Sobering move: Why over 600 cops in Assam could be forced to retire 'voluntarily'

On July 28, 2022, Paisringdao Jorasa was on his bike passing by the Dalmia Cement factory in the industrial town of Umrangso in Assam’s Dima Hasao district, when he realised a stone whizzed past him, missing him by a whisker.

Jorasa, a junior manager at the Assam Electricity Grid Corporation Limited, applied the brakes and looked in the direction from which the stone was hurled at him. To his shock, he found a policeman, who was later identified as Dhaneswar Ray, standing there. As Jorasa looked around, it didn’t take time for him to realise that the intended target of the stone was a dog that the cop was probably trying to shoo away.

Jorasa, who had by now regained his composure, told the police personnel to be careful as the stone could have injured him, make him fall off the bike and led to a serious accident.

The hapless man was not prepared for what followed. Ray was in no time joined by eight other police personnel who started beating him with hands, legs and blunt objects, hurling choicest abuses and screaming, “Who are you, don’t you know we are from the police, don’t try to act smart in front of us.”

As the men came closer to Jorasa to beat him up, he realised that the men were under the influence of alcohol.

The same day, an FIR was filed in the case at the Umrangso police station, where all nine cops were deputed. But following police pressure, Jorasa was forced to reach a compromise with the officers.

On December 6, 2016, a drunk police personnel opened indiscriminate firing at Borbari of Hengerabari in Guwahati. The cop was allegedly in an inebriated condition and shot the driver and helper of an excavator following a heated exchange between the three.

The policeman was identified as ASI Golap Konwar of Basistha police station.

Incidents of drunk policemen turning lawbreakers is pretty common in the North Eastern state and recently led chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who is also responsible for the home portfolio, to announce that around 300 ‘habitual drinkers’ would be given the option of voluntary retirement (VRS). Reports now suggest almost double the number could be at risk of being asked to opt for VRS.

According to Director General of Police GP Singh, 680 policemen have been found to be habitual drinkers, around 1 per cent of the Assam police force, which has a strength of 70,000 officers and officials.

“We have prepared a list of 680 policemen who are habitual drinkers. The list is under verification by a committee. Once the verification process is completed, we will offer the identified personnel VRS within this year,” Singh said.

Smart policing

The move is part of Sarma’s Smart Policing plan, which the chief minister has said, is the need of the hour to handle the new age of organisational and conventional crime.

For the realisation of smart policing vision, Sarma has advocated removing the ‘dead wood’ from the force. The ‘dead wood’ reportedly covers habitual drinkers, those with extreme obesity, and with charges of corruption against them.

“The new recruits will have orientation focused on maintaining physical fitness, which is a priority area for Assam Police for all its ranks and personnel,” the DGP added.

On May 16, Singh issued a three-month deadline for police personnel to work on their fitness saying that the state police will officially record the Body Mass Index (BMI) of all its personnel, including IPS and APS officers, after three months.

“In line with directions of the CMO Assam, Assam Police headquarters has decided to go in for the professional recording of Body Mass Index (BMI) of all Assam Police personnel including IPS/APS officers and all DEF/Bn/Organisations,” Singh said in a tweet.

“We plan to give three months to all Assam Police personnel including IPS and APS officers till August 15 and then start BMI assessment in the next fifteen days. All those who are in the obese (BMI 30+) category would be offered another three months to reduce weight (till November end) and after that VRS option except those who have genuine medical grounds like thyroidism etc,” Singh said.

মাননীয় @CMOfficeAssam ৰ নিৰ্দেশনা অনুসৰি অসম আৰক্ষীৰ মুখ্য কাৰ্যালয়ে @assampolice ৰ বিভিন্ন স্তৰৰ বিষয়াসকলৰ 'বডী মাছ ইণ্ডেক্স' (বিএমআই)ৰ আনুষ্ঠানিক তথ্য সংগ্ৰহৰ সিদ্ধান্ত গ্ৰহণ কৰিছে। আইপিএছ/ এপিএছ বিষয়াসকলৰ লগতে ডিইএফ/ বিএন/অৰ্গেনাইজেশ্যনৰ বি এম আই এই নতুন নিয়মৰ জৰিয়তে…

— GP Singh (@gpsinghips) May 17, 2023

Assam Police, one of the elite forces of the country, secured the third position among 29 states and Union Territories in the Indian Police Foundation’s list of the ‘Smart Policing’ Index in 2021.

“Police are a disciplined force and its members are expected to serve as per established law and disciplinary rules. If drinking/drug addiction affects their duty or adversely affects the efficiency of the force, the authority can initiate action against such officers according to the established rule,” retired IPS officer and former Director General of Assam Police and noted litterateur Harekrishna Deka told The Federal.

Deka also cautioned that the VRS policy is not as simple as it may sound, implying cops are asked to take retirement and they simply comply.

“Voluntary retirement is voluntary. The officer concerned has to apply for such retirement on completion of a particular period of service before attaining the actual date of retirement. But if it is given compulsorily as a disciplinary action, there has to be a disciplinary proceeding against the person concerned,” Deka said.

“Of course, in a disciplined force like the police, it is necessary that misconduct like drunken misbehaviour/absenteeism/gross failure to perform duty etc should be taken seriously. If some people become misfits due to drunkenness, such people may be given the option to take voluntary retirement with retirement benefits or face strict disciplinary proceedings as per the rule for misconduct and face punishment that may result in dismissal from service. It may mean that the person be deprived of retirement benefits too,” Deka added.

“If a choice is given, I feel, the officers/men who are addicts may accept voluntary retirement. Police personnel have to conduct themselves with discipline and efficiency,” he added.

A retired Guwahati police officer however said that the action was too harsh and not required.

“Which policemen do not drink? As per my knowledge, 80 per cent of the officers and jawans use alcohol,” said the officer requesting anonymity.

“I can speak from experience that there is no major issue of alcoholism in Assam Police. Most of them are regular drinkers. There is a vast difference between being an alcoholic and an addict,” he said.

Widespread problem

But Assam is not the first state in the North East to be troubled by drunk police personnel. In March this year, Bimal Kanti Chakma, a havildar in the 2nd battalion of Mizoram Armed Police (MAP), was accused of killing two of his colleagues.

At the time of the incident, the two victims and the accused were on duty at their barrack, located about 400 metres from the main border outpost. Chakma later told police that his colleagues used to report him for being drunk and before the crime, he questioned the two as to why they used to report him to the post commander.

This incident happened almost a year after the Mizoram Police initiated a detoxification and rehabilitation camp for around 340 police personnel who were found to be suffering from various medical ailments due alcoholism and other substance abuse. The programmed was undertaken after a section of Mizoram Police personnel were found to be suffering from various medical ailments due to alcoholism and other substance abuse.

Mizoram’s programme drew inspiration from Arunachal Pradesh which started a rehabilitation programme for its police personnel battling intoxication and drug addiction.
Military Psychologist Dr Shambhavi Samir Alve says the reason for alcoholism in police personnel is stress. “Uniformed personnel often experience stress that can be due to personal or professional reasons. The high-risk nature of their job often pushes them towards substance dependency, alcohol consumption being a common issue among policemen globally,” Alve told The Federal.

“While alcohol consumption isn’t always addictive, getting drawn towards alcohol as a means to overcome stress can result in addiction among a lot of people, especially those in high-risk and high-stress jobs, like policemen,” she added.

Having cops who are addicted to alcohol in the force can be a bit problematic because prolonged dependence on alcohol can adversely impact neural functions.

“Often, alcohol consumption begins under peer pressure but knowingly or unknowingly it can create dependence which eventually starts affecting work performance, personal relationships, sleep patterns, appetite, temperament and even sex drive. Alcohol can interfere with neural functions of the brain eventually affecting memory, reaction time, ability to judge, and even the process of decision-making. Long-term dependence on alcohol can further push the individual into a space of helplessness, and hopelessness and pose a risk of depression, anxiety disorder or psychotic symptoms like hallucinations at times,” she said.

Drinking alcohol is found to be very common in the northeastern states of Arunachal Pradesh as the state ranked top amongst all the states in the country in gulping liquor or alcoholic beverage. In June 2022, the Arunachal Pradesh government launched a mandatory four-month online certificate course on drug abuse prevention for its Grade A, Grade B employees and police personnel. As many as 225 government employees and police admitted they were addicts and consume either natural or synthetic drugs.

The National Non-Communicable Disease (NCD) Monitoring Survey in 2021 found that at 22.3 per cent, North East has the highest prevalence of alcohol and tobacco consumption among both men and women. Again, 35.2 per cent of men, aged between 18 and 69 years, from the region reported alcohol consumption. Among the North Eastern states Assam ranked higher in terms of alcohol consumption with 26.3 per cent of women and 59.4 per cent of men between 15-54 years of age consume alcohol.

But can sending police officials on VRS help fight the menace among the force? This would be anyone’s guess.