Human Rights are not merely a set of written lines, but strict standards that are available to each and every member of the country, regardless of their gender, religion, caste, creed or any other grounds that they could probably be discriminated against.
We, being the citizens of India, are fortunate enough to have a Constitution that not only provides us with satisfactory rights, but also keeps a check on violation of those rights. When we talk about the Police Authorities, we find that they are basically the government officials that are appointed to safeguard the Constitutional rights. They are meant to protect the law and order of our country. They are supposed to be our “protectors,” in brief. But what do we do when our protectors turn the trigger at us — harming our existence, and of course, our Constitution? Will it be surprising if you are told that various committees and commissions, including the Human Rights Commission, the media and the general public claim that there’s no honest, professional and efficient Police force in our country? Will you be shocked or will you be ashamed; or would you simply nod your head in affirmation of this fact? Yes, it is a fact. It is true. Police brutality is one of the biggest and most evident examples of this fact. According to a “Status of Policing in India Report, 2019” by Common Cause — a civil society organisation that advocates Human Rights — three out of four policemen believe that police is justified in being violent towards the criminals. What more shocking is the fact that those who affirm to violence are mostly postgraduates and have had a higher education as compared to those who disagree with the justification of violence. According to the same report, 247 people died in the police custody between 2016 and 2019. Who do we blame — The government, the policemen or the common public? A source says that 50% of the public approves of police violence towards criminal, including those who haven’t yet been proven guilty, or are accused, in short. Police say that most of the statistical deaths occurred as a result of illness or suicide, but the criminals’ families strongly believe that they died due to police torture. There are four main rights that one under arrest can easily entertain fearlessly. We shall talk about them one by one. The first right is “Right to know the grounds of arrest.” By no means, can a police officer detain or arrest anybody without providing a legitimate reason for doing so. The detainee has the right to be informed about the basis on which he is being detained. By doing that, the Supreme court says, he can easily clear any misunderstanding or confusion on the part of the authorities that performed the arrest. The second right is “Right to consult a lawyer.” The accused is legible for contacting the lawyer of his own choice while under arrest. Nobody can deprive him or prohibit him from doing the same. The third right the accused can exercise is “Right to be produced before a magistrate.” Within 24 hours of arrest, the authorities are liable to present the accused before a magistrate. If not done so, he is allowed to question the authorities and ask to be given the chance to seek judicial help. The fourth rights says that the accused has the “Right to be released from the custody beyond 24 hours of arrest, if not produced before a magistrate.” A detainee is to be kept under custody only for 24 hours and not more than that, even if the investigation is not complete within that time period. If done otherwise, the police is basically following an illegal practice. What we observe is that these rights are generally violated by police officials. Many cases reported show that the police keep the accused under detention even after twenty four hours of arrest, without producing them before a magistrate. They are inclined towards torturing them physically or mentally to seek confessions, and as the aforementioned survey says, they think it is “alright” to do so.
Cases like fake encounter and corrupted arrest are common and widely heard of. Who is responsible? Us, I believe. We approve the authorities for their “judicial” attitude and actions. The society approves them to torture the criminals — including the accused and the convicted. Because of the way our entertainment industry portrays the policemen to be through their visual films, we have created an image of how police need to control their power, which is wrong. We are motivating such practices and depriving our own selves of the constitutional rights. Police take unconstitutional practices and go to the extent of defying our Right to life. Juveniles are tortured, women are raped under custody, fair investigation is ignored, the criminals who aren’t proved guilty (and are therefore innocent as per the constitution) are brutally beaten up to speed up the interrogation, reputed people are handcuffed, even when it’s not needed, causing harm to their dignity, and what not! What do we do? We have to push the boundaries and raise awareness amongst people about where all of this is going wrong, and the apparent image in their minds about how a police should work must be given a reality check. The police must seek higher quality training, better skill development grounding must be provided to them, they should be allowed to exercise their power and control effectively, but must also be kept under vigilance by higher authorities; the working and living conditions of lower police personnel should be improved and the police should be liable to protect the law instead of protecting the government. Lot of dysfunctions in our country can be rectified if the police personnel improve for better, and we, being the part of this society, must help in the swift enforcement of this improvement by cooperating and coordinating with the authorities, only then the hope to change the country for better can be validated.
By:Himanshu Chauhan , Law student
