Opinion: Men in khaki should avoid abuse of power, safeguard citizens from excesses

As a human rights activist and a lawyer, I have constantly seen the vagaries of police actions and inactions that tantamount to excessive use or failure to use their power at the right time for the right causes. The malady is reaching unmanageable proportions despite several scrutinizing and accountable mechanisms.

Various reports depict police being corrupt, drunk, physically and verbally abusive while on duty. Conversely, citizens are taking law into their own hands, assaulting and abusing the men in khaki. These are very serious violations and are a blow on democracy, the very foundation of our polity.

Policing in our State with the growing population and a disproportionately low police – citizen ratio makes surveillance through CCTVs a must. The Madras High Court has recommended CCTVs inside the chambers of bureaucrats. This is definitely a welcome third eye protection and an effective crime investigation tool. Now, policemen are going to be fitted with body-cams. The camera will have a 120-degree lens, with infrared illuminations for night vision and other features to ensure that the cop is well-behaved and also records the incidents around giving no room for dubious depictions or flagrant violations.

While scientific ways to cope with certain areas of supervision such as installation of cameras are fine and welcome, there are other areas which have to be dealt with only on a personal front. Though there are repeated directions to the police to receive any compliant preferred to any police station irrespective of jurisdiction and transfer the same to the jurisdictional stations concerned, this is being followed only in the breach. The complainants are humiliated, shouted at and ridiculed and often treated like dirt. They are made to run from pillar to post to get even their complaint registered in the police stations’ Community Service Register or as a Local Petition, let alone a First Information Report except in cases of extreme violence - assault / attempt to murder / rape / murder and so on.

With the police being diverted from their regular duties for patrolling and VIP securities, there is hardly any policeman left in stations to attend to private citizens’ cries for protection and help. The All Women Police Stations’ staff are mostly busy with bandobust duties and find no time to attend to their mundane responsibilities. Shrill cries for revamping falls on the deaf ears of the State. It is high time the police training is focused on impressing upon the staff protection of rights of citizens with a balance in safeguarding the dignity of the police with a rededication to upholding our Constitutional directives. A number of judgments pronounced recently by the Madras High Court have clearly given directions to the police to avoid abuse of its powers and save citizens from police excesses in the form of unwarranted arrest and for registering complaints and so on. Hope they are adhered to in letter and spirit.