NHRC launches Human Rights Cells in State police headquarters
In a move to make the police more responsive to the problems facing the people of this country, the National Human Rights Commission on 9 March 1999 launched a programme establishing human rights cells in the police headquarters of all States.
The Commission, which received amore than 40,000 complaints last year, and a total of about 1,20,000 since it was established in 1993, felt the need for better in-house management of complaints in the respective Police headquarters given the fact that a majority of complaints pertained to the conduct of the police itself, including acts of custodial violence, illegal detention and false implication in cases.
The dimensions of the problems pointed to the need for greater in-house vigilance and the creation of a system that would not only make the men in uniform more sensitive to human rights issues in handling cases, but also build people’s confidence in the force.
Addressing the gathering of State-level Director-Generals of Police and senior officers of the Paramilitary Forces, the Chief Guest, Justice M.N.Venkatachaliah, Chairperson, NHRC said that there was a pressing need for preserving human rights and dignity. The public disenchantment with institutions of democracy and self-governance was leading to "devastating results".
The Chairperson said that while, on the one hand, there was a diminishing sense of responsibility and an intensifying trend of self-aggrandisement among public servants, on the other hand, people were becoming ungovernable due to widespread disillusionment. Calling for restraint and self-control, Justice Venkatachaliah said that denouncing of the entire police force for its human rights record was not the solution. Instead, involving the police in promoting and protecting human rights could reverse the situation. He said that the people’s expectation of police conduct was rising and there was an increasing trend towards openness in evaluation. Highlighting the brighter side, he said, the intellectual calibre of police personnel had risen enormously in all ranks and a scientific temper was increasingly in evidence among senior officers.
"The composition of the police force has to be democratised to ensure that human rights no longer remain a contentious issue", he said, expressing confidence that the establishment of human rights cells in State police headquarters would work both to prevent and to remedy the abuse of human rights. "They will not be some kind of a Trojan horse", he assured.
Acknowledging that the novel step would go a long way in correcting the distortions found in the working of the police, the Commissioner of Delhi Police, Mr.V.N.Singh, urged the Commission to also simultaneously look into the causes for the police turning into human rights violators.
Earlier, Shri D.R.Karthikeyan NHRC, Director General (I) said that due to certain aberrant acts of members of the forces, who chose to take the law into their hands, the entire service got maligned. There was a need therefore to overhaul the system in order to ensure that, more than an individual’s action or inaction, the system itself prevented the committing or condoning of errors by individual members of the force. He stressed that the new set-up would not be a substitute for the present mode of dealing with public complaints pertaining to police action or inaction, and additional way of enhancing the responsiveness of the police to redressing human rights complaints.
HUMAN RIGHTS CELLS
The Human Rights Cell will be headed by an officer not below the rank of an Inspector General of Police or Additional Director General of Police who will be designated "IGP/ADGP (Human Rights)". This system will not disturb the arrangements made for a nodal authority, set up in the secretariat of State governments for interaction between the NHRC and the government on human rights issues, which encompasses non-police matters as well.
The appointment of "IGP/ADGP (Human Rights)" has particular value in the processing, or overseeing the processing, of complaints. If well utilised the cell could have both preventive and remedial value. The cell is not a substitute for, but an addition to, the present modes of dealing with complaints by the Commission. The NHRC will, in appropriate cases, continue to have complaints processed by seeking reports from Unit Officers directly and getting complaints investigated by the Investigation Division of the Commission itself.
Under the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993, the Commission can use the services of any agency of the Central or State government for investigation. The human rights cell will be one such agency whose services will be available to the Commission under Section 14(1) of the Act.
The Commission will be consulted while nominating the officer to head the human rights cell, but the officer would work under the control of the State.
The Commission, which received amore than 40,000 complaints last year, and a total of about 1,20,000 since it was established in 1993, felt the need for better in-house management of complaints in the respective Police headquarters given the fact that a majority of complaints pertained to the conduct of the police itself, including acts of custodial violence, illegal detention and false implication in cases.
The dimensions of the problems pointed to the need for greater in-house vigilance and the creation of a system that would not only make the men in uniform more sensitive to human rights issues in handling cases, but also build people’s confidence in the force.
Addressing the gathering of State-level Director-Generals of Police and senior officers of the Paramilitary Forces, the Chief Guest, Justice M.N.Venkatachaliah, Chairperson, NHRC said that there was a pressing need for preserving human rights and dignity. The public disenchantment with institutions of democracy and self-governance was leading to "devastating results".
The Chairperson said that while, on the one hand, there was a diminishing sense of responsibility and an intensifying trend of self-aggrandisement among public servants, on the other hand, people were becoming ungovernable due to widespread disillusionment. Calling for restraint and self-control, Justice Venkatachaliah said that denouncing of the entire police force for its human rights record was not the solution. Instead, involving the police in promoting and protecting human rights could reverse the situation. He said that the people’s expectation of police conduct was rising and there was an increasing trend towards openness in evaluation. Highlighting the brighter side, he said, the intellectual calibre of police personnel had risen enormously in all ranks and a scientific temper was increasingly in evidence among senior officers.
"The composition of the police force has to be democratised to ensure that human rights no longer remain a contentious issue", he said, expressing confidence that the establishment of human rights cells in State police headquarters would work both to prevent and to remedy the abuse of human rights. "They will not be some kind of a Trojan horse", he assured.
Acknowledging that the novel step would go a long way in correcting the distortions found in the working of the police, the Commissioner of Delhi Police, Mr.V.N.Singh, urged the Commission to also simultaneously look into the causes for the police turning into human rights violators.
Earlier, Shri D.R.Karthikeyan NHRC, Director General (I) said that due to certain aberrant acts of members of the forces, who chose to take the law into their hands, the entire service got maligned. There was a need therefore to overhaul the system in order to ensure that, more than an individual’s action or inaction, the system itself prevented the committing or condoning of errors by individual members of the force. He stressed that the new set-up would not be a substitute for the present mode of dealing with public complaints pertaining to police action or inaction, and additional way of enhancing the responsiveness of the police to redressing human rights complaints.
HUMAN RIGHTS CELLS
The Human Rights Cell will be headed by an officer not below the rank of an Inspector General of Police or Additional Director General of Police who will be designated "IGP/ADGP (Human Rights)". This system will not disturb the arrangements made for a nodal authority, set up in the secretariat of State governments for interaction between the NHRC and the government on human rights issues, which encompasses non-police matters as well.
The appointment of "IGP/ADGP (Human Rights)" has particular value in the processing, or overseeing the processing, of complaints. If well utilised the cell could have both preventive and remedial value. The cell is not a substitute for, but an addition to, the present modes of dealing with complaints by the Commission. The NHRC will, in appropriate cases, continue to have complaints processed by seeking reports from Unit Officers directly and getting complaints investigated by the Investigation Division of the Commission itself.
Under the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993, the Commission can use the services of any agency of the Central or State government for investigation. The human rights cell will be one such agency whose services will be available to the Commission under Section 14(1) of the Act.
The Commission will be consulted while nominating the officer to head the human rights cell, but the officer would work under the control of the State.