LEFT OUT Muslim Representation in Police Forces Lowest in History

• 151 Muslims among 4,344 IPS officials
• Only 17 Muslims in UP among 1,063 police officials
• No Muslim DGPs in history in nine states
• There are 68 Muslims among 1,884 SPs and ASPs 
• Only 124 Muslims among 4,760 SDPOs/DSPs 

Team Clarion

NEW DELHI – Muslims in the ranks and file of police forces have fallen to the lowest levels for the first time as India completed 77 years of Independence, according to data revealed in a new book Muslims in India – Ground Reality Verses Fake Narratives – Achievements & Accomplishments. 

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 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.

The world’s third-largest Muslim population on the planet has been facing socially disturbing developments like lynching, hate crimes, and socio-economic discrimination at frequencies never seen before since Independence. Over 10,000 people, mostly Muslims, have been killed in 6,933 instances of communal violence between 1954 and 1982. Over 7,484 communal incidents have been reported between 2008 and 2017 – or two every day, killing over 1,100 people. Between 2014 and 2020, a record 2.76-plus lakh cases of rioting have taken place across the country. Besides facing negligent, corrupt, and communal elements in the police forces, Muslims also face a shortage of their community’s increasingly lesser representation in the police and para-military services. 

Data speaks volumes about the present scenario.  

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. 

There have been 27 Muslims among 999 DGPs till now. There have been no Muslim DGPs in nine states including Delhi, Haryana, West Bengal, Uttarakhand, Telangana, and Tamil Nadu. Puducherry and Lakshadweep have seen two Muslims as police chiefs out of 38 and 24, respectively. There are only 34 Muslims among 583 senior officials in the Central Armed Police Forces – Assam Rifles; Border Security Force (BSF); Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), and Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB). A total of 2,212 Muslims were among 35,409 martyrs of the Central Armed Forces from 1947 till the end of 2023. In the police forces of 27 states and UTs, 210 were Muslims among 5128 martyrs till 2023. There have been only seven Muslims of the 294 chiefs of police academies across the country. 

Only 13 Muslim officials became chiefs of the 380 Police Housing and Welfare Corporations across the country. According to data gathered, there are only 68 Muslims among 1,884 SPs and Additional SPs in the country now, and 124 Muslims among 4,760 DSPs. The number of Inspectors and Sub-Inspectors (Law & Order) from the Muslim community stands at 493 out of a total of 20,022 across the country. In the 1950s, the percentage of Muslim officers in the IPS was already lower than five per cent, less than half the proportion of Muslims according to the 1951 census. 

The share of Muslims in the population subsequently rose, reaching 14.25 per cent in 2011, the proportion of Muslims in the IPS dwindled, falling beneath the three per cent mark in 2016, and even plummeting as low as 2.5 per cent if Jammu and Kashmir are excluded from the calculation. According to the Dr Gopal Singh Committee, 36 years after independence, in 1983 there were only 57 Muslims in the IPS out of a total of 3,785. Between 1981 and 2000, the IPS had seen a total recruitment of 3,284 officers, of which only 120 were Muslims or a percentage of 3.65. According to official statistics, the representation of Muslim police officers is worst or least in Delhi because out of a total of 75,117 officers in Delhi Police, Muslim police officers are 1,521 only. 

MIT scholar and researcher Omar Khalidi’s book, Khaki and the Ethnic Violence in India, pointed at the near-complete absence of Muslims in agencies controlled by the Union government — the Intelligence Bureau (IB), Central Bureau of Intelligence (CBI), the Assam Rifles, and the Central Reserve Police Force. According to 2002 figures cited by the author, Muslims accounted for only 3.65 per cent of the IPS officials against a national population share of 14 per cent. In Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, Muslims represented only 4.5 and two per cent of the police force, respectively. These are two of the worst states in terms of Muslim representation in the police forces. Andhra Pradesh was the best in this regard: Muslims made up 16.6 per cent of the police force, despite a population share of eight per cent.

Currently, there are no official surveys and studies about the number of Muslims in the police. In the past, only on seven occasions in India’s history, the police forces have been religiously profiled including Punjab Police (1982–1985); Tamil Nadu (1967–1973); Gujarat Police (2002–2003); Maharashtra Police (1993–1994), and Uttar Pradesh (1993–1997 & 2006–2009). However, police authorities have been profiled by caste in 26 out of 28 states and Delhi Police have been profiled by caste and community like Chauhan & Khatri & Arora and Baniya & Brahmin.

A report in 2010 disclosed that the total number of police personnel present in the force in the year 2010 was 15,80,311. Out of these, the total number of Muslim police personnel was only 109,262, or 6.91 per cent of the total police force. Jammu and Kashmir accounted for a majority of Muslim police personnel as they were 44,457 out of the total police force of 1,09,262. Hence, if we took out the Muslim police force of Jammu and Kashmir, only 64,805 Muslim individuals were a part of the police force, which formed a mere 4.31 per cent of the total police force.

In July 2012, the Union Home Ministry wanted senior Muslim officers posted at the police stations in charge of areas where a large number of the community’s members live – the problem is that there just aren’t enough Muslim policemen in the country. The latest data from the ministry shows that there are just 1.08 lakh Muslim officers in the 16.6-lakh police force of the country. This means the representation of Muslims in the force is just over six per cent. The data also showed that of the 1.08 lakh Muslim officers in India, almost half (46,250) are serving in Jammu and Kashmir alone. Hence, keeping Jammu and Kashmir aside, the representation of Muslims in the force is as low as four per cent. Delhi is among the worst in this respect – just 1,521 Muslim officers serve in the Delhi Police, whose total strength is 75,117. It means a two per cent representation of the Muslim population in the Capital’s force. All these damning figures have been supplied by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB). 

The ministry officials conceded that with such low representation of Muslims, it is currently not possible to find inspector or sub-inspector-rank Muslim officers to take charge of police stations in the minority-populated areas. Earlier that year, the ministry had shot a letter to all the states, asking them to do the same. In July 2012, a media release issued by a Central Reserve Police Force training facility in Kerala gave a religion-wise break-up of its new graduates. The note, issued after a passing-out and attestation parade of constables, says of its 919 recruits “841 are Hindu, 43 are Muslim, 22 are Christian and 13 are Sikh”. 

A report in September 2012 talked about an extremely small number of Muslims in police services. According to the statistics of the Ministry of Home at that time, out of the total police force of 16.6 lakh in the country, Muslim police officers and constables stood at 1.08 lakh – only six percent but less than four percent population out of 1.08 lakh Muslim officers, about half, 46,250, were on duty in Jammu and Kashmir. In October, a media report quoting Uttar Pradesh DGP AC Sharma said CRPF, BSF, ITBP, SSB, CISF and Assam Rifles put together have a strength of 8.62 lakhs, but only 9.9 per cent of them are from the minorities.

In January 2015, the Union Home Ministry’s data said in the previous 10 years, on average every year only about nine per cent of the recruitments from the minority communities have been made. Despite special drives launched to recruit youths from the minority communities in the paramilitary forces, their representation remains low as the efforts could not yield the desired results. There is still less than 10 per cent minority representation in the paramilitary forces. Other than the BSF and the Assam Rifles none of the forces have more than 10 per cent representation. There are only 85,918 personnel from the minority communities in the six central forces put together. 

The CRPF, BSF, ITBP, SSB, CISF, and Assam Rifles put together have a strength of 8.62 lakh personnel, but only 9.9 per cent of them are from the minorities. The number of women in these forces from the minority communities is just at a dismal 2,240. BSF has the highest number of personnel from minority communities at 27,916 (11.69 per cent) out of 2.38 lakh. Of this, 730 are women from minority communities, the highest in any paramilitary force. CRPF also has 26,269 personnel, including 637 women from minorities out of 2.84 lakh. While Assam Rifles has the highest percentage of minorities at 16.16 per cent, the lowest is in ITBP with 6.18 per cent.

In September of that year, a Hindustan Times report disclosed that Mumbai’s police force of 46,000 has about 1,200 Muslims. It noted: “A century and a half ago when the Mumbai Police (Imperial Police during the Raj) was formally set up in 1864 with Frank Shouter as the first police commissioner, the only Indian to be posted as an officer was Khan Bahadur Shaikh Ibrahim Shaikh Imam. Today, the Mumbai Police, now a part of the Maharashtra Police, have more than 42,000 constables and 4,300 officers. However, the Muslim community representation is minuscule: 1,103 personnel in the constabulary and just about 100 of the officers.” According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) figures of 2013, there are just about one per cent of Muslims in the Maharashtra Police against the national average of four per cent. Andhra Pradesh has 10 per cent, Uttar Pradesh 4.8 per cent, Bihar 4.5 per cent, Karnataka 6.4 per cent, and Delhi two per cent.

In May 2018, a study has shown the ratio of Muslims in the Indian police force is very low and reflects on people’s overall trust and perception of discrimination. The small number of Muslims in India’s police force has led to claims of discrimination and victimisation by some sections of the population. According to the 2011 census, the percentage of Muslim policemen and women in the Uttar Pradesh police force was less than five per cent, while Muslims make up more than 19 percent of the state’s population. Uttar Pradesh is not the only example of the disparity. The figure for all of India, minus Jammu and Kashmir, for the percentage of Muslim policemen and women is only four per cent. State-wise, for Delhi Police it is 2 per cent, Maharashtra one per cent, Bihar 4.5 per cent, and Rajasthan 1.2 per cent.

The ‘Status of Policing in India Report 2018’, published by the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies and the NGO Common Cause, offered a comprehensive survey of the performance and perceptions of the Indian police, especially the relation between Indian Muslims and the police. Muslims in Bihar, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, and Tamil Nadu increasingly feel that police discriminate based on religion. Muslims are utterly under-represented in IPS; their share was already lower than five per cent in the 1950s; the proportion of Muslims in the IPS decreased, falling below three per cent in 2016 – it is even as low as 2.5 per cent if Jammu and Kashmir are excluded from the calculation. If policemen at lower levels are taken into account, Muslims roughly make up six per cent of policemen in India. Overall, Muslims are underrepresented in law enforcement agencies.

In November 2019, a study disclosed that the Muslim representation in Indian police has “remained consistently low” at three to four per cent. The study by Tata Trusts, the philanthropist arm of Tata Group, has found that the number stood at eight per cent even for Jammu and Kashmir, India’s lone Muslim-majority state that was bifurcated into two union territories that year. The report noted that most states fall short of fulfilling quota requirements for the SCs, STs, and OBCs at the level of police officers. Karnataka, the report says, is the only state to have “very nearly” filled officer-level quotas in all caste categories. While the report makes observations about all states and union territories, the rankings for justice delivery capacity only account for 18 large and mid-sized states, where “90 per cent of India’s population lives”, and seven small ones. 

According to the report, only seven per cent of the police personnel in the states studied are women. There are only four states and as many Union Territories where women comprise more than 10 per cent of the police force. At 18 and 15 per cent, Chandigarh, Dadra, and Nagar Haveli, respectively, have the highest share of women in their police forces. Tamil Nadu, where women comprise 13 per cent of the police force, is the top-ranked among states, followed by Himachal Pradesh and Maharashtra, both with 12 per cent. Another notable finding of the report is that 47,557 police personnel are deployed to protect 14,841 VIPs. This conclusion was based on 2012 data from the Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D). 

In September 2022, an RTI revealed that Muslim representation in police departments is very low in the states like Rajasthan and Jharkhand. There are only 930 Muslims in 773 police stations in Rajasthan while 616 are posted in 417 police stations in Jharkhand. Gujarat has 5,021 Muslims in its 501 police stations. The figure in Kerala is better too. It has 2,210 Muslims in 451 police stations. Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra, and Uttar Pradesh, where Muslims constitute more than 10 per cent of the population in each state, did not provide their details. “India’s policing culture has long been brutal, biased, anti-minority, and almost colonial in character, a holdover from the days of British rule when the police had no illusions of serving the public but were used to suppress a restive population,” noted The New York Times. 

States Police Services 

Directors-General of Police 

Martyrs – State Police Forces

Police Academy Chiefs

Police Housing and Welfare Corporations 

To read and obtain more data, please visit:

Muslims in India: Achievements & Accomplishments 1947-2024: Mannan, Mohammed Abdul: 9798343270259: Amazon.com: Books

Muslims in India 1947-2024 eBook : Abdul Mannan, Mohammed