Policing a Pandemic

Policing: Past, Present, and Future: Carnegie India and Tata Trusts presents a series of webinars that feature crucial stakeholders, experts, and policymakers, as they examine the Indian police establishment and its role in society and the criminal justice system. Police, the world over, represents the civilian authority of the government and is one of the most public-facing ‘pillars’ of the justice system. While maintaining order, and controlling crime are its core functions, basic social services also often fall in its purview. Both aspects have been in clear focus in the context of the current pandemic, as the police has been deployed to ensure that various lockdowns, beginning with the first one on 24th March, have been upheld. In the initial phase of the lockdown, many instances of brutality on the part of personnel were reported as police tried to ensure citizen compliance to what was seen more as a ‘law and order’ problem rather than one that had to be approached with empathy. On the other hand, one must also consider the factors of personal anxiety coupled with dealing with unforeseen circumstances in their response. There were numerous displays of compassion on the part of personnel; even as thousands contracted Covid-19 and had to be quarantined, or have lost their lives to it. This underscores the perils of their job, and the urgent need to fill in gaps. What role do the long-held traditions of the force, its internal culture, training, and practice play in how the police manages its public interactions? In what ways has the coronavirus pandemic altered a citizen’s social contract with the state, and what does this mean for the future of policing in India? Join us for our first webinar under the Policing: Past, Present and Future series, as N. Ramachandran, V.N. Rai, Vipul Mudgal, and Shireen Vakil discuss the unique set of challenges facing the police establishment today, as insitutions, as well as personnel on the ground-level, grapple with the fallout of an unprecedented health crisis. The discussion will be moderated by Rudra Chaudhuri. To submit a question for the event, please email carnegieindia@ceip.org. Participants may also submit their questions through the Q&A box in the Zoom webinar or the comments section on our YouTube livestream. SPEAKERS N. RAMACHANDRAN N. Ramachandran is former Director General of Police (DGP) of Assam and Meghalaya. He is also the founder and president of the Indian Police Foundation. V.N. RAI V.N. Rai is the former director of the National Police Academy (NPA), Hyderabad. VIPUL MUDGAL Vipul Mudgal is the director and chief executive of Common Cause, a public interest organization striving for governance reforms through action-oriented research, advocacy, and public interest litigation. SHIREEN VAKIL Shireen Vakil is the head of Policy and Advocacy at Tata Trusts, where she is responsible for the strategy development, advocacy, policy and programming in core areas of Education, Child Protection, Health and Nutrition, and Justice and Exclusion. MODERATOR RUDRA CHAUDHURI Rudra Chaudhuri is the director of Carnegie India. His primary research interests include the diplomatic history of South Asia and contemporary security issues.