CHAPTER XII

POLICE AND JAILS

I. Police
The indi- THE most interesting feature of the modern Indian Police
genous
polioc system is that, along with a regular police formed on the model
system. of the Royal Irish Constabulary, it comprises as an essential
part of its organization the ancient institution of the village
watch. It is now generally admitted that the village com-
munity in its most complete form is of non-Aryan origin; and
it is in the parts of India which have least felt Aryan influence,
that is, in the country lying to the south of the Vindhya
mountains, that this form of self-government has retained
the greatest vitality. In many tracts within this area the old
complement of village officials still exists, and, though all
are not now embodied in the British system of administration,
every village has retained a headman and a watchman. These
officers have been from ancient times, and are still, though to
a somewhat less degree, the backbone of the police machinery
of India. The headman occupied the position of a police
magistrate and the watchman worked under his orders. The
latter's functions are thus graphically described by Mountstuart
Elphinstone in his report (I8I9) on the territories conquered
from the Peshw :-' His [the watchman's] duties are to keep
watch at night, to find out all arrivals and departures, observe
all strangers, and report all suspicious persons to the pdtel
[headman]. He is likewise bound to know the character of
every man in the village; and in the event of a theft committed
within the village bounds, it is his business to detect the thief.
He is enabled to do this by his early habits of inquisitiveness
and observation, as well as by the nature of his allowance,
which being partly a small share of the grain and similar
property belonging to each house, he is kept always on the
watch to ascertain his fees, and always in motion to collect
them. When a theft or robbery happens, the watchman com-
mences his inquiries and researches. It is very common for
POLICE AND JAILS

3E5

him to track a thief by his footsteps; and if he does this to

another village, so as to satisfy the watchman there, or if he
otherwise traces the property to an adjoining village, his respon-
sibility ends, and it is the duty of the watchman of the new village
to take up the pursuit. The last village to which the thief has been
clearly traced becomes answerable for the property stolen, which
would otherwise fall on the village where the robbery was com-
mitted. The watchman is obliged to make up this amount as
far as his means go, and the remainder is levied on the whole
village'.' Sir Thomas Munro, who was an ardent supporter of
the indigenous police, thus described that institution as it
existed in the Madras Presidency: ' There is already an ancient
system of police in India which answers every useful purpose.
In every village there are hereditary watchmen whose business
it is to guard the property of the inhabitants and travellers from
depredation, and to exert themselves in recovering it when lost
or stolen; and there is, perhaps, no race of men in the world
equally dexterous in discovering the thieves. They are main-
tained by the produce of an inim [free grant] land, by a trifling
tax on each house, and by a small allowance from travellers
when they watch their property at night. No war or calamity
can make them abandon their heritage. If driven from it, they
always return again; and often live in the village when every
other person has forsaken it. This long and constant residence,
together with their habits of life, make them perfectly acquainted
with the character and the means of livelihood of every person in
it. When, therefore, a robber is to be apprehended the new
police officers apply to them, and seldom give themselves any
further trouble than merely to carry the criminal, when the
village watchmen have secured him, to the judge.' In the
Tamil country the village police were supervised by an official
styled the men kavalgdr; and it is probable that this was
originally the practice everywhere, the office being eventually
appropriated by the petty local chieftain or superior landlord.
In Northern India the village system was less complete.
There was no headman, and though every village had its watch-
man, he was the servant of the landowners rather than of the
whole community, and the landowners were held responsible for
losses occasioned by crime committed on their land.
The Mughals made no change in the system of village police, Its decay
but the duty of supervising them was entrusted to the revenue with the
break-up
officers, who were also magistrates. In the South this involved of the
I G. W. Forrest's Selections from the Minutes of Jfountstuart 'Elhin-
stone (1884), pp. 303-4.
VOL. IV. C C
386

THE INDIAN EMPIRE

[CHAP.

Mughal but little change, as there the petty chiefs were retained and
empire. allowed to collect the revenue from the villagers; and even
where the appointment of revenue officials was the rule, the
tendency was for the office to become hereditary and for the
tax-gatherer to merge in the landed proprietor. Each superior
landlord was required to maintain a quota of troops, and these
forces were utilized as police to suppress internal disorders and
to deal with serious outbreaks of such crimes as dacoity and
robbery. The system of spies was also developed, and Haidar
All in Mysore used his postal officials as an elaborate police
intelligence department.
With the decline of the Mughal power the system of police
fell into great disorder, and the petty chiefs and zamindars, no
longer dreading punishment from above, used their adherents
to ravage and plunder the lands of their neighbours. 'They
extorted and amassed wealth which was dissipated in a jealous
rivalry of magnificent pageantry. The weapons which were
intended for the enemies of the state were turned against the
state itself, and against each other, and were used for plans of
personal aggrandizement, mutual revenge, or public plunder .'
This evil example was followed by the village headmen and the
village police. Most of the latter became thieves themselves,
and many of the former harboured criminals and connived at
crime for a share of the booty. The liability of the watchmen
to restore the stolen property or make good its value was dis-
regarded, and it was impossible to enforce the old village
responsibility, that 'coarse but effectual remedy,' as Mount-
stuart Elphinstone calls it, 'against the indifference of the
neighbourhood to the sufferings of individuals.'
First This was the state of things which the British found in the
efforts early days of their rule, and as a first step towards reform the
towards
police or- zamindars were relieved of their police duties, which were
ganization transferred tothe District Magistrates, each Districtbeingdivided
under
British into small police jurisdictions with an area of about 20 square
rule. miles. This formed the charge of a daroga, who had under
him twenty to fifty armed men, and was also given authority
over the village watchmen. This system, which entirely dis-
regarded the village headman and converted the watchman
from a servant of the village into an ill-paid and disreputable
subordinate of the daroga, proved to be an expensive failure;
and, owing largely to the representations of Elphinstone and
Munro, it was abolished, under orders issued by the Court of
Directors in 1814, in all the Company's possessions except
1 East India Judicial Seeictions, vol. i, p. 154.
POLICE Ai-D JAILS

3S7

Bengal, in many parts of which Province the village system did

not exist. An endeavour was made there in 1807 to re-establish
the landlords in their police functions by giving them authority
to act as am.ns or commissioners of police. But the old
establishments had been dissolved and the scheme did not
meet with great success.
It was many years before the police administration advanced Progress
much beyond this initial stage. It remained, as a rule, in the of reform.
Police Act
immediate charge of the District Magistrate, who had under his of 1861.
control a loosely organized body of civil police and the indi-
genous local agency. Much of the guard and escort duty
incident to the work of civil government was performed by the
native army, a costly and inconvenient arrangement. As work
increased the Magistrate was unable to devote sufficient time to
purely police duties, and his magisterial and police functions
were found to clash. In the time of Lord William Bentinck,
1828-35, complaints of the inefficiency and corruption of the
police were universal. The first measure of reform was the
appointment of separate Superintendents for the police of the
Presidency towns1. In the country generally the earliest
important attempt at improvement was made by Sir Charles
Napier in Sind. He drew up a plan on the model of the Irish
Constabulary, the main characteristics of which were separate
organization, severance of police and judicial functions, and
a reasonable degree of discipline; and this was extended a few
years later to the Bombay Presidency proper. Shortly after the
annexation of the Punjab a double system was introduced into
that Province, consisting of a detective force on existing lines
and a semi-military force for escort and guard duty. Similar
arrangements were made on a more extensive scale in the
Province of Agra immediately after the Mutiny. In Oudh
a large body of military police had been raised during the
Mutiny, and, after the pacification of the country, it was reduced
in numbers and reorganized on a civil basis, unconnected with
either the military or judicial authorities. Smaller battalions of
military police were also raised in Bengal. In the meantime
the appointment of a Commission to investigate the alleged
practice of torture by native officials in Madras had drawn
prominent attention to the condition of the police force in that
Province. It was reorganized by an Act passed in 1859, the
main features of which were similar to those of the Act which
was shortly afterwards passed for India generally. The cost of
I Calcutta had a Superintendent of Police as early as ISoS, but up to
IS29 his jurisdiction included a large portion of the surrounding country.
C2
THE INDIAN EMPIRE

[CHAP.

the double police force in the Province of Agra and the Punjab
proved prohibitive, and it was eventually decided to introduce
the Oudh system of a single body for detective, protective, and
miscellaneous duty. In i860 a Commission which had been
appointed to inquire into the whole subject of police adminis-
tration recommended the establishment of a well-organized and
purely civil constabulary, supervised by European officers, and
capable of carrying out all ordinary civil duties, including the
provision of guards and escorts. The village police should, the
Commission advised, be retained on their existing footing,
being brought, however, into direct relationship with the general
constabulary. The proposals of the Commission formed the
basis of an Act passed in 1861, which, with some amendment,
still regulates the administration of the police throughout the
greater part of India, and which permitted a considerable re-
duction in the native army. In Madras the Act of I859
(amended in some particulars) is still in force. A separate Act
was passed for the Bombay Presidency in I867, and was
replaced in I89o by a fresh Act, which was extended to Sind
in I902. Further legislation will be required to carry out the
orders of the Government of India on the report of the recent
Commission.
Organiza- The police establishment under each Local Government
tion of forms in most Provinces a single force, and is formally en-
the deart rolled. In Bombay there is a separate force for each District.
ment.
The Provincial police is under the general control of an
Inspector-General, who is in some Provinces a member of the
Indian Civil Service. In most cases he is assisted by Deputy-
Inspectors-General, who hold subordinate charge of portions of
the Province. Police administration throughout a District is
under an officer styled the District Superintendent. He is
responsible for the discipline and internal management of the
force, and is the subordinate of the District Magistrate in all
matters connected with the preservation of peace and the
detection and suppression of crime. In Madras the control
exercised by the District Magistrate is less detailed than in
other Provinces. In large Districts the Superintendent has an
Assistant, who sometimes works under him at head-quarters
and sometimes (usually in Madras) holds charge of a portion of
the District. An officer of the superior police department
enters as an Assistant, rises in due course to the post of
District Superintendent, and may be selected to be Deputy-
Inspector-General and, in some Provinces, Inspector-General.
The controlling staff is composed almost entirely of Europeans.
Recruitment has hitherto been partly by open competition in
England, partly by examination after nomination in India, and
partly by the promotion of subordinate officers; but it was
decided in 1905 that appointments in India should henceforth
be made only with the special sanction of the Government of
India. A new grade of Deputy-Superintendents, with similar
duties to those of Assistant-Superintendents, is to be created,
the members of which will be exclusively natives of India. In
some Provinces, and notably in Bombay, where there are no
Deputy-Inspectors-General, the Commissioner of the Division
has special control over the police, apart from his position as
administrative head of the Districts within his jurisdiction.
This principle is to be extended to all parts of India where
there are Commissioners.
At the head-quarters of each District a reserve is maintained Reserve,
under the command of an Inspector (a chief constable in armament,
and miti-
Bombay). This reserve supplies men for escort, guard, and tarypolice.
miscellaneous duty, and serves to strengthen the police in any
part of the District where disturbance may be apprehended or
other emergency may arise. Recruits pass some time in the
reserve for the purpose of learning their duties. The reserve
is trained to act in concert and to shoot, but is not drilled up
to a standard of military efficiency. The reserve and a portion
ot the general-duty police are armed with breech-loading
smooth-bore guns or carbines, and a small number, in tracts
where they are likely to encounter armed resistance from
dacoits and other law-breakers, carry rifles. The subordinate
officers wear swords, and the truncheon is the general arm
of the constable. About 2,600 are mounted. The proposals
of the recent Commission involve an increase of the reserves
in several Provinces.
A force of military police, the total strength of which is about
20,000, is still maintained in unsettled frontier tracts in Bengal,
Assam, and Burma, and in the North-West Frontier Province.
Three-quarters of this force is maintained in Burma, and,
though under the Local Government, it is organized in
battalions under military officers and largely recruited from
the martial races of Northern India.
The general peace of the country is secured by the pro-
visions of the Indian Arms Act, which restricts the possession
of fire-arms and other weapons within narrow limits; and the
occasions on which the military have to be called on to
suppress riots (mostly arising from religious or caste questions)'
are comparatively rare,

Districtor- Each District is subdivided for police purposes into sections

ganization. under Inspectors. In Madras and Bengal the Inspector is
placed in executive charge of a subdivision, and is directly
responsible for the wo-king of its police. In Bombay and the
United Provinces he is stationed at the District head-quarters
and tours through his circle. To keep the police on the
alert by constant inspections is everywhere his duty, and he
does not, as a rule, personally investigate cases of crime. The
Inspector's division is split up in all Provinces into areas
in each of which is a police station under the charge of
a subordinate officer, generally a sub-inspector in Bengal and
the United Provinces, a head constable in Madras, and a chief
constable in Bombay. This officer is primarily responsible for
the working of the police within his charge, and is assisted by
a body of petty officers and constables. It is his duty to
inquire personally into cases of serious crime. It is now
(1906) proposed to recruit sub-inspectors as far as possible
direct, the proportion of vacancies to be filled by promotion
from petty officers being fixed separately in each Province.
On the other hand, Inspectors are to be recruited mainly
by promotion, and not more than one-tenth will be appointed
direct. In most Provinces there are subsidiary police stations
known as outposts. In Bengal and Bombay these outposts
are very numerous and are minor reporting and detective
centres, while in the United Provinces they serve the special
function of guarding the routes of traffic.
Village Each police station has within its jurisdiction a number
police. of villages, and for each village there is, as already explained,
a chauzkidar or watchman. South of the Vindhyas the watch-
man is under the immediate control of the headman, on whom
rests the obligation to report crime and aid the execution of
justice; but in the greater part of Bengal there are no head-
men, and the chazukiddrs are there virtually a low-paid regular
police, while elsewhere in Northern India they are, as a rule,
partly subordinate to the village elders or lamwlardsrs, and
in part directly responsible to the officer in charge of the
police station. In 1905 the policy of strengthening the control
and responsibility of the village headmen was reaffirmed.
Village watchmen are remunerated in some Provinces by allot-
ments of land and payment of fees : in others this system has
been abolished, and monthly salaries are paid from a fund
formed by a cess on land or houses, and from the revenue
derived from the old landed endowments. Under either
system hereditary claims are, whenever possible, respected.
Imperial Gazetteer of India, v. 4, p. 406.