Muslim representation in police forces lowest in India’s history
New Delhi: Muslims in the ranks and file of police forces have fallen to the lowest levels for the first time in India.
According to Kashmir Media Service, data revealed in a new book Muslims in India – Ground Reality Versus Fake Narratives – Achievements & Accomplishments shows socio-economically, Muslims have remained at a significant disadvantage in their presence in governance and administrative domains even nearly two decades after Delhi High Court’s former Chief Justice Rajinder Sachar’s startling report pointed out Muslims lagging behind upper caste Hindus, SCs, and STs.
The high-powered Dr Gopal Singh committee talked in 1983 about the “gross underrepresentation” of Muslims in civil and police services across the country, except for slightly better spots in states like Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, and Karnataka.
The panel spoke about a “sense of alienation” in the community and called for “restructuring” reservations in government services for the largest minority community, accounting for about 14.2 per cent of the country’s population or about 172.2 million people as of the Census 2011.
The community’s wide-ranging economic, educational, and social challenges, miseries, and deprivations have multiplied.
The report by Justice Ranganath Mishra in 2007 also completely dispelled the notion that Muslims, the biggest of the six religious minorities in the world’s most populous country, have been progressing and prospering like other communities.
As per the Civil Lists for 2023, there are only 151 Muslims among 4344 Indian Police Service (IPS) officials in service. Nineteen Muslims are among 252 India Railways Protection Force Service (RPF) officials and there are only three Muslims among 248 officials of Delhi, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Daman & Diu, Dadra & Nagar Haveli (DANIPS) Police Service. Pondicherry Police Service has only one Muslim among its 47 officials.
In the State Police Services, there are only 387 Muslims out of 8,434 officials across 26 states, the highest of 120 in Jammu and Kashmir out of a total of 226. This is followed by 53 in West Bengal out of 543, 35 out of 375 in Bihar, and 34 out of 532 in Assam. Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state where Muslims account for 19.26 per cent of its total population or the second largest Muslim population in the country, after Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Egypt, Iran, Turkey, Iraq, and Afghanistan, has only 17 Muslims among 1,063 officials. Goa, Jharkhand, Mizoram, Nagaland, Odisha, Sikkim, and Tripura have no Muslim officials in their police forces.
