History
History of MP Police
Madhya
Pradesh, in its present form, came 
into existence on November 1,2000 following its
bifurcation to create a new state of Chhattisgarh. Reorganization
of states led to the formation of state of M. P. on
1.11.1956 comprising of the erstwhile central province
of Bhopal, Madhya Bharat & Vindhya Pradesh.
On the day of its birth the state had a complement of
252 Gazetted Officers and 39785 Non Gazetted Officers
and men covering 739 Police Station. Six posts of DIG
were created in the new state. The post of DIG of Police
SAF & DIG of Police Admin.were added later in 1958
& 1959 respectively.23 new police stations were
established mainly in the dacoit infested areas as part
of a larger scheme to strike a decisive blow to organize
and arrested dacoit gangs. Strength of the Distt.
Executive Force & the SAF were augmented, keeping in
view the law and order situation with the State.
To keep pace with the needs of a fast developing
state, the Indian Police Service and State Service Cadre
were suitably expanded. Existing Police Regulations were
revised with a view to ensure uniformity of police
working throughout the state. The administration of the
Police throughout the General Police District invested
in the IG of Police and his assistants at the PHQ.
During these years, the M.P.Police force saw 12
Inspectors-General of Police and the up gradation of
IG's post to Director General of Police .The first IG of
the new state was Shri B.G.Ghate, who was succeeded by
Shri K. F. Rustamji in 1958.
Shri Rustamji had the distinction of leading the
force for 7 years before he was chosen to create a new
Central Force, the Border Security Force. It was during
Shri Rustamji's time that the Police Force achieved many
milestones, including starting of Forensic Science
Laboratory in 1964.
History of AJK
(Anusuchit Janjati Kalyan)
Madhya Pradesh has a sizeable population
of Scheduled Tribes and scheduled castes, who have remained
cut off from the mainstream for centuries. Most of them
lived in abject poverty under sub-human conditions,
and were exploited by the society in general.
With the emergence of social-justice
as a major concept in our democratic polity, old laws
relating to the underprivileged classes were reviewed
and more empowering social enactments were introduced
by the parliament. At the same time, the role of police
began to be conceived, not as mere enforcement machinery,
but as the agents of social change.
Consequently, it was enjoined on police
to play a more decisive role in the implementation of
social laws. The Government of Madhya Pradesh, recognizing
this change and realizing that normal police structure
will not be sufficient to play the desired role, created
specialized police set-up for this. Consequently, a
separate Anusuchit Jati Janjati Kalyan Wing(AJK) was
created in 1973, and special AJK police stations look
into the complains of SC/ST persons and investigate
cases registered on such complaints. The network of
AJK police stations works under a separate ADG level
officer and form a very important constituent of M.P.Police
today.
Structural Changes and
Modernization
With the growing use of scientific
technology, professionalism and multifarious urban based
problems, the police had to make corresponding organizational
improvements, in training and make technological advancements
in tune with the times.
The first step in this direction was
enacting of Special Act armed force in 1968.This act
has special provisions for better disciplinary control
of armed personnel. To impart specialized training in
field craft, to be able to deal with dacoits and
Naxalites,
the state police up graded its training centers
and established Armed Police Training College at Indore
in 1982, to cater to the needs of SAF personnel. Similarly
the training college, established in 1906 at Sagar,
was up graded as Police Academy later on, with a new
perspective and academic flair to train the directly
recruited Sub-Inspectors and Deputy Superintendents
of Police.
Housing of police-men has been a problem
with all police forces in the country and the M.P. police
also faced this problem. Consequently, in 1981, a separate
Police Housing Corporation was established by the state
government for the construction of residential houses
of policemen in far off areas where the PWD would not
normally work. The corporation has constructed nearly
10,000 residential houses of policemen so far.
The western part of the state witnessed
increased activities of smugglers in narcotics
substances, Mandsaur being the largest opium producing
district in the country. After the passing of Special
Act to deal with narcotics substances, the state police
created a separate Narcotics wing headed by an officer
of ADG rank to deal with this problem in 1996.
Upkeep of crime records also needed
to be computerized with the introduction of computer
technology. As part of the countrywide programme of
computerization of crime records, the state police established
its computer wing in 1977 which was later converted
into State Crime Record Bureau on the lines of NCRB.Subsequently
all the districts were supplied with computers to bring
their crime records on the computer system. Looking
to the large size of the state, the state police set-up
was re-organized in 1999 and officers of the rank of
IG were posted to all ranges for better control and
supervision of the work.
Numerous improvements were made in
the communication, weaponry, riot control methods and
traffic control, which need no elaboration. The state
police is officer oriented in working and is rated very
high in its performance amongst all the state police
forces in the country today. Several of its armed battalions
are deployed ex-state, since sixties permanently and
are doing excellent work for the maintenance of law
and order and counter-insurgency.
The state police is looking forward to enter the new
millennium with a high head and history that would make
any one feel proud.
Past Challenges
Dacoit Problem
The most important problem which the
new State of Madhya Pradesh had to face was the growing
menace of Dacoity in the northern districts of Chambal
ravines and the north eastern districts of Chambal ravines
and the north eastern districts of Bundelkhand.
The problem of dacoity in these areas
was rooted in the history of it's people, the nature
of terrain and the primitive life of vendetta. When
the new State of Madhya Pradesh came into being, these
areas were swarming with formidable dacoit gangs.
As a result, the fabric of law and
order in that area was steadily weakening. Under the
stewardship of Shri Rustamji, a scheme was drawn up
for strengthening the Police force and improving wireless
network in that area. The implementation of the scheme,
coupled with the grit shown by officers and men, paid
rich dividends and leading dacoit gangs: namely Putly,
the Bandit Queen Phoolan Devi, Amritlal, Roopa, Gabbar,
Kalla and Lakhan Singh which were synonymous with terror
passed into the bowels of history.
Similar success was achieved in Budelkhand
area where dreaded gang of Moorat Singh and Chaliraja
were liquidated.The good work done by the State Police
was recognized and complimented by the president
of India, Dr. Rajendra Prasad on the occasion of the
ceremonial parade held at Gwalior to honor the Police
Units taking part in these operations. The dacoity menace
was not completely eradicated, but the backbone of the
problem was broken and in about a decade time, the police
was on the ascendancy. This demoralized the dacoit gangs
completely and they were forced to seek an honorable
surrender. In 1972, therefore with the efforts of the
peace mission headed by Shri Jayprakash Narayan, nearly
550 dacoits surrendered, peace and prosperity returned
to the area after centuries.
The dacoity problem, however, cropped
up again in the eighties with the formation of the gangs
of Malkhan Singh, Mohar Singh and Ramesh Sikarwar. The
State Government had to enact a Special Law in 1981,
the Madhya Pradesh Dakaity Prabhavit Kshektra
Adhiniyam,
with special powers to police. Armed with these special
powers the police again moved into action and eliminated
most of the notorious gangs in encounters. Later, Malkhan
Singh, Ramesh Sikhawar and Phoolan Devi surrendered
before the Chief Minister, Shri Arjun Singh and again
peace was restored. The special law was repealed thereafter.
The dacoit problem has not been completely
eradicated and a lasting solution lies largely in terms
of socio-economic remedy. Today, the problem does exist,
but within manageable limits.
Naxalite Activities
The State Police had hardly contained
the dacoity menace, when in it's southern-most Bastar
area then a part of MP, the presence of naxalities of Peoples War Group
started being noticed in the eighties.
The Naxalites infiltrated from across
the adjoining areas of Andhra Pradesh. Initially, they
used the forests of Bastar as a sanctuary for shelter,
but gradually, after surveying the entire area, they
started delivering "instant-justice" to tribal
against their exploitation by some unscrupulous
forest officials.
By the year 1990, they organized themselves
for committing violent incidents and spread their tentacles
into the forest covered regions right up to the middle
of the state in Mandla district. Their activities assumed
threatening postures affecting 3 ranges of the state,
with as many as 18 'Dalams' operating in M.P. Armed
with sophisticated weapons, like AK-47 rifles and trained
in remote control explosive devices, they ambushed police
patrolling parties which has taken a toll of 98 policemen
so far. There have also been sporadic instances of attack
on isolated stations and looting of their armory.
The state government allocated substantial
funds to meet this challenge under the anti-naxalite
plan, which helped the state police improve their resources
in the past 5 years. It was therefore, possible for
taking counter measures which have accounted for 40
Naxalites being killed in 10 encounters and more than
50 Naxalites carrying rewards on their heads being arrested.
The naxalite activities nevertheless, continue to be
a major problem for the state police and a matter of
concern for the state government however it has
reduced in area as most of the naxalite affected area
has gone to chhatishgarh on division of state.
Communal Disturbances
The state faced communal disturbances
throughout its history in the post -Independence period.
The districts of erstwhile Madhya Bharat and Bhopal
States have remained particularly communally sensitive
because of various factors and where there are pockets
of large population of minority communities.
Few districts of the state have been
identified as communally sensitive or hyper sensitive.
Consequently, there have been instances of major communal
riots in the state since 1956 onwards. These occurred
at Bhopal(1959), Jabalpur(1961), Raigrah(1964), Indore(1964),
Burhanpur(1971), Khargone(1974), Mhow(1980), Sendhwa(1984),
Sehore(1986) and Bhopal and Ujjain(1992).The riots at
the last two places occurred following the demolition
of Ayodhya structure, which engulfed more than a dozen
districts of the state, the worst affected being Bhopal.
After that, however, the state is enjoying a period
of relative communal harmony.
The state police has a very good track
record in dealing with communal riots, not only for
its impartiality of action but also due to the fact
that in none of the judicial enquiries following communal
riots, the police has been indicted for high handiness
or impropriety. In 1984, the state government, issued
an order to reward those police officers who did good
work in prevention of communal riots, by way of two
to four increments in pay. |
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