Delivering the inaugural address at 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, and Former Chief Justice of J& K averred “The police by the very nature of the system 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 accountable to the constitutional laws of the country and essentially its people.”
Justice Sareen said, “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 accountable.”
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.”