Why in the News
The “Status of Policing in India 2025” report finds that over 70% of police personnel favour immunity for using force without accountability. The report also flags that National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) custodial injury data is unreliable, undermining independent verification of police conduct.
Why does the immunity preference expose an accountability gap?
- Majority preference: A 70% plus preference for immunity among serving police personnel indicates the demand for accountability protection is not a fringe view but a majority institutional stance.
- Data unreliability: If NCRB custodial injury data is unreliable, external oversight bodies cannot independently verify whether force used against civilians was proportionate, regardless of internal police attitudes.
- Compounding effect: An accountability averse police culture combined with unreliable official data on custodial injury creates a structure where excessive force is both preferred by personnel and difficult to prove externally.
Conclusion
- The central idea is that police demand for immunity and unreliable custodial injury data reinforce each other, since neither internal culture nor official data currently supports independent verification of force used against civilians. Addressing this requires fixing NCRB data reliability before any accountability reform on use of force can be meaningfully enforced.
Back2Basics
National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB): Statutory body under the Ministry of Home Affairs that compiles crime and criminal justice statistics across India, including custodial injury and death data.