Police As Protectors of Human Rights

Police As
Protectors Of
Human Rights
Introduction
• Ensuring the safety of the life and property of its citizens is one of the basic
responsibilities of the government in all societies. It is by establishing and
maintaining an efficient and an effective police force that the government
provides a feeling of security to its citizens.
• In exercising proper control and superintendence over the police, holding

them accountable for the various acts of commission and omission and
bringing them close to the community, therefore, become issues of utmost
importance in a democratic country.
• Police have to play a vital role as the protector of Human Rights. And the role
of the police is to maintain the law and order in the country. Police work
encompasses preventive and protective roles in the course of maintaining law
and order.
• Police should give priority in protecting the rights of the vulnerable section of
the society.
Police And Human Rights Relation
• As a product of the society, policemen also display the same characteristics manifest
in our society. It is not without reason that the quality of police in any society is
generally taken today as an index of the quality of civil life in that society.
• A trained force, police are expected to be a shade better than the general
population. But, this is not happening. If human rights violations by the police in
India is largely linked to criminality in the force. This is a serious situation that
needs urgent attention from the part of the administrators. It reveals gross
inadequacies in the selection and training of policemen.
• In general, however, people's ambivalence towards the police and their negative
opinions of police work and behavior come mainly from a lack of understanding of
the nature of police work .
• In the annual reports of National Human rights Commission it was found that there
are a number of allegations of human rights violations leveled against the police.
Police statistics
• Total Crime Reported with the Police : 6.1
Million annually
• Crime reporting per 10,000 of population :63
• Total strength of Civil Police: 1,012,000
• Total strength of Armed Police: 3,63,000
• Civil Police per 100 square kilometer of area :
43.41
• Total women –Police of all ranks : 20,500
• Total number of Forensic Science
laboratories in the country : 105
• Annual Expenditure on Police in India :
0.6%of GDP
Disciplinary Procedures
• The police force, is an institution established for specific reasons, which then
shape the behaviour and attitude of those within it. In many Asian countries the
police force was created during the colonial era.
• The current government also confers arbitrary power to the police on the pretext
of maintaining law and order, thereby legitimizing human rights violations.
• The use of such archaic mandates together with conflicting political stances is the
reason that policing institutions throughout Asia are lacking in discipline. Unless
this breakdown in discipline is addressed, little can be done to improve the
effective functioning of the police, as well as regain public confidence in the
institution.
• The following issues, which have concern with the police and their functioning,
that are based on the National Police Commission report:
a) Political pressure on the police officers.
b) Frequent threat of transfer by politicians
c) District police taking instructions from Headquarters for every small decision.
d) Lack of leadership in the police.
e) After communal riots, there are always some police officers, against whom
action is taken and others go Scot-free.
The effects on human rights
• Most people have heard the argument that respect for human rights is somehow
opposed to effective law enforcement. And effective law enforcement means to
capture the criminal. A tendency to use overwhelming force in controlling
demonstrations, physical pressure to extract information from detainees, or
excessive force to secure an arrest can be observed now and then.
• In fact, violations of human rights by police only make the already challenging task
of law enforcement more difficult.
• The effects of police human rights violations are multi-fold:

a) They erode public confidence
b) They hamper effective prosecutions in court
c) They isolate the police from the community
d) They result in the guilty avoiding sentence, and the innocent being punished
e) They force police agencies to be reactive, rather than preventive in their approach
to crime
f) They bring agents and institutions of public authority into disrepute
Respecting Human Rights can Help The Police?
• Respect for human rights by law enforcement agencies actually enhances the
effectiveness of those agencies. Where human rights are systematically respected, police
officers have developed professionalism in their approaches to solving and preventing
crime and maintaining public order. In this sense, respect for human rights by police is,
in addition to being a moral, legal and ethical imperative, also a practical requirement
for law enforcement.
• When the police are seen to respect, uphold and defend human rights:
a) Public confidence is built and community cooperation fostered
b) Legal prosecutions are successful in court.
c) Police are seen as part of the community, performing a valuable social function
d) The fair administration of justice is served, and, consequently, confidence in the system
e) An example is set for respect for the law by others in the society
f) Police are able to be closer to the community, and, therefore, in a position to prevent
and solve crimes through proactive policing
g) Support is elicited from the media, from the international community, and from higher
authorities
h) A contribution is made to the peaceful resolution of conflicts and complaints.
Field units :
The number of field units at different levels in the country was:
Number of police units
Zones 64
Ranges 157
Districts 635
Sub divisions 1481
Circles 2452
Police station 12248
Police out - posts 6980

26/11 mumbai attack
• 26 November 2008 , the unforgettable day in the history of India and an
unimaginable day for mumbaikars. The day when the financial capital was
attacked by terrorist, when Mumbai lost its top officers.
• The battle which last for more than 50 hrs was won with the help of NSG
commandoes. There was a massive loss in this win as a total of 173 people including
the top cops Vijay Salaskar ( Senior Police Inspector and encounter specialist ),
Ashok Kamte (Mumbai Police Commissioner), Hemant Kerkare (Joint
commissioner ATS), Major Unnikrishnan were killed by the terrorist.
• Our policeman can still be seen holding a wooden stick to fight against terrorism
whereas the terrorist are high-tech. They use Ak 47, satellites phone and we still
don’t have high-tech instruments to fight against them.
• Hope that the people who scarifies their life for the country and the innocent people
who died in the attack get justice some day.
Our heroes
The Role Of Police In Protection Of Human
Rights
The Characteristics of the human rights. He said that human rights by nature
are Universal, Inalienable, Undivided, Uniform, Fundamental, Developmental
and Progressive.
The role played by the Police could play a positive role in the protection of
human rights in the following manner:
• To contribute to the liberty, equality and fraternity in human affairs.

• To help and reconcile freedom with security and uphold the rule of law.
• To uphold and protect human rights of the citizens.
• To build up faith of the people in their protection of human rights by the state.
• To investigate, detect and prevent the offence.
• To deal with the minor child, in crisis.
• To accept public service is as a mission
• To understand the human rights in true spirit and uphold them.
PROBLEMS OF POLICE
OFFICERS
• The criticism, that people who talk about Human Rights do not understand the
problems of the police, just as all other citizens have and the situation in which the
police work also have to be looked into
• There is lot of political interference from the top, in the functioning of the police,
which the people do not realise.
• Media should also play its role here by highlighting and appreciating good
investigation and work done by the police and not point out only the loopholes of
the police functioning.
• Stress was given on the fact that, all police commission reports, right from 1958,
says that; general public does not consider police as a friend. There is a difference
between respect for the police and fear for the police. What the citizens have for the
police today is fear.
• Another issue was the role played by police in times of communal violence; the
general belief among people is that police also act in a biased manner.
Conclusion
• Efforts should be made to improve the investigative capacity of the police and their
confidence.
• Training should be intensified in scientific and technical investigations and

adequate funds should be provided for the same.
• Seminars on the interaction of the police with various Government functionaries

like judges Department of women & child welfare etc, on various.
• Emphasis to be given on public –police relation.
• Ways and means to improve the efficiency of the police in protection of Human
rights.
What is needed is a friendly communication between police and the common man.
The police officers have lots of legal powers to control the human rights violations
and so it is there responsibility to protect human rights without succumbing to any
kind of pressures like that of the media, public and the politicians

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Police As

• In exercising proper control and superintendence over the police, holding

• The effects of police human rights violations are multi-fold:

Number of police units

Sub divisions 1481

Police station 12248

Police out - posts 6980

• To contribute to the liberty, equality and fraternity in human affairs.

• Training should be intensified in scientific and technical investigations and

• Seminars on the interaction of the police with various Government functionaries

• Emphasis to be given on public –police relation.

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