Maintaining law and order: Police forces urgently need legal training

The disturbing point about the findings of this study is that these extreme approaches to law and order persist more than seven decades since Independence

The police are the citizens’ first encounter with the country’s law and justice system. Yet in India, a recent study shows that the police across the country have a significant “disregard for the rule of law”. The latest “Status of Policing in India Report” — titled “Police Torture and (Un)Accountability” — finds that a sizeable proportion of the police force justifies the use of torture and violence in the course of their duties and believes that the forces should be allowed to use torture without fear of punishment. Of those interviewed, 26 per cent “strongly agreed” and 45 per cent