The police in India need to be reformed is a given. That the public, government, democracy and development are being adversely affected by the distortions of policing is common knowledge. What is wrong is well known. The problems have been discussed threadbare and solutions exist. The only rationale for so little action on reforms, a cynic may see, is that it suits the elite in power to retain a police force that serves, as in colonial times, the interests of the ruling class. Equally, the inability of the public opinion to organise and offset this interest keeps reforms at bay.

Over the past 9 years the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) has worked steadfastly towards developing voice and capacity to engage on difficult issues of police reform, particularly those that relate to police accountability and performance. In the many consultations that CHRI has held, different stakeholders have expressed different views and priorities to realise reforms.

The Roundtable was designed to bring together important opinion makers in the country with a view to examining earlier recommendations that have been made and assessing best practices around the globe, which may help in the designing of future legislation. The aim was to provide the forward-looking recommendations and the discussions of the consultation to the newly formed Committee in the hope that those would inform the Committee’s deliberations.

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