MUMBAI, August 15: When Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray described the commissioner of police Subhash Malhotra as a `scarecrow', it was a comment on the style of governance which seems to have emasculated the police. From a status of the country's premier police force to a demoralised and ineffectual lot, the Mumbai police has come a long way in its journey downward.

Political interference is unprecedented under Shivshahi which also lacks a political will to tackle the collapsing law and order situation in the city, top bureaucrats and police officials point out. ``Nobody else but Thackeray himself should be blamed for the current situation,'' an official said referring to the police-bashing in the pages of Sena's mouthpiece Saamna.

Though Thackeray may deny now, he was instrumental in taking the decision to appoint Malhotra as the commissioner of police and later elevating the post to the rank of Director General to ensure that he continues to be in the post even after his promotion as DGP.

Malhotra replaced Ram Deo Tyagi who struck terror in Mumbai's underworld and was known to be an unbending officer. In one touch of Thackeray's remote control, Tyagi found himself shunted to the Police Housing Corporation.

Though political interference in police matters is old hat, never before has it trickled down to the lower level of the administrative machinery.

``Earlier, political interference was limited to the level of the commissioner, but now even a sub-inspector has to listen to the ruling party politicians,'' rued a senor police officer.

While no time is lost in shunting out competent officers like Y P Singh and Sanjay Pandey from important cases, there is inexplicable tardiness in dealing with some others such as the DIG and the DSP of Pen in Raigarh district. Though Chief Minister Manohar Joshi announced that he would transfer out the two officers for the inadequate handling of the communal violence during the Ganesh festival last year, it took the Home Ministry a full six months to issue the orders.

Similarly, Nagpur Commissioner T S Singarwal and Additional Commissioner Anil Dhere were asked to pack up for their adverse remarks against the Director General A S Samra in January this year. Both of them continue to be in Nagpur even today.

``We do not know whether they will ever be transferred,'' said a police official.

The last nail in the coffin of police's independence was driven some weeks ago when a host of administrative transfers ordered by DGP Samra were cancelled by the Home Minister overnight under the pretext that the government was drafting a new transfer policy. In one felt stroke, the authority of the Director General was undermined.

All this when the mafia is getting more brazen by the day. According to a senior officer in the Home Ministry, in a recent case of extortion by the underworld, the caller actually left his telephone number for his `client' to call him back.

But that's not surprising when there are `scare-crows' for commissioners. What is surprising, however, is that the people who want to control the police like any other government department, are complaining about their lack of initiative.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.