The Colonial Legacy Sustains: The Madras City Police Commissioner System (1947–1971)

In British colonial societies, regime security was sustained by police systems with strong elements of “political policing.” In India, when anti-British protests began, the police in heterogenous metropolitan cities emerged as the government’s strong arm, exuding authoritarianism and indiscriminate use of power. However, even after the disintegration of the British regime, the inherited police structures remained. Reviewing the period between 1947 and 1971 through archival records, published news reports, and personal interviews, this paper argues that in Madras city (Chennai) the commissioner system continued following its colonial antecedents even after independence, sustaining similar patterns of authority and bureaucracy, despite criticisms of jurisdictional conflict and abuse of power. The evidence suggests that interference from the government and political interest groups sustained the bureaucratic nature of the police and impacted independent decision-making, which rendered the commissioner system fragile and weak in handling a robust and turbulent post-colonial society.