Abstract—During Hindu-Muslim riots, Indian police have historically been unable to effectively deal with illegal detention and indiscriminate shootings against citizens, and participated arson and looting with the rioters. The local police and paramilitary forces have been utilized to their limits in conducting security operations. It is imperative that trust is restored between local residents and the police force. This paper examines the practices of community policing in Hindu-Muslim riot-prone societies in India since the 1990s. We analyze how India reinvented methods of community policing and the steps it took toward keeping harmony between the religious communities. This study contributes to a growing approach to riot prevention that suggests the importance of citizens’ participation in maintaining for the practices of community policing in India to endure. In the conclusion, we argue that local engagement contributes to riot prevention, the significance of citizens’ participation in keeping a multicultural society encompassing religious communities.
Index Terms—Citizens’ participation, community policing, multicultural society, riot prevention.
Miharu Yui is with the Graduate School for International Development and Cooperation, Hiroshima University, 1-5-1 Kagamiyama, Higashi-Hiroshima, Hiroshima 7398529 Japan (e-mail: mi_haru15y@ yahoo.co.jp).
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Cite: Miharu Yui, " Effectiveness of Riot Prevention through Community Policing in India: The Practices of the Mohalla Committees," International Journal of Social Science and Humanity vol. 5, no. 10, pp. 865-871, 2015.