Indian Muslims should join Police force in large numbers. Muslim populated areas should have Muslim police force.
MINORITY REPORT
OF 30,600 POLICE, ONLY 791 ARE MUSLIMS, CHRISTIANS
No shades in city’s khaki
Sweta Ramanujan
Mumbai, December 21: A bunch of Muslim boys aspiring to be policemen sweat it out on a South Mumbai playground.
Ask them who their inspiration is and they stop and think. Finally, they come up with ‘Inspector Salim’ from the Aamir Khan cop flick Sarfarosh.
It’s easy to understand why they turn to fiction for role models when there are only 653 Muslims in the 30,600-strong Mumbai police constabulary.
Messages of communal harmony adorning police station walls are heartening. But beyond that, there is very little to make people from minority communities feel fairly represented in the Mumbai police.
The numbers tell the story. Fourteen per cent of Maharashtra’s population is Muslim, yet they make up only 2.13 per cent of the constabulary. Christians, Jains and Sikhs together make only 0.45 per cent.
And when six out of every ten complaints received by the Maharashtra State Minorities Commission are about police atrocities, this is a problem.
‘‘It is a sad state of affairs,’’ admits Naseem Siddiqui, chairman of the State Minorities Commission. ‘‘We expect that, everywhere, especially in the police, the minority community should be adequately represented.’’
So why the low numbers? Siddiqui doesn’t rule out discrimination but blames the Muslim community for its low literacy levels and lack of initiative.
To start with, applications from Muslims are low, often only about two per cent of the available vacancies. And those who do apply, find the written exam challenging because the questions are in Marathi.
However, as Joint Commissioner of Police (Administration) P K Jain points out, language is not the only problem.
The minorities commission recently discovered that over 70 aspiring candidates who alleged discrimination on not making the final list had failed the physical test.
‘‘We have been telling people over and over again that they need to be aware of the recruitment process and the requirements,’’ says Joint Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) Ahmad Javed.
‘‘A little more should be done at the school or college level instead of candidates coming in much later because they haven’t found a job.’’
During recruitment rounds in February for 1,100-odd vacancies, only 11 Muslims and two Christians made it to the final list.
But when it comes to Christians, former police commissioner Julio Ribeiro puts it simply: ‘‘I don’t think they are very keen.’’
Ribeiro cites the example of Goa, where educated Christians make 30 per cent of the population. ‘‘But very few join the force. It is about their status,’’ he reveals. ‘‘They may join as a sub-inspector but not as a constable.’’
Ribeiro has also sensed disinterest among Muslims. ‘‘They are more business-oriented,’’ he adds.
A Muslim police inspector, who has served the force for over two decades, agrees but says “other influences” also matter.
‘‘Our boys know that there is discrimination even once you get in. That could be a deterrent,’’ he says, on condition of anonymity.
Javed, however, is firm that there is no room for fatalistic attitudes: ‘‘We are very keen on having members of minorities in the force because Mumbai, a multi-religious city, needs them.’’
This is the first of a two-part series.
Number game
30,600
strength of Mumbai police constabulary
791
from minority communities
69,007
Sanctioned strength of police constables in Maharashtra
2,523
Muslims
450
Christians