Human Rights and Police
- Part 1 -

By Jinine Laishramcha *

Introduction

Human Rights are something we cannot live without. Only by the virtue of being human, we all are equal in dignity and rights, each of us is worth of being honored and living with full enjoyment of life, liberty, equality and dignity no matter how one's race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status are distinct.

These rights are build based on first - Universality which says we all are equal in dignity and rights irrespective of race, religion, creed, language, geographical condition etc.; second - Democracy that implies human rights and related legal instruments should be of the consent and the mandate of the people; and third Guaranty that fixes the obligation that human rights are given by the State or Government and so is the main responsibility of the protection is should be of the government. Human rights involve a notion of a contract between the State and its Citizens that encoded in its constitution and other legal instruments for protection and deliverance.

These two key points, Guaranty and Contract are the enormous binding forces in the policing domain. It is our common understanding that principal objective of having the system called police is to ensure all the members of our society safety with a sense of environment of secure.

Police are here to protect our lives and property. For this reason to enable them to carry out their duty effectively they have been given some responsibility and some powers. But that does not mean that the police are above the law. They are in fact bound by the law and have to act in accordance with the law. However in order to ensure that police do not abuse the powers given to them it is necessary and rather important for us to know our rights vis-à-vis the police.

Police are important building block of the criminal justice system that supposed to be worked in accordance with the rule of law. The credibility of the criminal justice system depends on the relative strength or weakness of the laws and procedures established for the police, the prosecution and the court system. The police are an arm of the State vested with the primary responsibilities of law enforcement and prevention of crimes against the State and private citizens.

Enforcement entails taking notice of criminal infractions of the law as soon as they occur, ascertaining the facts of the case, apprehending the culprit who is subsequently presented by the prosecuting agency of the court, where the judge, considers the evidence brought before him during trial and decides whether the person so charged, is guilty or not. If found guilty the culprit is awarded punishment as laid down in law with adequate opportunities provided for appeal against the decision at a higher court.

International Human Rights Principle and Police

The new concept for human rights that largely related to the police function as controlling iron bar is of the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen of 1789; the following some basic points are ascribed to the declaration as the original philosophy of present human rights.

• All men are born and remain free and equal in their rights.
• All men are equal before the law.
• All men should have the freedom from arrest.
• All men are innocent until they are proved guilty, etc.

In addition to this, the following Amnesty International's 10 point programme specifically for the India to combat torture by police and security forces.

1. Adopt an official policy to protect human rights.
2. Investigate impartially all allegations of torture.
3. Bring perpetrators to justice.
4. Strengthen safeguards against torture.
5. Inform detainees of their rights.
6. Train the police and security forces.
7. Compensate the victims.
8. Provide torture victims with medical treatment and rehabilitation.
9. Investigate the causes and patterns of torture.
10. Strengthen India's International human rights commitment.

In the discussion the following articles of the International Standard and Legal Instruments of the United Nations and Indian Constitution is one important piece of useful information for a good policing aspiration.

System and Social Influence

The concept of Human Rights, though the British claim that they knew from the time of their Magna Carta (1215), were to incorporated in the Indian Police Act, 1861 and as such the accountability of the police for human rights violations was not at all a concern for the English at the time when they drafted the Indian Police Act in 1861.

When India became independent, Most of the Indian States drafted their State Police Acts and even there, the experts who drafted the Acts was more concerned with the drafting of the Acts in tune with the colonial Indian police Act rather than doing the same keeping in mind the principles of the human rights as guaranteed by Indian Constitution and police accountability.

After India embarrassed democracy, the politicians started misusing the police, they have seen enough how the British misused the Indian police for their advantage for narrow party or personal benefit which in due course is said to have demoralized the police service causing serious distortions in their professional efficiency.

The human rights unfriendly behavior of the policemen most of the time, caused by the intrinsic character of the individuals like the aggressive and arrogant nature. Sometimes it is considered that due to such personal interest the individuals choose this profession. However one broad social factor to be talked about is that the policemen are also the son of the soil, the breed of our corrupt society and a part of failed system; their negative action and nature are derived from the society itself.

Sometimes in order to avoid the victimisation from the powerful politicians, senior officers and their families and friends, the policemen prefer to breach the law and turn on bribery and favoritism. Policemen are dissatisfied on many counts. They work in conditions which abhor to many. The promotion prospects of middle and lower levels of policemen are far from being satisfied, they are statutorily required to work for twenty-four hours.

Police Behaviour

Status threatening : Many police officers of the General Executive Branch of the police service want to be in the field enjoying territorial jurisdiction, In other words, they want to be the DGP of the State, IG of the zone, DIG of the range, SP of the district, Dy SP (DIG) of the sub-division, Inspector of a circle and sub inspector of a police station. Such postings give them status, position and money. Usually, it is these officers/men who are in Police or above in territorial jurisdiction are accused of human rights violations. One important reason is that have more contact with the people outside.

Why do the officers/men in the operational field of police administration struggle so carelessly and sometimes so senselessly to accomplish more and more things within no time or involve themselves in more and more human rights violations? Why do they keep a detinue in half or full nakedness in their custodial facility? Why do they resort informal arrests of people involved in crimes?—or arrest innocent people? Why do they threaten suspects with epithets and by showing that torture will be used against them.

Sometimes, it is because their position really demands superhuman achievement for them to remain in that post, for that, scientific methods of crime and prolonged investigation may not be of any help. Sometimes, it is because they are pressured by several forces which are within or outside the Department. Politicians may intervene in the matter. Sometimes, it is because the field level officers have little or no scientific information. In ignorance, they may resort to human rights unfriendly approaches.

There may be many other reasons for the police officers/men to be human rights unfriendly in their approaches. A particular field-level posting brings fame, name and fortune for many in police department and they do not want to lose their position and status by remaining always human rights friendly in their work and functionings.

Researchers have proved that in many police officers/men who are human rights unfriendly suffer from a hidden lack of self-esteem. They know they are less esteemed in public. People talk many things about all police officers in the jurisdiction. For example, if a police officer engages in torturing suspect, people talk about it. If a police officer is corrupt, then the common man talks about it in tea shops, parks and even it their dinner at home, If a police officer is indecent to woman, the womenfolk discuss it among themselves.

This is to say that many police officers who walk "high" amidst people in their jurisdiction have uneasiness in their human conscience. They know what they do not retain their status and position in their vulnerabilities and weaknesses. This is to say that they suffer from low self-esteem. They behave in a human rights unfriendly way just because they want to please people who retain them in the post.

The people who retain police officers, at present, in their posts may be politicians who again suffer from lack of self-esteem and deterioration of value conscien-ce. These police officers who are politician-friendly or servile make all attempts to please them and in so doing they violate human right. The studies show that so long as police officers cling to politician, to the affluent, to the influential in society, it is just not possible to have human rights friendly police service. Human rights frie-ndly police may be a myth.

Besetting by Insecurities : How many police officers who employ third degree met-hods during interrogation do so just to administer justice to the criminal? As International Legal Instruments advocate and India is endeavoring for a justice system and in such a system, there is no scope for the use of torture during interrogation. If torture is employed, it indicates that the system is not promoting justice rather encourages unjust "justice". "What will happen to me and to my position if I do not prove this crime"? This is what forces many police officers to employ coercive tactics during interrogation.

False Ego-concepts and Status threatening : Who is a police officer? The answer is simple. A police officer is one who is to protect the human rights of others. How can a police officer function conscientiously if he is not human rights-friendly? A police officer will experience uneasiness of his 'human conscience' whenever he becomes human rights-unfriendly. Some do not have such uneasiness, because they have false ego-concepts.

They think that they can do so for ensuring social welfare. We may call it ethical subjectivism. Protection of violating human rights is a legitimate and grave duty for police officers/men who have responsible concern over people's life and property. If they do not show such responsibility, it shows that there is the defective formation of ego-concepts. Human rights-unfriendly police officers/men are those who suffer from defective ego-concepts and consequent status threatening.

I would like to endorse some commonly accepted facts put up by one NGO, Common Wealth Human Rights Initiative.

• Poor performance on the professional front combined with misuse of power by the police are the broad factors that contribute to the poor image.
• Political interference is the most important reason for misuse of power by police. Priority is needed to establish mechanisms to insulate the police against the illegitimate outside interference. Provide adequate resources, infrastructure, better pay scales and better service condition will improve the status of police.
• The three most prominent features of the ugly face of the police man in India are his brutality, corruption and partiality. Police partiality is a cause of very serious concern. It goes against the very fundamental of the police philosophy, which requires the police to function impartially as an agent of law, unaffected by caste or communal consideration or the status and riches of political parties concerned. The philosophy of police neutrality is embedded in the concept of rule of law. If the police are not neutral, the rule of law gets devalued. It is extremely important for the police to design strategies which would help in winning public faith in police neutrality. Some psychological test should be prescribed to ensure that persons with wrong attitudes are eliminated in the very beginning itself. There should be constant periodic screening and weeding out of wrong types from the force.
• The argument given by some policemen that the police are unjustly singled out for corruption when other departments are equally corrupt is not very convincing. The police are armed with tremendous powers and even minor misuse of these powers can create greater damage than the harm caused by even larger incidence of corruption in other department of the government. The stigma of corruption attached to the police has the effect of undermining public faith in the effectiveness of the police to do their job in a just and effective manner. Nexus between money power and political power inevitably generated unhealthy contacts down the line between different levels of administration on one side and the other. Mala fide exercise of power at different levels in the police is induced by such links. The problem of police corruption cannot, therefore, be satisfactorily tackled unless these links are broken.
• The police admit that they usually use brutal methods. They consider lack of skill in investigation work, pressure of work and desire for quick results as the three most important reasons for use of third degree methods. They also find it very effective to do so. The majority of them prefer occasionally using third degree methods for successful investigations. The needs to improve investigations skills provide forensic science facilities at the police station level and make judicial inquiry mandatory in cases of custodial death and grievous hurt has been stressed to reduce use of third degree methods by police.

To be continued ...

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* Jinine Laishramcha wrote this article for The Sangai Express
The writer is a human rights defender; MA Human Rights, IIHR, New Delhi; Certificate Course in Conflict Analysis, USIP, Washington DC and International Humanitarian Law Training, ICRC, Geneva and can be reached at lcjinine(at)gmail(dot)com
This article was webcasted on April 30 2011.

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