Human Rights and Police

S. Shubhang

1^st Semester, Ploitical Sciences, Hidyatullah National Law University, Raipur (C.G).

ABSTRACT:

People cannot take the law into their own hands. The rationale behind this reasoning is that the state is present to protect its citizens and to create an environment for realization of human rights. The primary institution on which the state relies for the maintenance of law and order is the police. In order to achieve this objective, the police are empowered to use limited coercive power thereby creating conditions for realization of human rights.

INTRODUCTION:

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood. Human rights are "rights and freedoms to which all humans are entitled". The modern conception of human rights developed in the aftermath of the Second World War, in part as a response to the Holocaust, culminating in its adoption by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948.

Fundamental Rights is a charter of rights contained in the Constitution of India. It guarantees civil liberties such that all Indians can lead their lives in peace and harmony as citizens of India. These include individual rights common to most liberal democracies, such as equality before law, freedom of speech and expression, freedom of association and peaceful assembly, freedom to practice religion, and the right to constitutional remedies for the protection of civil rights by means of writs such as habeas corpus.

Violations of these rights result in punishments as prescribed in the Indian Penal Code, subject to discretion of the judiciary. The Fundamental Rights are defined as basic human freedoms which every Indian citizen has the right to enjoy for a proper and harmonious development of personality. These rights universally apply to all citizens, irrespective of race, place of birth, religion, caste, creed, color or Gender. They are enforceable by the courts, subject to certain restrictions.

Police service in the Protection of Democracy:

Most people have heard the argument that respect for human rights is somehow opposed to effective law enforcement. Effective law enforcement means to capture the criminal and to secure his conviction, it is necessary to “bend the rules” a little. 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 this way of thinking, law enforcement is a war against crime, and human rights are merely obstacles thrown in the path of the police by lawyers and NGOs.

In fact, violations of human rights by police only make the already challenging task of law enforcement more difficult. When the law enforcer becomes the lawbreaker, the result is an assault on human dignity, on the law itself and on all institutions of public authority. The effects of police human rights violations are multi-fold:

· They erode public confidence.

· They hamper effective prosecutions in court.

· They isolate the police from the community.

· They result in the guilty avoiding sentence, and the innocent being punished.

· They force police agencies to be reactive, rather than preventive in their approach to crime

· They bring agents and institutions of public authority into disrepute

· They exacerbate civil unrest.

Respecting human rights to help the police

In defining its values, the democratic society begins with defining the types of powers and their implementation in relation to the international rules and constitutional norms. Those frameworks are the fundament in defining the legal rules for using police powers.

In the first case, the warrant satisfies the legal criteria for implementing the powers; therefore, the police officers start with operational-tactical activities that will allow enforcement of law and realization of the warrant.

Before activating police powers, serious security estimations have to be made with regards to the necessary number of police officers and equipment. In cases of use of high level of police powers, when there is obvious transformation of the powers in coercion, important prerequisite for success is to use a tactics of surprise. The preparation activities imply understanding the details and advance the knowledge of several options.

In the second case, when we deal with applying powers related to the law, the procedure is more sensitive. This is a situation where a police officer discovers a case and must enforce the law, separating it from other events. For example, it involves arresting a person, making decision to use force or firearms in preventing danger. Both cases involve the use of high level police powers. However, in the case where a police officer needs to apply police powers as result of the proactive police work, additional conditions appear that need to be satisfied. The first principle is to use minimum force, which is necessary to enforce the law.

While recognizing police powers and providing concrete legal grounds for their application, the lawmaker has not provided solutions for cases where particularly specified powers will be used, because it is not possible. However, the law delegates a right of discretion to the police officers independently to estimate in a concrete case what type of power is necessary to be used. In view of the above mentioned, this right is also at the same time a duty for the police officers to estimate each case correctly, and after that, referring to their own professional knowledge, to choose the most appropriate tactics and power. Making such decision is not an easy job. Very often it will be done under time pressure, in circumstances without possibility for previous preparation or estimation, when the police officer is in a vulnerable position of mental pressure, as unavoidable factors influencing the level of attention to the specific situation.

Introduction to police powers

Force in the meaning of pressure of the will can make people do things they didn’t intended to do. This can be achieved with physical or mental force.

1 Physical force can be defined as force based on methods directly attacking the personal body integrity (by different forms of torture, including eliminating the life).

2 The mental force is defined as manifesting the force through threats and similar behavior, which produces fear of physical force or other consequences, and which results in the wanted behavior without inflicting the personal body integrity of the forced person.

The limitation of the use of force within the police organization and between the police organization and the citizens has risen as a result of the increasing respect of the protection of human rights. Although, as a particular tendency in the development of the police organization, most problematic issues are resolved with force and the protection is relative. The force the police use today is more efficient, more styled than before. Also, any crises that affects society or any seriously turns in the government balance, unconditionally produce a re-estimation of values in the community and leads to the strengthen of powers. The police force is intended for being a contrast to the unfair, criminal behavior. This is visible especially in cases where legal force are used for protecting the life and personal property of the citizens, for protecting the constitution and security of the state, prevention the crime and detecting the criminals, maintenance the public order, traffic security, state border line and etc.

The police methods include not only the threat of force, but also the direct use of force and other measures, including firearms. The use of those means is incorporated in the police methods all around the world - without them, it would be impossible for the police to solve its duties.

Public acceptance, therefore, is essential for an effective police. Acceptance will come mostly through trust and confidence. This trust and confidence can be built largely through reciprocity between the police and the community. Therefore, the police have to mobilize community consensus to develop institutionalized support and mechanisms. If the police are efficient, honest, and impartial and conduct themselves as servants of the public, they gain public regard and can count confidently on assistance from the general public in any emergency.

In general, ethical and legal principals on whom the ethical and legal policing are based are

- Respect for, and obedience of the law

- Respect for the dignity of the human persons

- Respect for, and protection of human rights.

Human Rights Standards for Good Conduct by Law Enforcement Officials

1. Everyone is entitled to equal protection of the law, without discrimination on any grounds, and especially against violence or threat. Be especially vigilant to protect potentially vulnerable groups such as children, the elderly, women, refugees, displaced persons and members of minority groups.

2. Treat all victims of crime with compassion and respect, and in particular protect their safety and privacy.

3. Do not use force except when strictly necessary and to the minimum extent required under the circumstances.

4. Avoid using force when policing unlawful but non-violent assemblies. When dispersing violent assemblies, use force only to the minimum extent necessary.

5. Legal force should not be used except when strictly unavoidable in order to protect your life or the lives of others.

6. Arrest no person unless there are legal grounds to do so, and the arrest is carried out in accordance with lawful arrest procedures.

7. Ensure all detainees have access promptly after arrest to their family and legal representative and to any necessary medical assistance.

8. All detainees must be treated humanely. Do not inflict, instigate or tolerate any act of torture or ill-treatment, in any circumstances, and refuse to obey any order to do so.

9. Do not carry out, order or cover up extrajudicial executions or "disappearances", and refuse to obey any order to do so.

10. Report all breaches of these Standards to your senior officer and to the office of the public prosecutor. Do everything within your power to ensure steps are taken to investigate these breaches

CONCLUSION:

A multi-ethnic society places special demands on the police organization. As a result, the police must accept the need to adapt their professionalism, quality of service and their legal and wider responsibilities to the needs of a continually changing population. The goal is to provide services that are applicable and accessible to all citizens regardless of their ethnic background. In this world of ethnic and cultural diversity, the role of the police is crucial. With their special responsibility for the maintenance of law and order in society, the police are essential guardians of our social framework.

The police have a professional interest in reflecting the same ethnic diversity in their organization. One of the most important means to reach this goal is recruitment. Recruitment of police officers from minority ethnic communities will have an additional cultural value that will be beneficial to the police department as well as to the society in general. Ethnic diversity can benefit the entire organization and as a result promote professionalism. Events and new possibilities can affect existing rights or require new ones. Advances of technology, medicine, and philosophy constantly challenge the status quo of human rights thinking.

Firstly the police must always act - and be seen to act - with unquestionable fairness towards all groups, and with clear respect for ethnic and cultural difference. Because of their high visibility, the police must accept the fact that they need to act as a ‘role-model’ for all public agencies in promoting fundamental rights. Secondly, if minorities are to overcome social obstacles and play their full part, the police must strive to use their special and unique powers in support of multi-ethnic ideals. They need to use the law to its fullest extent to combat acts motivated by castism, racism and xenophobia. The police also need to work in a proactive manner to prevent such actions, and to assist ethnic and social integration.

The Supreme Court's directives are a welcome step however some of the areas are still open to misuse. They do not in any way effect the impunity provisions in the CRPC, the misuse of which is a major cause of harassment to the citizens. The institution of police must function according to the rule of law and not according to the rule of politics. Policing must not be partisan in anyway towards people with clout ignoring the voice of the marginalized. Police is to be a service oriented institution composed of professionally trained officers where there is no dilution in command and responsibility. Only then can we imagine a democracy with equity pervading throughout.

REFRENCES:

1. India, a Country Study,United States Library of Congress

2. Police and Human Rights, By V. M. Tarkunde PUCL Bulletin, June 1992

3. "Freedom in the World 2006: Selected Data from Freedom House's Annual Global Survey of Political Rights and Civil Liberties"PDF (122 KiB), Freedom House, 2006

4. http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/ASA20/019/2000

5. http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/publisher,NATLEGBOD,,IND,3ae6b52014,0.html

6. The Right to Food

7. Right to Information

8. Police Reforms ordered by Supreme Court

9. Torture main reason of death in police custody The Tribune

Received on 13.11.2011

Revised on 20.11.2011

Accepted on 24.12.2011