VILLAGE POLICE SYSTEM: ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR COMMUNITY POLICING IN MIZORAM

Abstract

Indian policing had been revolved around rural policing. In ancient India, each village had its own headman who protected the village with the help of village watchmen or patel. These watchmen were the real executive police of the villages. During medieval period, the Mughal dynasty also adopted this indigenous village police system. The significance of village police system was also recognized by the British rulers. The Court of Directors of the East India Company and The Police Act, 1861 wanted retention of village police system. After independence, Government of India made attempts to revive rural policing system. The Model Police Act was passed in 2006 which directed the states and Union Territories to make new police laws incorporating, among other things, improved village policing system. The present paper was an attempt to study how the village police system had been revived in India by passing the Model Police Act, 2006 with special emphasis on its implementation in Mizoram. Mizoram, a small state in North East India, adopted the Mizoram Police Act, 2011 under which Village Defense Parties were established to provide better policing services to village residents. This Act revived the principles of village policing concept which had been lying dormant. It also provided for formal institutional mechanism of community policing in the state.