Rupin Sharma on state of affairs, policing and desired changes

Village oriented society at odds with contemporary governance

Morung Express News
Dimapur | December 22

In the third episode of the ‘Police & The Citizens- Empowering in Unison’ presented by the Mokokchung Police, former Director General of the Nagaland Police, Rupin Sharma opened up about his impression of Nagaland.

Presented in collaboration with the All India Radio (AIR), Mokokchung and Mokokchung Premier TV, the interview was broadcasted on December 18 on AIR Mokokchung’s 100.9 FM.

Earlier, DGP T John Longkumer was the guest, in which he spoke about the law and order situation, policing and his goals as the chief of the Nagaland Police.

Sharma, who currently holds charge of Border Affairs as Director General, was quite candid responding to queries relating to the general state of affairs and policing with emphasis on the change desired and challenges to overcome juxtaposed with a village-oriented society at odds with modern tenets of governance.

His first impression

“One of my experiences was that I thought everybody was so healthy, everybody had red cheeks and red lips. It was only in the next 5 days that I found out that it was because of tamul,” he said of his impression when he first landed here some 25 years ago.

He admitted it was different and difficult at first. However, he said that changes have happened, at a slow pace, and also not to the extent that one would desire.

“Nagaland has been in a phase of transition… every society takes time to develop and Nagas as a society will take time to develop and adjust to the modern ways of governance.”

General observation

Despite the people becoming more educated, he said that an “over-tolerant attitude” towards issues of governance has impacted development adversely.

In health and other infrastructure, he said that things have improved but still lagging, adding, “Remoteness is a factor but I think our delivery mechanisms leave a lot to be desired.”

Besides, reduction in violence, he held that there has not been much change in the law and order scenario from what existed in 1995.

On rule of law, he held that the conventional “policing functions and the criminal justice system” is still not well entrenched. He observed that the people still rely on the community/village or the Naga Political Groups to settle disputes “which should otherwise come to the police or the judiciary.”

The formal criminal justice system is time-consuming but people want quick justice and hence, are tempted to seek “quick dispensation of justice,” he added.

On a brighter note, he felt that more people today are taking up issues of corruption like “backdoor appointments.”

“I think factors like social media have also made an impact,” he said.

According to him, the youths studying outside want to implement the “better governance systems” experienced outside the state.

Besides, he added that there is a greater degree of acceptability of “mainlanders” in Nagaland today.

Desired changes

According to him, Nagas should work towards emerging from the traditional village/tribal-oriented mindset to “a modern codified law abiding society.” “When things are decided informally between parties, it weakens the formal system of governance because the government is not in the thick of things,” he said.

He cited the inter-village/tribe disputes (mostly land related), which are, in most cases, left to the community. He observed that there is a cycle to such clashes, occurring mostly between November-February. The “lull period” (March-October), he said, should serve as an opportune time to intervene/mediate.

He though clarified that the government machinery does intervene only that it has been more reactive in nature.

Accord and effect

He said that post an accord, there would be “trickledown effect” on corruption, extortion and arms trafficking.

It would also test the credibility of an oft repeated alibi that one is forced to indulge in corrupt practices because of threat and intimidation, he said. “However if that is just an excuse by the not so honest people to put the blame on undergrounds then I don’t think there will be change in the pattern of corruption post an accord.”

Post an accord, he felt that if the police are able to assert itself, the trust of the public would go up, however, “that trust has to be earned.”

Further, he said, “there could also be dissatisfaction among certain elements, who are presently with various political groups, who may not find rehabilitation” as per their expectation.

Police, IT & investigation

While maintaining that he is not sceptical of the capabilities, he pointed out areas which need to be strengthened, especially— detection, prevention and investigation, including sophisticated IT crimes.

“There are certain crimes which we do not follow up, for example extortion by undergrounds (NPGs) or by civilians,” he said, while adding that corruption is another matter“where we don’t focus on.”

He said that the requisite “systems” need to be in place and along with training, retraining, greater exposure— outside the side and also by way of investigating more crimes, performance in these aspects can be augmented.

“We don’t need to reinvent the will. Will is already there,” he maintained.

A well-staffed Criminal Investigation Department (CID) that can function 24/7, he said, would do away with the practice of forming SITs by putting together personnel from different units. In most states CIDs are the first choice to investigate important cases, he added.

Crime vs population

Sharma noted that the crime-count has not increased despite the population increasing substantially during the past two decades. According to him, this could either be due to the police registering less cases or lesser number of people reporting cases.

A perceived lack of trust on the police, tribal loyalties, tendency towards alternative dispute resolution and ignorance of the law were attributed as likely factors for this.

He also held that people have misgivings about the police which eventually come in the way of reporting cases to the police.

Recalled serving, along with other officers from Nagaland, in the UN Peacekeeping Mission in Bosnia, he said that the job of the Mission was to get the Bosnian Police to work as one cohesive unit without prejudice.