19 Aug 2011|Noida | Amity University Campus, Sector-125 Noida
“Raise the level of education among Policemen” opines Justice Manmohan Sareen during a National Seminar on “Police Behaviour and Accountability
Delivering the inaugural address during the one day National seminar on Police Behaviour and Accountability organized by Amity Law School (II) at Amity University Campus, Sector – 125, Noida. Justice Manmohan Sareen, Lokayukta, National Capital Territory of Delhi, Former Chief Justice of J& K averred “The police by the very nature under which it functions is conditioned to serve the interests of the establishment. The harsh reality lies in the fact that for myriad reasons Indian police is unable to keep rule of law high on its priority therefore coercive measures should be taken to transform this dire situation for the better. The body of police forces in India ought to be held accountble to the constitutional laws of the country and essentially its people.”Justice Sareen informed “The Supreme Court of India has issued certain directives for States and Union territories with the objective of enhancing police accountability towards common man. At present, only about ten States complied with those directives laid down by the Supreme Court of India and a large number of others are still awaited to make a move in this direction.” “To make a visible difference in this context the situation calls for a concerted effort from all the other agencies of the Government along with the citizens of the country. It is greatly essential that public opinion is mobilized in support of police reforms. To alleviate the problem of the growing distrust of people in the police forces, the Government vitally needs to ferret out the inception and cause behind the deteriorating image of Indian Police forces and analyze this issue from an impartial angle to implement appropriate reforms, he added.” Sharing his views on the problem of lack of accountability of Indian Police to Law and why general public do not have faith in Police Justice Sareen suggested “level of education in Police services right from the grassroot level should be raised. There is great need to educate the Indian police officials with the latest scientific equipments of investigation apart from providing them with improved working conditions and salary structures in order to infuse in them the realization of accountability towards society and common people so as to make the phrase “with you for you always” – a reality.”
Mr. Prakash Singh, IPS, Padmashri, Former DG BSF, DGP UP & DGP Assam while addressing the gathering of policemen and judiciary cited the example of Punjab terrorism in which he said that Police was given a latitude in its functioning by which it was able to eliminate terrorism in Punjab. Today Criminal justice system is ineffective and Police should be allowed to function operate and deliver with out interference suggested Mr. Singh. Enumerating the difficulties faced by the Indian Police forces he informed that the primary factors affecting the behaviour of the Police are lack of recognition of their hard work, tough working conditions and miserable salary apart from various others. “Indian Police officers are one of the most qualified police forces in the world however despite their travail and hard work they fall a prey to pressures from the Executive due to which they fail to keep up their accountability to the masses.” “The solution lies in enforcing complete non interference from Politicians and Bureaucrats to ensure higher accountability of Police to common people”, suggested Mr. Singh.
Responding to the statement made by Mr. Prakash Singh “police today is afraid of transfers and suspensions which are used as a weapon in the form of punishment” Justice A.P Shah, Former Judge, Delhi, High Court said “at present there is growing dissatisfaction in people regarding the behaviour of the Police forces and they are reluctant to seek help from the Police anticipating chances of undue harassment. Sharing his views on the issue he added, “Police is not ready to change due to the threat of interferences. There is routine disobedience to procedural laws by the Police. Police assumes the role of jury which should not be the case and like every other institution should be held accountble.”
During his address Dr. Gokulish Sharma, Law Secretary to the Govt. of U.P, Lucknow referred to the concept of ‘Ramrajya’-(Ideal State), where everybody in the society assumes due responsibility to contribute to its well being therefore there would be no need for a separate body (referring to Police) to be appointed for the purpose of maintaining law and order within the society to be an ideal state. However he said “Till the time this sense of responsibility is engraved in everyone who forms the society, there will continue to be crimes followed by the necessity of Police or a body to look after the law and order of the society. At present Police have more and more challenges in front of them due to the growing rate of crimes in the country, therefore in order to ensure efficient performance by the Policemen, Government should take care of training them with latest scientific techniques of investigation and provide them with other facilities.”
Wishing great success to the National seminar Dr. Ashok K Chauhan, Founder President, Amity Group said that this seminar aims at highlighting the problems and issues related to police behaviour. The objective of this initiative by Amity is to explore the various ways of having people – friendly police as well as to reframe the basic working of Police in consonance with the democratic aspirations of the country. “Law professionals need to spherehead creativity in their functioning and budding legal professionals should learn to interpret the reactions of the judges in the court and accordingly formulate their arguments. Amity stands poised to train its Law students with the nuances of court craft, averred Dr. Chauhan during the seminar.
Sharing his views about the topic of the seminar Mr. Om Veer Singh, (Participant) Sub Inspector, Noida Sector -49 said “the pressure from the executive greatly factors in the behaviour of policemen and such seminars are very helpful as they are an initiative to find a way to establish friendly relations between Policemen and society.”
The inaugural session was followed by informative technical sessions and insightful paper presentations on various stimulating themes including "Police & Cyber Crime" - by Mr. S.D. Mishra, IPS, DCP, Economic Offence Wing, “Police Behavior & Accountability" - by Mr. Dinesh Vashistha, IPS, I.G, Meerut Region, (Retd.), “Police whether Condemned or Commended”- by Prof. G.P Tripathi, Director School of Law, MATS University, Raipur, Chattisgarh, “Police Community Engagement in Australia:What can India Learn from Australia Model” - by Mr. Kamal Kant Dash, Ph.D student in Monash University, Australia, “Need for Prosecution in Indian Criminal Justice System”- by Mr. Shams Khwaja, Advocate., Constitutional Law Laboratory, Delhi, “Police Accountability” - by Dr. Mohd. Asad Malik, Asst. Professor, Faculty of Law, Jamia Millia Islamia, "Police Accountability in India" – by Dr. Surinder Singh, Executive Officer, ICAI, New Delhi, “Police Accountability: Need of Reform in India”- by Mr. Vikram Kapoor, Senior Advocate,(Delhi High Court) etc apart from many others.
Presenting his paper on “Police and Internal Security" Mr. Rajeev Ranjan, IPS, DCP, Delhi informed that the reason behind the problem of internal security is not inefficiency of the Police forces, rather it is due to the chronic issues of regionalism, communalism, existence of Sub National groups in India. In order to solve this issue all Government agencies should come forward to eliminate the inequalities of the society and thereby do away with the internal security threats of the country.
Making his presentation on “Crime and Criminal Tracking Network” Inspector Sukhamrit Singh, No. TP/135, Police Punjab Chandigarh, Patiala informed that at present Police are provided with modern techniques of investigation such as mobile tracking, blood stain patent analysis, electronic surveillance etc to enhance efficiency in the services of Police forces.
“The functioning of police forces has improved by leaps and bounds in the recent times due to the various facilities provided by Government and this will better the image of the Police forces in the near future and improve its relation with the common man” said Mr. Anant Deo, S.P.City, Noida sharing his views on “Community Policing"
Sharing her views on “Police Behaviour towards Women Victims” –Ms. Benu Sehgal, Vice President, Great India Place, Noida said that any man or Police who have witnessed domestic violence during childhood tend to consider it to be a normal phenomena in the family. Such Policemen tend to pay little or no heed to complaints made by women and often go to the extent of refusing to lodge an FIR of the same. It is the need of the hour to change this mindset and reset the minds of such Policemen that this behaviour is not to be accepted under any circumstances and instead of pacifying the women, victims of domestic violence, the policemen should take necessary measures to eliminate violence against women from the society completely.
Over sixty police officials from all across India participated in the day long seminar. Also present during the seminar were Maj. Gen K Jai Singh, Vice Chancellor, Amity University Uttar Pradesh, Justice S.N Kapoor, Former Judge Delhi, High Court, Justice Rajesh Tandon, Vice Chairman, Amity Institute of Cyber Law & Cyber Crime, Former Judge, Uttrakhand High Court & Former Chairperson, Cyber Appellate Tribunal, Government of India, New Delhi, Mr. R.P Singh, I.P.S, DG, Amity Institute of Training and Development for Police and Security Personnel, Maj. Gen Nilendra Kumar, Director, Amity Law School (ALS) apart from Heads of various Institutions of Amity