DAVID DEVADAS
Many years ago, I was invited to give a lecture at the police academy in Jammu and Kashmir. In the classroom were DSPs newly promoted from the rank of SHO. They were becoming gazetted officers through this course.
It was the most unruly class I have ever taught—and I have addressed more than 2,000 at a time. As is my wont, I turned the lecture into a discussion, raising a question on how many of the force were corrupt. `All,’ they chorused, not missing a beat.
Surely, that’s too sweeping, I replied, but they were insistent. `Sab (all),’ they asserted several times. When I insisted that there must be exceptions, they finally named four officers. One had recently retired. One soon would. Another of the four has just been appointed Director-General of the J&K Police force.
His name is RR Swain, and those of my friends in the union territory who wish to see real and lasting change are full of hope. For, Swain is not only reputed to be scrupulously honest, he is said to be almost messianic in his zeal for an orderly society and the rule of law.
The officers and men who report to him seem to perceive him with both fear and awe. Never before has the CID department been as dynamic as in the recent past—while Swain headed it as Special DG.
That’s not surprising, considering that he works more or less round the clock, and with meticulous precision. He is said to have given time to a visitor from New Delhi in the middle of the night, and explained that he only sleeps six hours—any six. As for precision, a vaguely-worded note, or a claim not backed with precise facts and evidence, is likely to earn a rap on the knuckles.
Among those who has high praise for Swain is Ashok Bhan, one of the finest retired police officers—and the first of those whom those budding DSPs named as incorruptible. Bhan says he particularly appreciates the achievements of the State Investigating Agency, which was formed two years ago under the aegis of Swain.
The SIA has had remarkable success in investigating terror funding, even bringing to book some of those who have been involved in the most dramatic militant crimes as far back as 1990. Many officers in the force, and others in the place who want peace and order, hope Swain will now succeed equally well as DGP.
On the other hand, there are many who would dearly like to see him fail—and exit the union territory. For, the patrons and chiefs of militants have as much fear and awe of him as those in the force. They have stepped up attacks, on police officers and residents from other parts of the country, ever since his appointment was announced. Perhaps they calculate that this spate of attacks may result in his being replaced.
Tentative appointment
The government has chosen to appoint him as `in charge Director-General of Police… until further orders ,’ thus keeping the appointment tentative. No doubt several powers-that-be want to keep him on a short leash, for Swain has a reputation for doing what he considers right notwithstanding pressures.
Powerful ruling party men in the union territory may be among those who want to restrain Swain , since some of those who joined the BJP in recent years were once on the other side of the fence, even in some cases involved in militancy—all of which they would not want under a probing spotlight.
Another reason why the government may have given Swain this `in charge’ appointment is the Supreme Court’s standing injunction that a panel of three names be sent to the UPSC three months before a DGP’s post falls vacant. That was apparently not done, perhaps because there was much talk of the previous DGP, Dilbag Singh, getting an extension.
There was also a strong move to bring a fresh face in to head the force from one of the agencies that works closely with the police. That officer would have had the advantage of a pleasant, personality, and the ability to take just about everyone along. One reason Dilbag Singh became the longest-serving DGP is that, with a cheery persona, he was adept at keeping all sides happy.
By contrast, Swain’s tough leadership may rub some the wrong way. After all, a police chief has to work with a wide range of subordinates, as well as a host of forces and agencies, political and public figures.
Swain will have to prove he has the requisite flexibility. But there can be little doubt that a tough, straight-talking leader with clear-cut objectives, and the will to meet targets, is required in a place that has been plagued with so much conflict and various kinds of wrongdoing.
Extraordinary incorruptibility
Swain’s incorruptibility is particularly valuable, given that Kashmir has long been a cauldron of corruption; this is evident even in the works of Kalhana and Kshemendra, a thousand and eleven hundred years ago respectively. I have long maintained that violence and unrest will never end until corruption does, for the corrupt seek to hide their looting in the fog of war-like unrest. Secret funds flow freely in that fog, while audits tend to be neglected.
I have documented in The Story of Kashmir how lackadaisical policing during the 1980s facilitated the eruption of violence, and allowed such horrors as the firing on Mirwaiz Farooq’s funeral procession—just when his assassination could have turned the tide against militancy.
The relative calm of the past few years has shown that Kashmir does not require the hell for leather tactics of a KPS Gill. Rather, it needs patient, meticulous hard work to discover and cut away at the roots of the very lucrative conflict industry.
This would be best achieved (at least at this stage) through careful, focused investigations. Notably, Swain remains the Special DG heading CID, SIA, and other centralised investigating operations, in addition to being in charge of the entire force as DGP.
He should be able to take a wide view of things, having served in key ministries and agencies at the Centre and beyond. He was away from the erstwhile state on deputation through the long period when the new militancy came up from 2008.
That distance would give him an objective overview of how rotten things had become. Obviously, rooting out the rot needs time-consuming, almost obsessive involvement. One hopes Swain will be given enough time, and that he will temper a hard-knuckled approach with velvet gloves. (The New Indian)
