New Delhi: The suspicious death of a young teacher in Bhiwani, Haryana, now registered as a murder case by the CBI, serves as a painful and stark reminder of India’s collapsing investigative systems. From the outset, the handling of the case was riddled with fundamental contradictions between official police claims and the accounts provided by eyewitnesses, journalists, activists and the victim’s family.
This glaring lack of seriousness and transparency quickly eroded public trust, leading to multiple post mortems and the eventual transfer of the case to the Central Bureau of Investigation. This move appeared less a genuine pursuit of truth and more an act of political expediency intended to pacify widespread public outrage.
Beyond Individual Blame: The Root of the Rot
While the family’s testimony rightly paints the local police’s conduct during the missing person period as indefensible, reducing this tragedy to the failings of a few negligent or complicit officers is a misleading distraction. Such an explanation targets the symptoms while ignoring the profound systemic disease.
The rot runs deeper, embedded in the structure, culture and inertia of an outdated, perpetually overburdened and fundamentally unaccountable investigative system.
The Colonial Blueprint of Control
To understand this systemic decay, we must examine its historical roots. The Indian policing system was established in 1861 through the Indian Police Act in the aftermath of the Revolt of 1857. Crucially, it was designed not to serve citizens but to control them. This colonial blueprint institutionalized a force oriented, hierarchical and authoritarian structure whose primary goal was maintaining order and protecting rulers, not delivering justice.
Even after Independence, this authoritarian legacy persisted. Instead of being reformed into a citizen centric institution, policing in India retained the same DNA, valuing obedience over accountability, hierarchy over humanity and order over justice.
The Chronic Deficiencies in Modern Policing
Decades later, the system continues with the same structural rot that leaves police forces chronically understaffed, overstressed, undertrained and ill equipped for modern challenges:
Severe understaffing: As of 2022, India had roughly 152.8 police personnel per one lakh people. According to the Bureau of Police Research and Development’s Data on Police Organizations, this often gets compared with a commonly cited figure of about 220 to 222 per one lakh people, yet there is no official United Nations ratio according to the UN Police Division and independent fact checks.
Overburdened personnel: Officers routinely work very long shifts. According to the Status of Policing in India Report 2019 by Common Cause and Lokniti CSDS, a typical workday is close to 14 hours for many personnel, with a large share reporting more than 12 hours and a significant minority more than 16 hours.
Skill gaps: Minimal training in empathy, negotiation and crisis management leaves officers poorly prepared for citizen centric policing.
Stagnant hierarchies: A large majority of the force consists of constables who are locked into monotonous duties with little empowerment or mobility.
Mental health neglect: The lack of institutional psychological support leaves personnel vulnerable to stress related breakdowns that affect both families and service delivery.
The Investigation Crisis: Lack of Specialization
Peeling back another layer reveals the collapse of the investigative ecosystem. Unlike professional fields that cultivate specialization, Indian policing treats investigation as an add on task rather than a discipline. One officer may manage law and order in the morning, conduct investigations in the afternoon and do community work by evening.
Effective investigation demands dedicated time, specialized skill and impartiality. The first steps toward justice, such as securing crime scenes, collecting and preserving evidence and maintaining the chain of custody, require trained personnel. Yet most police stations do not have forensic technicians or adequately skilled investigators.
The result is contaminated evidence, flawed documentation and procedural lapses that let the guilty walk free. The Supreme Court has repeatedly emphasized that DNA evidence is powerful only when collection, preservation and handling meet rigorous standards. According to the Supreme Court in Anil v State of Maharashtra in 2014, DNA profiling can be relied upon only with strict quality control, and in Manoj v State of Madhya Pradesh in 2022, a DNA report was not accepted where contamination risks and procedural gaps could not be ruled out.
The Technological and Forensic Vacuum
The decay extends to the country’s forensic and technological backbone, the foundation of modern investigation.
1. The forensic laboratory network
Limited DNA capacity: According to the Parliamentary Standing Committee that examined the DNA Technology Bill in 2021, India had only about 30 to 40 DNA experts across roughly 15 to 18 laboratories, handling fewer than 3,000 cases a year, a small fraction of the actual need reported by Business Standard.
Laboratory footprint: According to a Ministry of Home Affairs reply to Parliament in December 2024, India has seven Central Forensic Science Laboratories along with several State and Regional Forensic Science Laboratories, which remains inadequate for a country of this size; the ministry’s broader forensics network and e-Forensics platform were reported by The New Indian Express.
Delays and backlogs: According to proceedings recorded by the Bombay High Court at Nagpur, Maharashtra alone had pendency of more than six lakh samples linked to nearly one lakh eighty five thousand cases, a backlog that undermines the constitutional right to a speedy trial reported by The Times of India.
2. The neglect of forensic pathology
Another neglected pillar is forensic pathology and the autopsy infrastructure. While many countries have robust medico legal systems, post mortem facilities in India often struggle with poor infrastructure and staffing. In some districts, untrained workers have been reported assisting in procedures without adequate protective gear while doctors sign the reports, and facilities frequently lack basics such as reliable refrigeration and sterilization. According to repeated observations of the Supreme Court on medico legal evidence, post mortem findings must be supported by expert testimony and procedural integrity.
A System That Fails Justice
The Bhiwani tragedy is not about one victim or a few erring officers. It reflects the slow and catastrophic decomposition of India’s justice machinery, a system where accountability is diffused, responsibility is blurred and justice is delayed until public outrage forces action.
Until India undertakes serious and comprehensive reform of policing, investigation and forensic systems, and holds them to the standards of diligence and integrity they demand from citizens, such tragedies will recur. They will remain a painful reminder that in India justice too often begins with tragedy and too often ends in silence.
This is an editorial analysis based on publicly available information, court records and official statements as cited in-text. The matter is under investigation; allegations are subject to verification. We have sought responses from the Haryana Police and the CBI and will update the article if and when they respond.
