NHRC Chairperson calls for Autonomy and Accountability of the Police

The Chairperson of the National Human Rights Commission, Justice J.S.Verma, has called for autonomy of the Police Force for its effective functioning. He said that independence in the functioning of the Police is as important and necessary as the independence of the Judiciary. However, accountability was a sine qua non and went hand-in-hand with this independence. Independence without accountability was not democracy and enforcement of accountability was necessary to prevent misuse of power. Justice Verma was speaking at a seminar on “Police Autonomy and Accountability” organized by the Institute of Social Sciences.

Speaking about the administration of Criminal Justice, Justice Verma said that the role of Police was as important as that of the Judiciary for proper implementation of the Rule of Law. As the principal law enforcement agency, this role of the police formed the bedrock of democracy. Hence, independence from without and from within was necessary for the discharge of its function. The continuing absence of this assurance revealed a big chink in the country’s democratic set-up. The Chairperson lamented the absence of political will in this regard. Highlighting the efforts the former Union Home Minister, Shri Inderjit Gupta, he said that except for Shri Gupta’s lone effort in bringing about changes in the police system, lack of political will and erosion of police culture have become the cause for a worsening situation. The police force today is seen as an instrument of oppression in the hands of the power structure instead of being the ‘protector’ of people, it is meant to serve.

Justice Verma called for an urgent need to reverse his trend and institutionalize a mechanism which would purge the police force of all its infirmities and convert it into an institution commanding the highest respect, alongside the Judiciary because both were equally important for the implementation of the rule of law and for the prevalence of democracy. He also called for the restructuring of the police force and its constitution in a manner, which ensured greater effectiveness. The mechanism for its recruitment and control should be statutory and accountable and within the permissible areas should be such as to exclude any extraneous consideration or influence at any level.

Emphasising the need for Guidelines, Justice Verma said that Guidelines must be framed to cover all areas of discretion as their existence enabled enforcement of accountability. Discretionary areas were accepted features of the “Rule of Law”. But to reduce the scope of arbitrariness, guidelines were very necessary. Only in this manner, the constitutional scheme for revolving the concept of “Republican Democracy” could be achieved.

Among others, who addressed the seminar were Dr. George Mathew, Director, Institute of Social Sciences, Shri N.N. Vohra, former Home Secretary, Shri Prakash Singh, former Director General of BSF, Shri Maxwell Pereira, Joint Commissioner of Police, Delhi.