Awarded Ph.D. degree in Law by National Law University Odisha for his thesis, “Arrest discretion Behavior of the Police in India; A Socio-Legal Study”

   

                                                            

                                                             ABSTRACT

The objective of the 2009 amendment to the century old arrest law in the Criminal Procedure Code of India was to reduce the number of avoidable arrests based on the legal principles of “reasonableness”, “necessity” and “restraints”. The amended law introduced a new provision - “service of notice” - instead of the formal arrest, where a person is accused of an offence punishable with imprisonment of less than or up to seven years, which constitutes two-thirds of all penal offences. Following the new amendment, the arrest figures in India should have been reduced by two-thirds but data show that there has been a very insignificant reduction in the arrest figures. This leads to the inquiry if the statute, departmental guidelines, court rulings, police manual rules etc. have any influence on the arrest decisions of the police or if there are other factors that have escaped our scrutiny? 

A number of studies have established that although legal factors significantly influence arrest decisions, the exercise of an enormous amount of discretion is at the core of overall police functioning. Moreover, factors like organisational, situational, subcultural, environmental and individual determinants are at the forefront of influencing the arrest decisions of law enforcement officials. The use of discretion by the police has remained a lesser researched topic in India than in the West. This study is a maiden inquiry to test if the determinants of arrest discretion are valid in the Indian context, how do they interplay and which among these determinants significantly influences arrest decision.

This study establishes that organisational, subcultural and environmental determinants are significant for the police in India and positively correlate to their arrest discretion behaviour. The study empirically establishes that subcultural and environmental determinants influence arrest discretion behaviour twice as much as the organisational determinant, contrary to the popular perception that it is the organisation, through statutes, rules and compliance with court directives, that determines or constrains arrest discretion. Thereby, this research attempts to fill a major gap in the study of the use of police discretion in India.

My PhD Programme at NLUO

It was during the fag-end of my PGPPM course at IIM, Bangalore (2011-13) that I quietly resolved to register myself for the PhD degree from National Law University, Odisha after completion of my degree. 1 July, 2014- I registered myself for PhD at NLUO, Cuttack. Research topic? I guess I'll like to work on rights-based issues in criminal justice system.

ACADEMIC PROFILE AND RESEARCH INTEREST OF SHRI SATYAJIT MOHANTY, IPS

1. Name : SATYAJIT MOHANTY, IPS

2. Date of Birth: : 3rd August 1961

3. Designation : Special DGP with Odisha Police

4. Educational Qualification: M.Sc, LL.B, Master Degree in Human Rights, PGPPM, IIMB & Syracuse University, USA, Ph.D. in Law from National Law University of Odisha.

5. Medals and Commendations

i. Service Medal: Police Medal for Meritorious Service, 2004. 

ii.Awarded the President's Police Medal for Distinguished Service in the year 2012

iii. Antarik Suraksha Seva Medal 2016
iv. DGP's Commendation Roll 2016
6. Books Authored

• 2009 Human Rights, Published by Legal Associates, Cuttack (Sole Author).
• 2010 Human Behavior and Police Ethics, Published by Legal Associates, Cuttack (Jointly with Dr A B Mishra).
• 2010 Police in India; Role, Responsibility and Accountability, Published by Legal Associates, Cuttack (Jointly with Dr R K Mohanty).
• 2012 A Text Book of Criminology, Penology and Victimology, Himalaya Publishing House, Mumbai (foreword written by Prof. Partha N Mukherjee, Former Director TISS Mumbai), Jointly with Dr R K Mohanty
• 2014 Community policing as a Public Policy; Challenges and Recommendations, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, UK Jointly with Dr R K Mohanty

7.  Research Articles Published

• 2010 Right to Information Act, Media & Investigative Journalism, Indian Journalists Union (ODISHA STATE) Journal PP. 20-25 (Joint Author).
• 2010 Women in Police: Issues and Concerns, The Mumbai Protector Vol.II, No.1 Pp 62-66.
•  2010 Urban Transport and Traffic Planning in Bhubaneswar-Cuttack Urban Complex, Proceedings of Workshop on Urban Governance, IIPA, Bhubaneswar 22^nd August, Pp 57-63.
•  2011 Victims of Terrorism: Contesting Connotations and Emerging Paradigms, The Mumbai Protector Vol. II, No. 3, Pp 57-70 (jointly with Dr R K Mohanty).
• 2011 Problems of Globalization and Participatory Democracy: A Case Study of Orissa Police, http://satyajitipsig.wordpress.com/2011/10/28/problems-of-globalization-participatory-democracy-a-case-study-of-orissa-police/
• 2012 Urban Transport & Traffic Planning In BBSR-CTC Urban Complex http://satyajitipsig.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/urban-transport-traffic-planning-in-bbsr-ctc-urban-complex.pdf
• 2012 Understanding Terrorism, Extremism and Insurgency, Conference Proceedings UGC sponsored National Seminar  on Terrorism: A Global Menace at LN College Korua, Kendrapara, Jan. 22-23 2012
• 2012 State Security commission as Regulatory Body, http://satyajitipsig.wordpress.com/2012/02/03/state-security-commission-as-regulatory-body/
• 2013 Participatory Democracy: Transparency and Accountability in Police Organizations, Journal of Indian Institute of Public Administration, Vol XVV pp. 135-148, ISSN 2231-556 X

• 2015  Security Challenges of Smart Cities, Defence and Security Alert, Vol 6, Issue 12, September, Pp 37-40
• 2016  Community Policing: Challenges and Recommendations, Defence and Security Alert, Vol 7, Issue 5, February, Pp 22-27
• 2016  Ama Police: The Community Policing Scheme of Odisha, 2016, Indian Police Journal, Vol LXIII. No 1, Jan-Mar 2016, Pp 12-21
• 2019  "Arrest Discretion Behaviour of the Police in India; A Socio-Legal Study , Ph.D. Thesis for Ph.D. in  Law submitted to NLUO             

8.  Research Interests

     Police Discretion,
     Police Reforms,

     Human Rights,

     Community Policing and

     Gender and Juvenile Justice.

9.  Presentations as National/State Level Resource Person

A Guest Resource Person of National Police Academy, Hyderabad, Gopabandhu Academy of Administration, Bhubaneswar and Odisha Judicial Academy, Cuttack, Sri Sri University, Odisha

     Police Reform and Police Accountability

     Investigation and Supervision of Grave Crimes

     Human Rights and Role of Police

     Juvenile Justice and Role of Police   
     Community policing and Police Mission   
     Rights of the Accused and Police Concerns

     Human Trafficking

     Public Policy & Good Governance
10. Documentary Film Produced

      KNOW YOUR POLICE (15 Minutes for School Children)

      The JUGGERNAUT ( 18 Minutes on  Nabakalebar Festival, Puri)
11. Editorial Accomplishments

         Bi-annual BPSPA News Letter.

         Training Manual on Right to Information Act-2005 for Officers of Odisha Police.

         Training Manual on JJ (CPC) Act for Officers of Odisha Police.
         Quarterly Newsletter  of Odisha Police (2015-18)
         Quarterly Newsletter of Police Commissionerate (2018-19)

12. International Conferences Attended

2010 Participated in International Community Policing Conclave held at Kochi from 3-5  November.

2011 Victims of Terrorism: Contesting Connotations and Emerging Paradigms, Paper Presented at the 3^rd International and 7^th biennial Conference of Indian Society of Victimology, held at KIITS Law School, Bhubaneswar, 06-08.January.
2011 Community Policing as a Public Policy in India- Lessons from USA, International Public Policy Conference, IIM, Bangalore, 29, December

13. Membership in National Professional Bodies and Recognizations

   India Police Foundation
 
   Indian Institute of Public Administration
 

14. Projects Submitted :

• Prepared Three Project Reports on Police-Community Partnership, Community Counselling Centre and Soft Skill for Police personnel (as a member of Micro Mission-2 of National Police Mission). The projects have meanwhile been approved by Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), Govt. of India, for implementation among the State/ UT Polices.
• Community Policing Strategies in A Marketing Framework: Case Study of Mahila & Sishu Desk of Orissa submitted to Indian Institute of Management, Bengaluru as a part of course requirement of Post-Graduate Executive Program on Policy Management (PGPPM) August 2011
• Problems of Globalization & Participatory democracy: A case study of Orissa Police submitted at Maxwell School, Syracuse University, New York, as a part of split site course requirement of Post-Graduate Executive Program on Policy Management (PGPPM) October 2011 under the joint auspices of Indian Institute of Management, Bengaluru.
• Establishment of State Security Commission as a regulatory body to evaluate police performance and issue policy guidelines, PGPPM 2011-2012, Indian Institute of Management, Bengaluru.
• Community Policing as Public Policy, PGPPM Dissertation submitted to Indian Institute of Management, Bengaluru. March 2013.

15. Professional Collaborations:

In the capacity of Director Biju Pattnaik State Police Academy and in own professional and academic interest, established meaningful and productive partnerships/collaborations with the following Institutions/ Establishments of National and International repute on sustainable basis.

     SVP National Police Academy, Hyderbad   
     BPR&D (Bureau of Police Research and Development), New Delhi

     Institute of Social Science, New Delhi

     National Foundation for Communal Harmony, MHA, New Delhi.

     International Centre for Political Violence & Terrorism Research, Singapore

     Women & Child Development Department, Govt of Odisha, Bhubaneswar.

     State Information Commission, Odisha, Bhubaneswar

     National Institute of Public Co-operation and Child Development, New Delhi

     Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, New Delhi.

     State Aids Cell, Bhubaneswar, Odisha

     Odisha State Disaster Management Authority, Bhubaneswar

     Odisha Human Rights Commission
     National Law University, Odisha, Cuttack
    Odisha State Judicial Academy