Prakash Singh

This is book is an overview of extended public interest litigation conducted by the author, Prakash Singh, a retired police officer, in India. Singh filed a public interest suit in 1996 at the Indian Supreme Court, asking for judicial intervention in implementing administrative reforms in the Indian Police. He argued, leaning on his personal credentials, that these reforms would limit corruption and political influence over policing, and that the court, with its long history of intervention in administrative issues, was well-placed to be involved. The resulting litigation, although nominally successful, is still ongoing. While Singh did receive favourable orders, implementation has been weak, with some states in India clearly arguing that the reforms the court wants are impractical, ill-suited, and not founded in representative reform processes.

The chief merit of this book is that it contains comprehensive data and details on the background and conduct of the case, and so is a useful resource for anyone interested in writing on the subject. On the other hand, the author does not seriously engage with any critiques of the case, and often uses the book as a soapbox to engage in embarrassing self-promotion (including referring to himself in the third person, quoting passages of praise for himself from others, and so on) as well as to write paens in praise of the current Indian government. As such, it is a superficial, but detail-heavy book. The first chapter, an alleged history of policing in India, refers to very few sources and should not be considered reliable in the least. The remaining book, containing details of the suit, is useful as a primary source, but would have been better if the author had chosen to include the texts of actual pleadings (since those do not form part of the public record of the case). Instead, the author has chosen to attach the judgment itself in the appendices (even though this is easily available online on the Supreme Court's website itself) as well as to include a mystifying little parable titled "When God Created Police Officers."

As the author is not a professional writer, much of the blame for how badly this book has turned out must rest on the editors, who surely should have ensured that the case documentation (like affidavits, containing the key arguments) were part of the book, instead of odd religious essays.… (altro)