Short Essay on the Police Atrocities – Power has the tendency to make men go dizzy and policemen are no exception. Powers are granted to the police in order to enable them to enforce the law and protect people effectively.
However, it is sometimes the desire to solve a case at the earliest and sometimes plain greed that makes them use it illegally.
Article 21 of the Constitution provides that no person shall be deprived of his life and personal liberty except according to procedure established by law, which is an inbuilt guarantee against torture or assault by the State or its functionaries.
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The Code of Criminal Procedure also provides the safeguards against legally questionable detention by laying down the procedure to be followed by the police while making arrests.
However, torture and assault have become a part of police ways unfortunately and in many cases custodial deaths have been found to be little short of ‘custodial murder’. Custodial violence raises serious questions about the credibility of the Rule of Law and administration of criminal justice system.
An offender has every right to be tried and punished in accordance with the law and any punitive action taken outside the ambit of law is illegal. Besides, no matter how heinous the crime be, and howsoever dangerous be the criminal, he or she has every right to be treated with human dignity.
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The courts have even discouraged the practice of handcuffing the accused unless it is necessary. Several international conventions universally recognize human rights as inalienable.
The standard minimum rules for the treatment of detente and prisoners, convention against torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, the code of conduct for law enforcement officials adopted by United States General Assembly in 1979, are some of the significant international conventions in this regard.
The Law Commission of India has recommended that the menace of custodial violence be curbed and the police authorities are more conscious of the rights of the accused so that the Rule of Law could preserve its credibility.