Threat to human rights is highest in police stations: CJI
Satya Prakash
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, August 8
Expressing serious concern over custodial torture and human rights violations by police, Chief Justice of India NV Ramana on Sunday asked the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) to undertake “nationwide sensitisation” of police officers.
“The threat to human rights and bodily integrity are the highest in Police Stations. Custodial torture and other police atrocities are problems that still prevail in our society… Going by the recent reports even the privileged are not spared third-degree treatment,” the CJI said while releasing NALSA’s vision and mission statement along with its mobile app.
The mobile app is expected to help the poor and needy people in applying for legal aid and seeking victim compensation.
“To keep police excesses in check dissemination of information about the constitutional right to legal aid and availability of free legal aid services is necessary. The installation of display boards and outdoor hoardings in every Police Station/Prison is a step in this direction. However, NALSA must also actively carry out nationwide sensitisation of Police Officers,” he suggested.
With an average of almost five persons a day 1,697 died in custody (1,584 in judicial custody and 113 in police custody) across India between April 1, 2019, and March 31, 2020, the Centre had told Parliament last year.
In a move aimed at checking police brutality, the Supreme Court had in December 2020 ordered the Centre, states, and union territories to install CCTVs with night vision cameras in each police station, including central probe agencies such as CBI, ED, NIA, etc. across India. However, the order was yet to be fully complied with.
The CJI said: “In spite of constitutional declarations and guarantees, lack of effective legal representation at the police stations is a huge detriment to arrested/detained persons. The decisions taken in these early hours will later determine the ability of the accused to defend himself”.
Noting that majority of those who do not have access to justice were from rural and remote areas which suffered from lack of connectivity, the CJI said he has already written to the government emphasising the need to bridge the digital divide on a priority basis.
NALSA Executive Chairman Justice UU Lalit said besides spreading awareness about legal services through post offices and police stations, Bar Councils and law colleges can also be roped in.
Terming the project “Access to Justice” as an “unending mission”, the CJI said, “If we want to remain as a society governed by the rule of law, it is imperative for us to bridge the gap of accessibility to justice between the highly privileged and the most vulnerable. For all times to come, we must remember that the realities of socio-economic diversity which prevail in our nation, cannot ever be a reason for denial of rights.”
He said: “Although, a majority of our population is eligible for the aforesaid services, it is an undeniable truth that, still, there are significant barriers in accessing the relevant legal information”.
“If, as an institution, the judiciary wants to garner the faith of the citizens, we have to make everyone feel assured that we exist for them. For the longest time, the vulnerable population has lived outside the system of justice,” he said.
