Here is your essay on Present Scenario of Police in India:
The police are primarily concerned with the maintenance of law and order and security of personal property of individuals. Their main duty is to pick up criminals from society for prosecution and they play a vital role in bringing the offender to justice, they safeguard and protect the people against violence, intimidation, oppression and disorder. With the changing time police duties have increased enormously and are becoming more and more diversified.
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The transformation of India from a police state into welfare state after Independence has brought radical change in the activities of the police.
Today, India is passing through an age of political, economic and social modernization and because of these factors the rate of criminality has increased and some new forms of crimes also have emerged which are dangerous in nature and harmful to individuals as well as the whole society; since the police has to spend good deal of its time and efforts in working with the people, the society’s expectations from this organization has been steadily rising.
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As a result of this, the police have to assume a new role in changed scenario and it is clear that with the comprehensive sociological change now police has to play a crucial role in maintenance of peace and enforcement of law and order and the role of police is very much important for a smooth working society.
Police represents as a functionary of whole criminal, system of the state. Therefore, the police have professional responsibility demanding from them, the highest standards of conduct, such as, particularly of honesty, integrity and impartiality.
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But it is rather, unfortunate that, today police in our society is looked with fear and suspicion and distrust by the people. The public apathy towards the police has increased day-by-day. The general impression is that policemen are inefficient, brutal, corrupt and lawless.
Nowadays, it is said that police department is the most corrupt department where bribes are taken from constables to upward high status officers and so the general public have very low profile for this noble department.
Though it is also true that all policeman are not corrupt or lawless, there are honest police officers too but today such types of honest Police Officers are found rarely and most of Police Officers are engaged in illegal acts and collect more and more money illegally in order to satisfy their own greed. Such deviant Police Officers have not any concern for people, society, or their security and easily drop up-morals, ethics of their duties only for money.
Incidences of police brutality had increased and sometimes it shocks the society by their atrocities. Though it is true that, police are obliged by the nature of their duties to use violence as measure to control and apprehend criminals in the presence of counter violence, and so Police is perfectly justified in using force while tackling criminals. But police use such privileged given to them for exploiting people and use such wide power of interrogation to harass the poor people or in order to extract confession and recover stolen property.
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No doubt, investigation is a part and parcel of the duties of police, but for this purpose, they do not use the proper means and ways. They use abusive language or degrading epithets, compel offenders/innocents to obey all their orders, ask embarrassing questions in the streets, carry out bodily searches on false pretexts or often conduct illegal searches and exploit the innocents.
The cases of beating by police are common today Such manhandling the suspects or common person during the interrogation done in such a way that the suspects become almost all as dead for all practical purpose afterwards, such a use of third degree method is not common today police, deliver blows to the offender with hands and fist, kick them, arrest the innocent person without any concurrent reason, or arrest or detect any relatives of suspect these all methods are common to get confession from suspects or even from innocent persons.
The weak minded persons, or physically weak persons or prestigious common persons, cannot tolerate their atrocities are sometimes they are compelled to commit lock-up suicides or they are killed in the lock-up such types of custodial torture has become a common phenomenon and use of third degree method is a routine practice of police. Rather than using such outdated methods of detection, the Police officials should concentrate on devising scientific methods of detection & collection of evidence.
The corrupt political leaders have relation with goondas. In similar ways the police also keeps relation with VIP’s, Political Leaders, Goondas and with rich businessman and corrupt bureaucrats, Police never harm such people or their children’s, followers or relatives.
However, they show their bravery on the poor, rickshaw pullers, labour class, illiterate villagers, and on common middle class public, etc. Such deviant police officers accepting money from truck-drivers, big shopkeepers, Industrialist, big businessman, etc. as ‘hafta’ (weekly or monthly freedom and) in consideration of their security.
Police Encounter is a burning and highlighting topic today. Police Officers are doing encounters on account of personal ego and enmity or in order to make themselves famous and liable to promotions. Dramatic effects of police encounter are increased day-by-day. Recently the scandal of Daya Nayak shows the nexus between police and underworld also.
They take money from underworld to remove persons from life officially belonging to their rival gangs and because of such false encounters innocent persons in society are being killed. Recently the killing of one “Javed Fawda” has shows to the judiciary the anomaly of such killings.
Many of such encounter killings have gone unnoticed but in case of ‘Javed Fawda’ Hon’ble Bombay High Court granted compensation to his widow for her husband’s innocent death. In this case the encounter squad mistaking shot him for mistaking his identity with another ‘Javed’. After deciding the writ petition the Hon’ble High Court also said that there should be some check over such encounter killings.
Though it is also true that Police are permitted to use force under only certain circumstances and in such circumstances also they are not permitted to use of more force than what is necessary. There are some legal restraints on police power in India. In Criminal Procedure Code or in local Police Acts strictly impose certain condition on police power from all stages of police duties.
Torture has not also been defined in the constitution or in any other penal laws. It is not legal for police to use of force or to torture an accused person for obtaining a confession regarding the commission of an offence and there is penal liability for such acts in I-P.C.
According to Articles 20 and 21 of the Indian Constitution, Prohibits any person including Police Officers from using force or a third degree method for obtaining a confession from an accused person.
With the expansion of judicial activism, the ambit of Article 21 is enhanced and defined life as not only as mere existence but also includes a dignified Life and Human dignity is important value of our constitution.
(1) S.C. in Kishore Singh v. State of Rajasthan, (AIR 1981 S.C. 625) held that the use of “third degree” method by police is violative of Article 21 and directed the Government to take necessary steps to educate the police as to indicate a respect for the human person.
(2) In Niranjan Singh v. Probhakar Rajaram, (AIR 1980 S.C. 785) the S.C. while dealing with the cases of custodial torture and use of third degree method observed that “the police instead of being protector of law have become the engineer of terror and putting people into fear.”
(3) In Nilabati Betra v. State of Orissa, (AIR 1993 S.C. 1960) S.C. treated the letter of one Nilabati Betra a writ petition under Art. 32, whose son was a victim of Police torture, which resulted in his death at very young age. The Government raised the plea of sovereign immunity but S.C. rejected it and granted Rs. 1,50,000 for the death of Nilabati’s son as a compensation and so it is evident from the above discussed cases that use of third degree method is recognized by the Supreme Court as violative of the right granted under Articles 20 and 21 of the constitution. Count recognised the use of third degree method as unconstitutional.
But despite of legal restraint and constitutional provisions and Supreme Court or High Court efforts the rate of Police atrocities has not been reduced completely.
The worst form of Police Atrocities is ‘Rape by Police’ or custodial Rape by Police, is nowadays on aggravated form of rape. It is an assault by those who are supposed to be the guardians of women with the increasing number of women, young girls coming in contact with the police either as complaints or as accused or as victims of crime, there is likelihood of Police personnel misusing their power and authority and misbehaving or harassing the women for sex because of such types of growing incidences of custodial rape. Women become preys in the hands of police.
There are several Police Officers who do not possess legal and technical knowledge. They get their promotions simply on reservations and pleasing their bosses, or by using money, or by attaining age seniority. They do not work hard to improve their legal and technical knowledge. That is the main reason for the 50 per cent of acquittal of Police Cases.
Nowadays, the Police have become the key point for the miscarriage of justice by acquittals of criminals in majority of cases. They neglect the victims and in their system, majority of the accused are able to escape from the punishment and real victim/injured is not at all satisfied or compensated and is only exploited under the atrocities of police.
Police says that, they will resort to atrocities for doing quick justice. The police officials justify custodial torture as a ‘necessary evil’ to keep growing crime-rate under control. They justify and support their side on the following grounds.
(1) Some senior Police Officers are of the opinion that the investigator in Police Station is overburdened with work and has very little time for detailed investigation of crime and technology to detect the real criminal, which are available to police in Developed Countries are not available to police in India adequately and police departments are generally without adequate staff and equipment so they have to use age-old practice of torture and harassment without which no one is ready to confess.
(2) Some senior Police Officers are of the view that habitual criminals, recidivists understand only language of beating.
(3) There is a unbearable political interference in police work for personal gains and sometimes for making personal image pressurize the police department for quick investigation.
(4) They also comment that, there is no Public Co-operation in investigation of any offences and so in most of times criminals escape from the hands of prosecution because no one is ready for giving any evidence, after seeing whole incidence.
The magnitude of police atrocities in India has increased day by day and which is essential to eliminate. Otherwise it should create havoc in society and finally it is concluded that though, police occupy a strategic position in the prevention and control of crimes but in reality in present scenario because of their deviant behaviour they make people to disbelieve in them.