REVISITING HUMAN RIGHTS AND POLICE

Respect for human rights lies at the heart of good governance. It is universally recognized that democracy cannot survive and sustain itself without respect for human rights and sincere efforts to promote them. In an egalitarian society, it is the responsibility of the State to protect and promote human rights. All State institutions have a duty to respect human rights, prevent human rights violations, and take active steps for the promotion of human rights. The role of the police is especially significant in this respect. The police have a duty to protect the legitimate interests of the community by ensuring safety and security of people. As protectors of the law, the police have both a legal duty and a moral obligation to uphold human rights standards and act strictly in accordance with the law and the spirit of our Constitution. The police are charged with the responsibility of maintaining order and enforcing laws. As a key agency of the Criminal Justice administration the Police is responsible for performing multi-faceted functions such as the prevention of crime, maintenance of law and order, conduct of investigation of crimes, production of under trials before the Courts and post sentence surveillance over the criminals etc.  Unfortunately, many a time, while discharging this duty, actions of the police conflict with human rights. Police officers are pressured to get quick results, often with unofficial guarantees that they may use any means possible to accomplish the task at hand.

Police is one of the means by which the State seeks to meet its obligation to protect some of the fundamental rights like ‘right to life, liberty and security of persons’, ‘right to fair trial’, ‘equal protection of laws’ etc. But the real picture discloses that human rights are violated by those who have the responsibility of their protection. It is a paradox that the police authority charged with protecting and promoting human rights as well as bringing to justice those who violate them, is also the entity that is most often the violator of human rights.

The police in India do not enjoy the confidence of the people and the public sees the police as an agency of the State that functions as an instrument of oppression. Violation of human rights by the police occurs partly because of the functions they have to perform and their manner of performance. Life and liberty, the most basic human rights are the main casualty. Human rights are violated by the police either in the name of security of state or maintenance of law and order.