New Delhi: National Security advisor Ajit Doval has stressed on the need for the police to be seen as credible and fair by the public since if it fails to enforce the rule of law then the “democracy fails.’’ While addressing a conference of superintendents of police from across the country, organised by the Bureau of Polcie Research and Development, the NSA called upon the young police officers to change the impression that the police was meant only for the privileged few.
NSA’s remarks assume significance as they come close on the heels of unprecedented violence in North-East Delhi last week in which more than 40 people were killed.
“If the police personnel are not able to enforce the law, then framing of that law is immaterial. A law is as good as it is executed on the ground. If you fail the democracy fails. Law-making is the most sacrosanct job in a democracy. It is not done by an imperial ruler or from the pulpit of a religious leader but by the representatives of the people and you are the enforcers of that law,’’ the NSA added.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr Doval recalled his long association of more than 50-years with the Indian Police Service (IPS) which he joined 1968 before retiring as the chief of Intelligence Bureau.
The NSA was of the view that the perception created by a policeman was very important as it gave confidence to the common man which in turn increased the trust level between a police force and the general public. ''The society feels secure if the public feels that they have a police force which is efficient, alert, honest, objective, professionally competent and friendly,’’ the NSA remarked.
Mr Doval called upon the young IPS officer to work for that section of the society which feels most neglected and unprivileged and have an impression that their complaint will never reach the police.
The police force, he added, bring more teeth to the law by executing it properly while at the same time public also needs to realise that it is the police for which they are paying, it is the police which is there to serve their best interests. ''Though this realisation has already started coming it will take some more time to be accepted by everyone,’’ he said. While the NSA maintained that there was no lack of leadership in the police forces, he called upon the police officers to be innovative in finding solutions to new challenges.
