During British rule in India police was used as an instrument not only to maintain law and order but also to preserve and protect their rule against any kind of assault. This approach quite often resulted in placing the police in an adversarial role against the people, particularly those who led the struggle for independence. This put policemen in a piquant situation since while they owed fealty to the British who employed them, they also loved their motherland. After independence there was a role reversal for the police who had to make an adjustment from shedding the role as protectors of foreign rule in India to serving the people in a newly established democratic polity. The transition was not smooth and easy since from a position of being used to untrammelled exercise of authority, the police had to adjust to accept being held accountable to the people for all their actions and face stringent criticism for real or imagined wrongs committed by them.

The author Shri BN Lahiri was the first directly recruited Indian, to join the Indian (Imperial) Police (I.P.) in U.P. in 1922. He had the unique distinction of serving under British rule in U.P. till 1947 and then to head the police force in the state as the first Indian Inspector General of Police after independence from 1947 to 1953. He has skillfully narrated his experiences and certain incidents which provide an insight into how the police functioned during British rule and then of the transformation of its role that occurred in the initial years post-independence. Shri Lahiri has been quite candid in detailing instances of high handedness and brazen misdemeanors by policemen both before and after independence. The book also gives an account of the events that occurred in 1949 concerning the dispute related to the Ram temple at Ayodhya – an issue which remains very much alive even today. There are very pertinent observations about the factors that have resulted in the deterioration of the law and order position and increase in crimes committed by anti-social elements. The entire narration makes absorbing reading and should be immensely useful for the students of history, administrators, politicians, police leadership and to those interested in the growth and development of the machinery of law and order in our country.