Cops outside a mosque. Image for representation
Credit: PTI Photo
New Delhi: A large section of police personnel appear to have communal bias when it comes to perception about those prone to committing crimes with a study claiming that those from Delhi, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Gujarat are most likely to believe that Muslims are "naturally prone towards committing crime to a great extent".
The 'Status of Policing in India Report 2025: Police Torture and (Un)Accountability' also claimed that Hindu police personnel are most likely to believe that Muslims are "naturally prone towards committing crime to a great extent" while Sikh personnel are the least to think so.
Interestingly, the study by 'Common Cause' in association with Lokniti, CSDS and Lal Family Foundation said, two in every five Muslim police respondents believe that Muslims are either “greatly” (18 per cent) or “somewhat” (22 per cent) naturally prone to commit crimes.
Almost one-third of Muslim and Hindu personnel surveyed also think that Christians are either “greatly” or “somewhat” prone to committing crimes.
The surveys covered 8,276 police personnel of various ranks at 82 locations such as police stations, police lines and courts, in 16 states and the national capital.
According to the study 39 per cent personnel surveyed in Delhi believe Muslims are “greatly” prone to committing crimes while 23 per cent are "to some extent" prone to committing crimes.
More than two-third of the police personnel in Rajasthan (70 per cent), Maharashtra (68 per cent), Madhya Pradesh (68 per cent), West Bengal (68 per cent), Gujarat (67 per cent) and Jharkhand (66 per cent) held the opinion that the Muslim community is likely to be naturally inclined to committing crime to either a “great” or “some” extent, the study said.
In Karnataka, 17 per cent felt Muslims are prone to crime "to a great extent" and 44 per cent keep a view that the minority community members could end up in crime "to some extent". It said only 7 per cent of police personnel in Karnataka believe that Muslims are "not at all" prone to crimes.
Police personnel from Gujarat have the highest proportion (68 per cent) of those who believe that Dalits are naturally prone towards committing crimes -- 17 per cent believe so “to a great extent” while 51 per cent believe so “to some extent.
More than half of the police personnel from the states of Maharashtra (52 per cent) and Madhya Pradesh (51 per cent) also believe that Dalits are prone to committing crimes "to a great extent" and "to some extent". On Dalits, 46 per cent Karnataka police personnel -- 10 per cent to great extent and 36 per cent to some extent -- have a bias against Scheduled Castes.
Police personnel from Gujarat (56 per cent), followed by Odisha (51 per cent) comprised the highest proportion of those who believe that Adivasis have a natural inclination towards committing crimes. It also said two in every five police respondents (39 per cent) believed migrants to be “naturally prone to committing crimes”. Personnel in Rajasthan, Gujarat, Assam and Karnataka have the highest proportion in the police force.
More than half of the police personnel believe that hijras, transgenders and homosexual people are a bad influence on society and the police need to deal with them strictly, the study said.