The theme of this year’s event was “NAVIGATING THE NEW CRIMINAL LAWS AND IMPLEMENTATION CHALLENGES,” considering the humongous responsibility on the shoulders of the police in implementing the newly enacted criminal laws. We intended to present a balanced debate highlighting the positive aspects, as well as the areas of concern and implementation challenges against the new criminal laws. We lined up experts in the field to dissect the topics, wherein critics had the opportunity to raise questions on their concerns, and an equal opportunity was provided to those who had the answers.

The stress was on the early learnings from the field, the practical implementation challenges encountered, and potential measures to mitigate these challenges. These included challenges in educating, training, and preparing the police personnel to undertake this tremendous responsibility on the one hand, and putting in place the physical and digital infrastructure on the other. Different states had responded differently, and there were good practices from different parts of the country that could be scaled up for implementation on a pan-India basis. IPF proposed to bring out a document based on the early learnings that emerged from these discussions.

We had written to DGPs of States and CPOs to depute their officers to attend this programme in person and to encourage as many members of staff as possible to watch the event online, as it was a great learning opportunity for them.