the jails should be hospitals admitting this class of patients for treatment and cure. No one
commits crime for the fun of it. It is a sign of a diseased mind. The causes of a particular disease
should be investigated and removed. They need not have palatial buildings when their jails
become hospitals. No country can afford that, much less can a poor country like India. But the
outlook of the jail staff should be that of physicians and nurses in a hospital. The prisoners
should feel that the officials are their friends. that Civil liberty is not criminal liberty.[14]
They are there to help them regain their mental health and not to harass them in any way.
The popular governments have to issue necessary orders, but meanwhile the jail staff can do
not a little to humanize their administration.[15]
While analyzing the above Gandhian view point and the present day situation, we can say
that the role of police from Indian perspective and the area covered by Indian Police is too wide
and they have very less infrastructure to cope-up the whole situation which can be seen in the
next segment.

4. PRESENT DAY PROBLEMS

Today when we see any police personnel, we imagine a person who is totally corrupt, will ask
money as bribe from us in the form of doing our work as soon as possible, may not listen to our
heeds unless and until we have a good approach of some high profile person, a personality with
a big tummy and what ever bad we can think of them in any form. This explains the state of
mind he is having for these folks. But on the other hand, the incidents of 26th November, 2008
and so on also makes us to feel ashamed that we are wrong somewhere, these people are not

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 Gandhi on Non-violent Police

like what we had imagined or portraited them in our thoughts. We have to see the other side of
the situation also or the reality of the working of the police can be summed as like this:
• What ever are the circumstances, these people say no to any assignment.
• The working hours are too long.
• They also have to manage the traffic in the pollution as well in the dry, cold, hot and
wet conditions. If one of us has to work into these circumstances, we might collapse in
one or two days time but these people are working day and night without any problem.
• We have to see also that these people are also not paid enough for their work which is
one of the reasons that they have to beg from others.
• The other reason is we are ourselves because when ever we commit any mistake, we try
to subdue it by offering the money to the police and walk away without any punishment.
• The other reason of the failure of the police force are our politicians for whose protection
they have to be ready all the time but they are treating these heroes as their servants and
to serve their children only.
• The police force is not well equipped to cope with any emergency or situation like of
26th November, 2008.
• Too much interference of the politics in the working of the police administration and its
appointments.
• Police reforms were done a long time back which are now outdated and need more
radical and practical changes.
• No one cares for their families after they are gone because of some incidence, shootout
or with fighting with any criminal or of the any other reason while working in the force.

5. GANDHIAN SOLUTION
While utilizing the services of the police, Gandhi had mentioned that if we want to have the
services of the police personal’s then we too have to come forward and provide them some of
the basic help so that they can provide their best to all. The basic idea of Gandhi on the
formation of the Police (a non-violent group of socially aware people) was to prepare a non-
violent group in the locality or in the area, which will work for the betterment and protection of
the rights of the respective citizens and near by areas. But the overall working of the group
would be to help the higher body i.e. the Police Force and the modalities of the same group
along with the creation of the police were like that[16]:
• A non-violent group acts unlike armed men, as well in times of peace as in times of
disturbances. Theirs will be the duty of bringing warring communities together, carrying
peace propaganda, engaging in activities that would bring and keep them in touch with
every single person in their parish or division. Such group should be ready to cope with
any emergency, and in order to still the frenzy of mobs should risk their lives in numbers
sufficient for that purpose.
• Satyagraha (truth-force) brigades can be organized in every village and every block of
buildings in the cities. In non-violent bodies the charger or soul force must mean
everything and the physique must take second place. It is difficult to find such persons.
That is why the non-violent force must be small if it is to efficient. [If the non-violent
society is attacked from without] there are two ways open to non-violence. To yield
possession, but non-cooperate with the aggressor...prefer death to submission. The
second way would be non-violent resistance by the people who have been trained in the
non-violent way.

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 Manish Sharma

• The unexpected spectacle of endless rows upon rows of men and women simply dying
rather than surrender to the will of an aggressor must ultimately melt him and his
soldiery.
• A nation or group which has made non-violence its final policy cannot be subjected to
slavery even by the atom bomb.
• Before general disarmament commences some nation will have to disarm herself and
take large risks. The level of non-violence in that nation, if that even happily comes to
pass, will naturally have risen so high as to command universal respect.
Further, he added that a soldier of peace, unlike the one of sword, has to give all his spare
time to the promotion of peace alike in war time as in peace time. A soldier who needs the
protection of even a stick, is to that extent so much the less of a soldier. He is the true soldier
who knows how to die and stand his ground in the midst of a hail of bullets. Whilst as a soldier
he must avoid no unavoidable risk, he must not recklessly run the risk of being killed. A soldier
never worries as to what shall happen to his work after him but thinks only of the immediate
duty in front of him. A true soldier does not argue, as he is confident that if he only plays the
humble part well, somehow or other the battle will be won.[17] At another place Gandhi had
mentioned that, “Peace restored with the help of the police and its elder brother, the military,
will strengthen the hold of the foreign government and emasculate us still further.”[18]

6. CONCLUSION
Gandhi had dreamed of India where one can live without any difficulty and without any
problem, but so far as the reality is concerned in India, the situation is totally different because
of the one or the other reasons. In the present times, to think without the police would be just
like living in the hell because the present day police is doing their best or on other words doing
more than enough from their side to safeguard the Indian masses and also managing their life’s
without much difficulty. The basic requirement from our side is that we all should put our best
efforts and give them their due respect in terms of their work and services rendered to us. The
other thing is that the Governments at their respective levels i.e., at the centre as well as at the
states level should form the polices according the need of the hour and should also work in the
financial and health matters.

REFERENCES
[1] Bhattacharyya, Atulchandra, History of Police Organisation in India and Indian Village Police
Being Select Chapters of The Report of The Indian Police Commission, 1902-03 (Calcutta:
Calcutta University Press), 1913, p. 1.
[2] Ibid., p. 3.
[3] Ibid., pp. 5-6.
[4] Ibid., p. 6.
[5] Ibid., pp. 6-7.
[6] Ibid., p. 7.
[7] Ibid., p. 19.
[8] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Police#cite_note-0
[9] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Police_Service
[10] www.whatwouldgandhido.net

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[11] https://www.gandhiashramsevagram.org/voice-of-truth/gandhiji-on-police-crimes-and-
jails.php
[12] See also: Gandhi, M. K., Voices of Truth ed. By Shriman Narayan, Ahmedabad: Navajivan
Trust, 1969
[13] Gandhi, M. K., Harijan, 1-9-40, p. 265
[14] Harijan, 5-5-46, p. 124
[15] Harijan, 23-10-37, p. 308
[16] Harijan, 2-11-47, pp. 395-96
[17] www.whatwouldgandhido.net
[18] Sen. N. B. (ed.), Wit and Wisdom of Mahatma Gandhi (New Delhi: New Book Society of India),
1960 Edition, p. 212.
[19] Tendulkar, D.G., Mahatma Vol. No. 7 (New Delhi: Publications Division), 2nd Edn.1960, p.
167.

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