Civic volunteers not enough, Bengal govt should recruit policemen: Calcutta HC

A single judge of the Calcutta High Court on Thursday advised the West Bengal government to seek more regular recruitment into the police force instead of appointing contractual civilian volunteers.

"The main problem of the state is the lack of staffing of regular police officers. This means that dependence on contractual staffing is growing. Citizen volunteers fulfill the role of regular police personnel. There is no alternative to recruiting regular police officers in the Czech Republic." in the ranks of sub-inspectors, assistant sub-inspectors and constables,” Justice Rajasekhar Mantha observed.

In this context, Justice Mantha also referred to the mysterious death of student leader Anis Khan last year. "Unfortunately, on the night Anis Khan died, two civic volunteers went to his residence," he noted.

It will be recalled that on February 19, 2022, Anis Khan was found dead under mysterious circumstances at his residence in Amta, Kolkata - the neighboring district of Howrah. His family claimed he was killed by police in uniform. The state police initiated the investigation by forming an SIT under the additional director general of the Crime Investigation Department (CID), Gyanwant Singh. The SIT members also arrested a home guard and a civic volunteer in this connection.

Only last month, under pressure from the Calcutta high court, the West Bengal Police Directorate finally defined the role of citizen volunteers in police-related activities and issued guidelines on the number. According to instructions issued by the directorate on Saturday, citizen volunteers will assist police officers in traffic management and other related duties on special holidays like Durga Puja, Christmas and New Year among others. 

The court's decision came after frequent complaints about the excesses of a section of citizen volunteers who, according to police manuals, do not have the powers and jurisdiction of regular police personnel. The post of civic volunteers was created in Kolkata Police and West Bengal in 2012 – a year after the Trinamool Congress government led by Mamata Banerjee came to power in West Bengal, ending the 34-year Left Front regime.

According to the records of the Chief Minister's office, there are currently 1,19,916 citizen volunteers in the state. The appointment for civic volunteers is purely on contractual basis and they are entitled to a monthly payment of Rs 9,000 in addition to some other benefits like insurance. From the beginning, the opposition parties were vocal against the appointment of citizen volunteers. Opposition parties have alleged that these civic volunteers are basically uniformed cadres of the ruling Trinamool.