This is a personal reflection by UK Jayadev, who accompanied the project team to Bellary for a GSPP workshop between March 4-6, 2007.

When I was asked by the Project Coordinator Ms. Anasuya Sengupta to attend a workshop of the Gender Sensitization and People Friendly Police Project, a joint venture of the Karnataka State Police and UNICEF, I jumped at the opportunity, as apart from being curious about the work ethics of the police force from within, I wanted to experience at first hand how police personnel take to a workshop on a subject that is gaining more and more importance and relevance these days.

Intellectually, I was aware of the impact the word “Police” has on the psyche of any common person in our State of Karnataka – a mixture of awe, fear and unfounded guilt, from which I too was not free; but over the years I have developed, per se, a healthy respect for the Force.

My confrontations with the Police have been few and mercifully far between. When I was a school going lad in 1950s, I was once cycling down MG Road in Bangalore and in those days there was a traffic circle just opposite the Queen Victoria statue and while negotiating the turn I bumped into a pedestrian who had wandered on to the island. He fell down and I was truly penitent. The law caught up with me and I was frightened to see the man in Khaki looking at me with disapproving eyes and I blurted out in English: “Officer, are you going to hold an inquest now?” (I was proud of my English vocabulary, i.e. until then). He put his head back and guffawed loudly and said “You mean an inquiry? Inquest is when someone is dead”….I stood corrected by the Force and I marveled at his command over the language. The second time was when I was walking near City Market and some how or other the Police charged me with Jay walking ( I wasn’t, but he had to take some ‘criminals’ to court to fulfill his obligation of arresting a certain number of us!) and took me along with a few others to the Magistrate’s court. We walked all the way and the Magistrate without looking at any one of us fined us a princely sum of Eight Annas (half a rupee and a princely sum then). These were the only incidents which are worth recalling.

So one can imagine the total ignorance I have had all these years, with respect to Police Personnel and thus I was curious to see what changes have taken place in the realm of Policedom.

My travel to Bellary in the night train along with all the three resource personnel, viz. Anasuya Sengupta, BJ Ajith Kumar and Ms.Rovina Bastian was an introduction leading to the actual workshop.

On Sunday March 4, 2007 we assembled at the Office of the Superintendent of Police for Bellary where all the participants, some 65 police constables, head constables and assistant sub-inspectors (men and women) were present.

After the customary registration, a brief introduction to the project and the workshop was made by Project team members, after which the participants introduced themselves. This was to facilitate future sessions and to reduce as much as possible, the concept of hierarchy and stiff formalities prevalent in the Police Force.

The formal inauguration then took place with the SP Mr. Amrit Paul IPS lighting the lamp with other police personnel. Mr.Paul in his inaugural speech was very cogent and spoke off the cuff as it were and instilled into the minds of constables how they CAN effect a change in the society. He brought in some very interesting homilies and told a story involving a man trying to throw back fish washed up upon the beach; one should try to save at least one fish if one cannot save a thousand… He touched upon the crimes committed on women and children and how the police force can arrest such cruel happenings if only they show the will and tenacity to stem the rot that is widespread and rampant in the society. This was well appreciated by the audience. He beseeched the police constables to ruminate about such crimes and redefine their roles for reducing the crimes against women and children. This seems to have gone down well with the participants and set the mood for the ensuing three days of deliberations…

Here I must interrupt the flow of the narrative to say that I thought I should wear the mantle of a dispassionate observer without any preconceived notions and see for myself the effect the sessions and deliberations have on the Police Constables. As an observer I felt it was my duty to watch, learn and record the events of the three days. This narrative is thus a purely subjective view point and does not purport to have any lessons as such.

Reverting back to the workshop, after light refreshments, the police personnel were asked to say the numbers one to four and all ones, all twos, all threes and all fours were formed into a team. Thus there were four teams. Prior to this all of them were given a questionnaire which was to be truthfully answered. This questionnaire is so devised that the same questionnaire at the end of the workshop when given and completed would elicit perhaps new answers thereby giving a measure of the effectiveness of the workshop.

Subsequently the four groups were asked to act as

1. The Community and NGOs

2. The Administration

3. The Police organization and finally

4. The Judiciary.

Two actual case studies were explained to them, one dealing with violence against children and the other dealing with violence against women. The groups were given 15 minutes to discuss the cases and prepare their analysis. The groups were made to enact a typical scene and discussions followed. This was to show that all the groups have the power and responsibilities that can challenge, punish and prevent cases of violence, but that the police are particularly critical. The group enacting was enjoyed by all and some of the police personnel who might have secretly harboured the desire to act in movies came forth and projected their chosen character with a lot of vehemence and force!!

After lunch, Ms. Anasuya Sengupta took the first session on `Gender and Power Relations: an Institutional Analysis of Violence’. She first asked them to do role plays demonstrating discrimination in society (photo above). She then explained the various factors that go into committing a crime of violence, and the prejudices with which we might investigate it. How we are all prone to discrimination which becomes socialised within us, and how our mind gets clouded by well established customs and habits from which it is difficult to extricate oneself… She also explained the true meaning of “Gender” as being a socially constructed set of attributes, roles and opportunities, as against the commonly thought of meaning viz “Sex”. The correlation between Power and Violence was explained; the misuse of power ultimately leading to a crime of violence. This was a very effective session as I noticed after the session some intelligent looking constables exchanging notes. When asked, one of them did confess that she had some preconceived ideas on violence on women and why the police brush it aside, but now after the session they are wiser and see it from a completely different point of view. This enlightenment was indeed the purpose of the workshop.

The first session on the second day was conducted by Ms.Gowramma, from Vimochana, a well established NGO in Bangalore. Her session had a plethora of heavy information on laws, procedures, and types of violence and a host of other issues. There seemed to be an “information overload” with the result a sense of ennui seemed to have descended on the assemblage. Whilst there is no doubt that Ms.Gowramma is very familiar with issues of violence against women, having worked in this field for about two decades, I felt that she could have restricted her talk to a few relevant issues and taken it slowly and deliberately rather than cram an enormous amount of information down the throat of the audience. The gist of her work and the effect of the organization and how the police personnel can help such organization as hers would have been far more effective… At least this is how I felt.

Ajith Kumar handled the workshop most efficiently in his capacity of a compere-cum-sutradhara. His assay on “Rights of Children and Responsibilities of the Police – Juvenile Justice Act (JJA) 2000, and other Laws pertaining to Children” was effectively dealt with since he had this wonderful habit of stopping talking midway and shake his head up and down, which gave everyone a chance to digest what was said earlier. He, therefore, was most effective and his pointed questions to the constables were in themselves a lesson.

The third day, i.e 6^th March, was devoted to “Trafficking of Women and Children – Legislation and Procedures HIV/AIDS and Responsibilities of the Police”. This subject was handled by Ms. Rovina Bastian in a most exemplary manner. She delineated the entire subject by differentiating between trafficking and smuggling and painted a painful graphic picture of suffering women who were subjected to unimaginable human sufferings. I felt that this was a very down to earth session with issues that the police personnel could easily grasp and grapple with.

There was an electrifying moment when she proceeded to explain how the Police can help.

In measured tones, she said: “When you people don the uniform made of khaki cloth you get a special power that is not given to many, and in this domain of atrocities against women, no one, I mean no one has the power and opportunity to do as much good as all of you. You are the only ones who can truly make a difference and effect a change for the better”.

The minute she said this almost all in the audience spontaneously clapped as it was indeed a very charged atmosphere and a situation that lent itself to deep thought. I have no doubts that the constables will for ever remember this occasion and put to good use the lessons learnt during this session.

All in all, I felt that the workshop stretching over three days did indeed help in re-orienting the thought processes of the participants from the police and as their SP mentioned in the inaugural session, if they can make a change in the immediate vicinity of their working environment, so much can be accomplished and the collective effort of each one of them will have a lasting effect on the society.

To me, personally, it was a very rewarding experience and I have now garnered a healthy respect for the Police and am optimistic that through the efforts of the Resource Personnel of the Workshop, CHANGE CAN INDEED BE ACHIEVED with the combined effort of the programme under the aegis of UNICEF and the cooperation of the Police Force at large.

Tailpiece: It was my intention to be an avid onlooker throughout the three day period of the workshop but rather unfortunately I had to miss two very important and perhaps valuable sessions due to an excruciating back pain I developed in the hall where the workshop was being held.

These two sessions were:

1. Counseling Skills in Police Work – Mr. Gururaja

2. Public Perceptions and Police Behaviour and Implementing SPARC Checklist at Police Station – Mr. Somashekar

I have no doubts that these two sessions went down equally well and I intend making amends by paying critical attention to these sessions next time I have a chance to attend another workshop.

UK Jayadev was born in October 1941, educated as an (Mechanical) engineer and went on to get his Master of Engineering degree in Aeronautical Engineering. He is also intensely interested in theatre, having acted, directed, and produced many English plays for the audience in Bangalore and elsewhere. He has acted in two films that have received national and international awards. One was U.R.Ananthamurthy’s novel made into a movie called Samskara, and the other was G.V.Iyer’s directed Bhagavad Gita. He now leads a very contented retired life hoping to involve himself in matters concerning society… [and has been requested by the GSPP team, to document some of the stories of our 'unsung heroes']