Chapter-2 (Manual 1)

Particulars of Organization, Functions and Duties

2.1. Objective/purpose of the public authority. * Provide an honest efficient, effective, law abiding, courteous, responsive and a professionally competent law enforcement machinery. * Protect lives and properties of people from criminals and anti social elements. * Maintain law and order in society by taking all possible measures to prevent breach of peace and in case breach of peace takes place, to bring the situation back to normal with utmost speed. * Strict enforcement of legal provisions with regard to human rights. * Earn goodwill, support and active assistance of the community. * Equal treatment to all irrespective of religion, caste, social, economic status and political affiliation. * Effective prevention and detection of crime. * Effective management of traffic. * Take firm and prompt action against the anti-social and rowdy elements. * Maintain public order during fairs, festivals, public functions, processions, strikes, agitations, etc.

2.2. Mission / Vision Statement of the public authority. Our goal is to prevent crime, maintain public order, uphold justice, ensure the Rule and Law, and have honesty, integrity and fairness in all our dealings. We are committed to the safety and security of all our citizens in partnership with the people.

2.3. Brief history of the public authority and context of its formation.

The history of is intrinsically linked with the origin, growth and evolution of Police before 1972, the year Meghalaya was born having been carved out of the existing territory of Assam. The creation of Meghalaya as a state is also considered as the beginning of Meghalaya Police.

History before 1972

Before the advent of the British or earlier, there did not seem to be any organised police force in Assam. On the advent of Assam, the British continued to employ the army for maintenance of law and order.

The strength of the army was substantially reduced in face of mounting costs of their maintenance and by 1839-40 the number of troops in Assam was reduced to four regiments only. Concomitantly, the armed component of the Civil Police was increased . A separate force under the civil government apart from the armed civil Police was raised in the year 1835 by one Mr. Grange who was the Head of the Civil administration of Nowgong District at that time.

History is foggy that Assam had a regular police force until the British took over after the Yandabu treaty of 1826. At the fag end of the Ahom rule and during the reign of Kamaleswar Singha (1795 -1811), an armed force on the British model was raised to serve the dual functions of maintenance of law and order and border defence. It was, however, not a regular and fully organised police force in the real sense of the term. After 1862, the British deployed regular troops in several parts of Assam to consolidate its occupation and a police establishment consisting of one Darogah, one Jamadhar and a number of constables was maintained at each district headquarters.The most important development in this process was the raising of the "Cachar Levy" in 1835 by the Civil Service Officer, in-charge of Nowgong district, Mr. Grange, to guard new settlements and tea estates. It consisted of 750 officers and men of different ranks, viz., Inspectors, Head Constables and Constables. Three years later, a similar body, called "

Militia", was formed to protect the border areas against frequent border transgressions. It was also known as the "Shan" militia, as the recruits were mostly from the Shan community. Eventually it was merged with the "Cachar Levy", which was subsequently renamed as "Frontier Police" in 1883 and then as "Assam Military Police" in 1891 and then again as "" in 1920. The duties of the levy included the guarding of the Eastern Frontier of Assam from the Brahmaputra River to Cachar. The levy was a force of a semi-military nature. The men were poorly paid and the duties were arduous and often involving fighting. At the initial stage most of the recruits came from Bengal.

The Government found that the Police force inducted from outside was not only inefficient but also oppressive, and therefore, decided to attract local youth to improve the character and efficiency of the police force. In October 1843 the Government upgraded the salary of the Darogah from Rs. 25 to Rs. 100 and there was a corresponding hike of the salary of other police personnel. This development saw the gradual induction of local youth into the police force.

Till 1874, Assam was administratively a part of the British-ruled province of Bengal and was administered through an agent of the Governor-General. The Police officers were borne on the Bengal Cadre and the control and supervision of the Police Department were under the central administration.

The Police Act of 1861 was introduced in Assam in 1862 and the Criminal Procedure Code was also brought into operation in the same year.

Following this, there were new administrative developments, and one such was in respect of law and order and prevention of crime. Under the Police Act of 1861, eleven Police Districts were created in Assam. These were : (1) , (2) Kamrup, (3) Darrang, (4) , (5) Sibsagar, (6) Lakhimpur, (7) Garo Hills, (8) Khasi and Jaintia Hills, (9) Naga Hills, (10) Cachar and (11) Sylhet. The police administration was run from Shillong, the provincial capital. The first Inspector General of Police was Chichele Plowden, who was a civil servant. The police was divided into four branches (i) Civil Police, employed in the districts for maintenance of law and order and prevention of crimes and other miscellaneous duties generally entrusted to the police (ii) Frontier Police, a quasi-military force entrusted with the responsibility of protection of the border (iii) Municipal Police, created to look after the law and order in the towns, and was subsequently amalgamated with the Civil Police in 1882, and (iv) Rural Police, a security force to handle the law and order in the villages. It may be noted that the Civil Police was the principal Police force in the Province and its total strength in 1874, at the time of constituting Assam as a Chief Commissioner's province was 3,352.

While the Rural and the Municipal police occupied an insignificant position, the mainstay of the police force in Assam was the Civil and the Frontier Police. This was done in accordance with the decision of the Government of on March 5, 1878 as a part of its reorganisation of the police force. The force was classified into two categories viz. (i) Civil Police for the discharge of ordinary Civil functions and (ii) The Frontier or armed Police for quasi-military work. Although the Frontier Police (which was, as stated earlier, renamed as Armed Police in 1891) was created to defend the frontiers, it was also used very often to assist the civil police. At the beginning of 1881, there were Municipal Police at Goalpara, , , Sylhet, Sibsagar, and Shillong but from the 1st April of the year, the Municipal Police excepting those at Sylhet and Shillong, were amalgamated with the ordinary Civil Police. In addition to these two broad categories, a new police force called "Punitive Police" was formed in 1880 under the Police Act of 1861 and was deployed in Sylhet and Goalpara to handle the recurrence of disturbances there. Later on it was deployed in the Khasi Hills. It was known as "Punitive" because it realised the cost of its maintenance from the erring inhabitants. Five years later, the Railway Police Force was created in April 1885 with one Head Constable and 4 Constables to assist the Railway Survey Party.

The Assam Police Frontier regulation of 1882 provided for the maintenance of proper discipline in the force and fixed the terms and conditions of service in the Assam Frontier Police. Further changes were witnessed in 1883 when the Frontier Police was re-organized to give it a distinct military role and the defence of the entire Frontier line was placed in its hands. The Frontier Police was organized into four corps which was stationed in Cachar, Lakhimpur, Garo Hills and Naga Hills. With the exception of these four districts the duties of guarding the Jails and Treasuries were taken over by the Civil Police.

The New Province of Assam came into existence in 1912. During that year, the formation of a new battalion for the North-East Frontier was sanctioned and a scheme for the re-organisation of the whole Military Police Force into four uniformed Battalions of equal strength was drawn up and submitted to the Government. A Finger Print Bureau was set up at Shillong. The Criminal Investigation Department(CID) was established in 1913 under the special Superintendent of Police and A.E.H. Shettleworth was the first to occupy this position with three branches under his jurisdiction-the Special Branch, concerned with Intelligence and extremist activities, the Investigation Branch, the Finger Print Bureau as already mentioned. Considering the importance and volume of work, the post of Deputy Inspector General of Police(CID) was created in 1935 and R.R.Cuming became its first DIG. Its Headquarters was shifted from Shillong to Guwahati in 1974 after the creation of the state of Meghalaya in 1972.

The burden of additional duties thrown upon the Police increased enormously with the progress of the war. Control over foreigners, vigilance over lines of communications, encounter-espionage and anti-sabotage activities, and the maintenance of internal security were the main extra tasks of the Police during 1940. The dangers of the underground activities helpful to the hostile powers were met by the employment of a small Intelligence Staff. During 1941 a temporary force was entertained to meet the war demands both in the gazetted rank and the subordinate Police service. It also fell to the Police to administer the Motor spirit rationing scheme introduced in 1941 as well as the licensing of tyres.

The Assam Police faced an entirely novel set of circumstances during 1942. It became clear in the early part of the year that the triumphal march of the Japanese armed forces could not be stopped and the fate of Burma was hanging in the balance. The flow of refugees from Burma which commenced towards the end of 1941 gathered momentum. The task of requisitioning motor transport for use on the Imphal-Dimapur Road was suddenly thrust on the Police and Superintendents of Police were directed to produce a large number of motor vehicles for the transport of supplies, labour, etc., to Manipur as well as for the evacuation of Burma refugees to the railhead at Dimapur. With the rapid march of the war to the borders of Assam, it soon became apparent that the police force was inadequate to meet the new situation and various sanctions were asked for and received during the year for raising of forces for the protection of the railways, the guarding of aerodromes and other security duties in connection with the war. There was an increase in the Police force by nearly one half of its original strength.

During the cold weather of 1942-43 the stream of refugees from Burma began to dry up but the danger of infiltration by enemy agents increased. To combat this menace, security measures were further tightened and extra force was sanctioned. The preparation for the invasion of India by the Japanese forces created new problems of internal security which the Assam Police was called upon to tackle. The Naga Hills and Manipur became the main targets of attack by the Japanese forces and the Assam Police supplied officers and men to augment the local Police forces and helped in establishing intelligence screens in these areas. When the threat of the Japanese to the railway and other vital communications was at its height, the Police, stationed in the airfields bombed by the enemy, in the isolated pockets and in the threatened areas, remained firm. Apart from the actual dangers of war, the increase of incidental work of the Police was enormous and a high proportion of the time was devoted by the Police officers of all ranks in dealing with the Armies of the allies, both Americans and Chinese. Upto the end of 1944, the total additional temporary staff sanctioned was 5113. The cost of the

Department rose greatly and a large part of the increase was borne by the Central Government on account of services rendered to the Defence Department.

The year 1947 saw the transfer of power from British to Indian hands. The preliminaries to the constitutional changes as well as their aftermath threw an unprecedented strain on the Police Force. Two important changes affected the Assam Police. The first was the transfer of the Sylhet district to Pakistan and second was the complete separation of the administration of the Assam Rifles from the Police. The retirement of a large number of service officers mainly British, the release of personnel opting for Pakistan and the absorption of those serving in Sylhet who opted for India were the main factors which caused a temporary setback in the strength and resilience of the Police force immediately after Independence.

The Assam Civil Police Committee constituted in 1929 under the chairmanship of Sir Syed Mohammad Saadullah, after making a detailed study and seeking the opinion of various sections of the public, arrived at a few notable conclusions: (i)It was felt that there was a wide gap between the police and the public, which made the police unpopular. The unhappy relationship was attributed to the frequent abuse of power by policemen. (ii) There was widespread inefficiency and corruption in the police administration which could be tackled only by revamping it with the recruitment of educated youths;and to attract educated persons to the police department, the salary structure, which was very low, should be raised.(iii)The training of the constabulary too had been neglected so far which affected the quality in the echelons of the police administration. Therefore, it was recommended that there should be one year’s thorough training of this class of police personnel in a well-staffed training school.(iv) Fifty per cent of the subordinate ranks should be filled by promotion after a departmental examination and (v) the traditional red turban should be replaced by a hat and due emphasis should be given to a smart and tidy turn out.

Although some of these conclusions and recommendations received the attention of the Government, such as the upward revision of the salary structure, departmental promotion through examination and remodelling of the police uniform, there was hardly any visible step towards qualitative improvement of the police administration.

The River police and the Rural police never received proper attention of the Government and remained neglected segments of the Police organisation during the British Rule in Assam. The anti-terrorist operation carried out in 1950-51 with the help of the Army and the Assam Rifles brought to the surface both the weaknesses and the strengths of the Police organisation and indicated clearly what further measures should imperatively be taken to remove the deficiencies. To make the Police suited to the changed circumstances, the Government set up a Police Reorganisation Committee in 1952 but due to financial stringency most of the recommendations of the Committee could not be implemented. Some urgent items were, however, pushed through and these included establishment of more Police Stations and Outposts, increase in the armed and unarmed police and construction of buildings. The Wireless and Fire Service Organisations were also reorganised during this period. The posts of Dy. 1. G., Range D. 1. G., Armed Forces and Training and Dy. 1. G. Administration were created.

The disturbed conditions in the Naga Hills arising out of the activities of the followers of A. Z. Phizo claiming independence for the Nagas posed a new problem to the Assam Police in 1956 and in the following years. The Police force in the Naga Hills had to be reinforced and a large number of platoons of the A. P. Battalions were drafted to cope with the situation. It is a matter of pride that the Assam Police gave a good account of themselves and proved equal to the task. When the Naga Hills district was separated from Assam in 1958, the Assam Police was withdrawn in stages but they continued to man the outposts on the Naga Hills border.

As India became Independent in 1947, the Police Administration consisted of the Inspector General of Police at the apex and 2 Deputy Inspectors General, one for

the CID and the other for Administration created in 1935 and 1945 respectively. A large number of police personnel of various ranks went to the then East Pakistan in the wake of the transfer of the Sylhet district which had been with Assam since 1874. Similarly, those police personnel who had roots in Assam moved back to the State. There were two significant developments having a far reaching impact, (a) The British officers left the State and their positions were occupied by Indian officers. All the high positions in the police administration during the colonial era were occupied by the British and after their departure, there was a vacuum in the administration because of the absence of experienced and qualified officers. (b) There was complete separation of the Assam Rifles from the Assam Police. These two branches had been working as one unit and with the numerical growth of the Assam Police, the need to separate these branches was felt to ensure greater efficiency and control.

Several problems connected with the partition of the country kept the Police busy during 1949 and there was hardly any time for them to attend to proper training in professional skills and discipline and the control of crime. The force proved inadequate for the various complex problems facing it . Large gaps in the cadre of superior officers led to rapid promotions of inexperienced or old officers. Demands on the armed reserve of the state by other departments and the requirements of security on the Pakistan border brought to the fore front the utter inadequacy of the armed police strength. On top of all this, the appearance of the cult of violence propagated by certain elements made the situation menacing. It is gratifying to note, however, that inspite of all these short comings and difficulties, the Assam Police, by and large, managed to tide over this difficult period without much of its reputation impaired.

The strength of police force in Assam at the time of independence was around 8,000. For just 3,352 officers and men in 1874 when Assam was separated from Bengal and placed under the administration of a Chief Commissioner to the strength of 8,000 at the time of independence is not a spectacular development. But the British left behind a disciplined force with a set of rules and regulations which provided the basic foundation of the present police administration in the state.

Meghalaya Police is born:

Meghalaya Police was born on January 21, 1972 . Since then the has grown from strength-to-strength .

The aspiration of Meghalaya Police to become a model force had been translated into reality with the taking over by Shri. R.C. Dutt, IPS, as the first Inspector General of Police and formal conversion of the 7th Assam Police Battalion into the 1st Meghalaya Police Battalion on May 1, 1972. In the growth and development of Meghalaya Police, up gradation of the post of the Inspector General of Police to that of the Director General of Police was a significant landmark, with the taking over of charge by Shri. B.S. Baber as the State’s first Director General of Police on November 1, 1984. Since its creation Meghalaya Police has had – Nos of Director General of Police.

When the state of Meghalaya came into being in 1972, Meghalaya Police started with an initial strength of approximately 2,500 officers and men. Organizational arrangement was as follows:-

IGP Headquarters --- IGP–1; DIG–1; SP SB–1; SP CID–1; and AIG–1. 3 Districts – SPs – 3. Police Stations – 12 Armed Police Battalion – 1.

Today the total strength has grown to 10,336 with the following organizational arrangement.

DGP Headquarters --- DGP – 1; Addl. DGP – 3; IGP – 4; DIGP – 1; AIGP-3; SP – 4. Police Range – 2. Police Districts – 7. Police Sub-Divisions – 4. Police Circles under Inspectors –15. Police Stations – 30. Fire Stations – 33 Outposts/Patrol Posts and Beat Houses – 71. Armed Police Battalions – 4. Police Training School – 1.

Administrative units have increased to a large extent thereby reducing the geographical jurisdictions of the police administrative units. The development has brought about corresponding improvement in the delivery of service in spite of constraints felt in terms of inadequate infrastructural support provided to the new Police Units.

2.4. Duties of the public authority. As provided for in section 23 of Police Act,1861, it shall be the duty of every police officer promptly to obey and execute all orders and warrants lawfully issued to him by any competent authority; to collect and communicate intelligence affecting the public peace; to prevent the commission of offences and public nuisances; to detect and bring offenders to justice and to apprehend all persons whom he is legally authorized to apprehend, and for whose apprehension sufficient ground exists; and it shall be lawful for every police officer, for any of the purposes mentioned in this Section, without a warrant, to enter and inspect any drinking-shop, gaming-house or other place of resort of loose and disorderly characters.

2.5. Main activities/functions of the public authority. Protection of life and properties of people form criminal and anti-social elements • VVIP/VIP Security. • Maintenance of law and order in society. • Effective prevention and detection of crime by investigating cases referred under different sections of law. • To bring the culprits involved in commission of cognizable offences to book by sending them up for trial. • Effective management of traffic. • Take firm and prompt action against the anti-social and rowdy element. • Maintenance of public order during fairs, festivals, public functions, processions, strikes, agitations, etc.

2.6. List of services being provided by the public authority with a brief write-up on them. Same as 2.5 above.

2.7. Organizational Structure Diagram at various levels namely State, directorate, region district, block etc (whichever is applicable). (To be given.)

2.8. Expectation of the public authority from the public for enhancing its effectiveness and efficiency.

Duties of Citizens : • According to Article 51 A of the Constitution of India, it is the duty of every citizen of India to safeguard public property and to abjure violence. • Every person is bound to assist a Magistrate or Police officer reasonably demanding his aid in the taking or preventing the escape of any other person whom such Magistrate or Police officer is authorized to arrest ; or in the prevention or suppression of breach of the peace; or in the prevention of any damage attempted to be committed to any public property (Sec.37CrPC)

Public to give information of commission of or of intention to commit certain offences :- Every person, aware of the commission of, or of the intention of any other person to commit certain offences, is required by law to forthwith furnish the information to the nearest magistrate or police officer of such commission or intention. This includes offences against the State or against the public tranquility, offences relating to illegal gratification, adulteration of food and drugs, etc, offences affecting life, offence of theft after preparation made for causing death, hurt or restraint, robbery and dacoity, criminal breach of trust by public servant, etc, mischief against property, house- trespass, lurking house-trespass, and offences relating to currency notes and bank notes (Sec.39 CrPC).

A member of the public required by law to render assistance to the public servant : Whoever, being bound by law to render or furnish assistance to any public servant in the execution of his public duty, intentionally omits to give such assistance, shall be liable for punishment ; Similarly, if such assistance is demanded of him by a public servant legally competent to make such demand for the purposes of executing any process lawfully issued by a Court of Justice, or of preventing the commission of an offence, or of suppressing a riot, or affray, or of apprehending a person charged with or guilty of an offence, or of having escaped from lawful custody, the person concerned will be liable for punishment (Sec.187 IPC).

Search of place entered by person sought to be arrested : • If any person acting under a warrant of arrest, or any police officer having authority to arrest, has reason to believe that the person to be arrested has entered into, or is within any place, any person who is residing in or is in charge of such place, shall, on demand of such person acting as aforesaid or such police officer, allow him to enter the said place, and afford all reasonable facilities for a search therein (Sec.47 CrPC).

When a private citizen can arrest a person :- Any person can arrest or cause a person to be arrested if he is a proclaimed offender or a person who has committed a cognizable and non-bailable offence in his presence (Sec. 43 CrPC).

2.9. Arrangements and methods made for seeking public participation/contribution. Citizens’ Committee are being set up at District, Sub-Division and P.S. level consisting of various professional groups of community and responsible local functionaries and respectable persons. A monitoring mechanism is being put in place in the PHQ in this connection.

2.10. Mechanism available for monitoring the service delivery and public grievance resolution. The quality and effectiveness of service delivery is monitored through periodic crime conferences held of SPs, close supervision by supervisory officers, supervision of cases under investigation, periodic inspections and monitoring by Senior Officers at various level.

As regards public grievance resolution, special complaint cells headed by DySPs are being set up in each District to handle inquiries into allegation of police misconduct. Similar cells are being set up under IG/DIG(Range) and also in the PHQ.

2.11. Addresses of the main office and other offices at different levels. (Please categorise the addresses district wise for facilitating the understanding by the user). (To be given)

2.12 Morning hours of the office: winter 10AM summer 10 AM Closing hours of the office: winter 5 PM summer 4.30 PM