ABSTRACT
If we analyze the work of Indian police in contemporary circumstances, we can see that it devotes much of its time and energy for “finding offenders and getting them punished for specific deeds done in the past.”* This backward-looking logic famously distinguishes criminal law from the forwardlooking exercise of the police power of the State (e.g., taking preventive public health measures or differentiating urban space through zonal laws). However, the focus needs to shift from the backward-looking exercise to a forward-looking mode, thus enlarging its field of activity. In other words, police should work as a sort of “temporal-hinge” allowing the governance of the past to be articulated with the governance of the future.† Prevention and punishment are two different entities and should be treated separately. Gradually, the police should assume the former role and due priority should be given to that aspect.
