The report was prepared by a group of three DGPs — Sanjeev Dayal of Maharashtra, Deoraj Nagar of Uttar Pradesh and K Ramanujam of Tamil Nadu in association with representatives from the Intelligence Bureau. Excerpts from the report has already been published by the Indian Express, an English daily published from New Delhi.

The source of this distrust is 'poor representation of minorities in the forces and the conduct of some policemen during riots', the report said.

“Poor representation of the minorities in the police forces has contributed to this distrust and suspicion. It has to be admitted that the conduct of some members of the police forces in various states during communal riots had only served to strengthen and heighten these suspicions and distrust in the minority communities,” it says.

The report was presented actually presented at the 2013 DGPs’ conference in New Delhi, but was kept secret and has been lying with the Central government without any action.

The report primarily aims at providing a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP), a framework to prevent communal riots. It suggested 'Community Policing' to be planned and implemented by all the states of the country.

Saying that Muslims form the largest minority, constituting “a vocal and large section of the population” in most states, the report calls for urgent correction of the perception in the community about the police as it “impinges on the communal situation of the country and thus its internal security”.

The report recommends training as an important part in bringing “attitudinal changes in the police at all ranks”. Recommending several steps, including outreach programmes and forming specialised wings to combat rumours and instigation through social media, it says the first move should be to break the bias within.

“As a first step it is very necessary for the police leadership to admit that the problem exists and acknowledge that there is a need for correction within us,” it says. “We cannot afford to lose time in correcting the perception as the present perception is adversely affecting several vital aspects of policing, including combating terror, and thus maintaining the internal security of the country.”

Along with the corrective measures in training and policing, the report suggests setting two important wings across all the states. It recommends creation of a specialised cyber wing, just to track rumours and misuse of social media to “instigate communal emotions”. The wing, the report says, should be under the \government’s cyber security arm CERT, with state police forces taking decisions on training and its working.

Another wing, which the group recommends, is a professional public relations unit to deal with dissemination of information about sensitive law and order issues.

The report through various episodes outlines the need to develop an early warning system, which will look into communal tension, and also pick on communal elements. Calling for a non-discriminatory SOP to handle communal riots, the report specifically says “only trusted and tested police officers, who have earned the trust of the community, should be placed in communally sensitive places”. (AMN)