The Tripura Police-a rich and uniquely researched history penned by Pradyot Bhaumik
Sekhar Datta
December 26, 2025
Policing since the earliest days of human societal evolution has invariably been a thankless job, evoking appreciation and antipathy among people with conflicting natures and persuasions. Exactly when the concept of policing a society or community of people emerged is yet to be ascertained but Pradyot Bhaumik , Tripura’s eminent police officer (TPS-Grade-I) and former vice principal of KTD Singh State Police Academy, has provided an answer to the ticklish question in a cogent and philosophical manner in his research work “The Tripura Police-a Unique History of Policing through the ages”. Bhaumik’s research , based on authentic sources marshalled by painstaking effort, has revealed to him that the concept of policing emerged with the moral awakening in human society and the sense of right or wrong at the dawn of civilisation. In early human societies, designated by Karl Marx as ‘primitive communism’, the task of policing in an embryonic form was performed by elders of the community or their entrusted people but the system gradually evolved and developed into newer and organised forms as societies across the world-not only in the tiny speck of land known as Tripura-progressed to ‘slave society’ and ‘feudal oligarchy’ before reaching the stages of capitalism after a brief socialist interregnum.
In his work of love reflected in his research volume Pradyot Bhaumik has dwelt on this at length and traced the evolution of policing, specially in the context of Tripura. How the tiny state of Tripura, nestled in the secluded obscurity of hills and lush greenery in a quiet corner of peninsular India, witnessed demographic changes since the pre-Manikya times till the stormy days of the late twentieth century is recorded in this outstanding research work, unmatched till now by any other book. Even though the streamlined and hierarchical British policing system had come into being since the implementation of Indian Police Act in 1861 passed by the British parliament, in Tripura organised policing system had commenced with the appointment of Ananda Mohan Guha , a man from undivided Bengal as first SP and police chief.
It was a dually designated job that continued in more streamlined form since the year 1901 when Purna Chandra Roy was appointed as revenue police superintendent. This system of vesting dual responsibilities in the police chiefs continued through decades until the appointment of a fully designated IGP in the year 1965 and then a DGP in the year 1987. There had been many twists and turns in the appointments and nature of responsibilities vested in the police chiefs and his juniors over the pre and post-merger decades in Tripura but the entire evolution of the complex process has been meticulously researched and put on record in Pradyot Bhaumik’s research work which deserves to form part of the state’s authentic history also. A gold mine of original and basic inputs for future historical researchers indeed !
Apart from this, the tenures of two eminent individuals of Tripura, late Kamini Kumar Singh and late Hrishikesh Debbarma (Bhikku Thakur) as top-notch police personalities also find reference in the book. The challenges faced and successfully overcome by Tripura police during princely rule and in post-merger Tripura come out in sharp relief from Pradyot Bhaumik’s painstaking research based on authentic documentation. In the chapter on insurgency days Pradyot has highlighted the casualties suffered by Tripura policemen with the documented information that in the 1947-1961 period Tripura police had suffered only 6 casualties while performing active duties but during the stormy days of more intense and widespread insurgency later between 1967 and 2012 the casualty figure spiralled to 361.
Pradyot’s enlightening research work penned on the methodology of subaltern history that bases on facts and circumstances from below, in stead of the more conventional elitist approach based on rules and governance of kings, ‘Sultans’ and ‘Badshahs’ is a landmark work that may richly contribute to authoring authentic history of Tripura in the modern era since the middle of the 19th century. Published by Calcutta’s BJ Foundation and printed sleekly on glossy pape over 560 pages by Tanmay Roychowdhury of Agartala, ‘The Tripura Police-a Unique History of Policing Through the Ages’ was released by renowned linguist and former vice chancellor of Rabindra Bharati University Dr Pabitra Sarkar on December 4 while at Agartala Chief Justice (retired) of Orissa high court, Subhasis Talapatra unveiled it in a programme at Agartala Press Club on December 13. Pradyot’s labour of love has already hit the stands and is likely prove a roaring success in terms of acceptability in the upcoming Agartala Book Fair beginning from January 2 next year. A careful reading of any good book leaves a lingering taste of delicious reflection in any serious reader’s mind and Pradyot Bhaumik’s labour of love epitomises this to a full extent. Pradyot’s remarkable contribution to the litany of books on police functioning and history reminds one of the celebrated work of former policeman, Michael Cover titled as ‘Behind the Badge-a Policeman’s Legacy’.
(Tripurainfo)
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