The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Police amendment Bill draws flak

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Friday, Aug 03, 2007
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Police amendment Bill draws flak

Special Correspondent

‘No serious effort made at strengthening police accountability’

Bangalore: The Karnataka Police Amendment Bill (2007), drafted on the directive of the Supreme Court, makes no serious effort at strengthening police accountability and administration and was an eyewash, the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) has said.

Speaking to presspersons here on Thursday, Shobha Sharma of CHRI, an NGO working on issues of access to justice and right to information, said there was no transparency on who drafted the Bill and what were the criteria guiding them. It had so far not been discussed in the Legislative Assembly, she added. Ms. Sharma said the current Karnataka Police Act, 1963, was based on the colonial and archaic Police Act of 1861 and needed to be reframed. The amendment Bill, however, was only a piecemeal effort to “escape being held for contempt of court.”

Every one of the six Supreme Court directives to the State on drafting the new Police Act had been diluted in the Bill, Ms. Sharma said.

For example, the number of non-governmental representatives in the State Security Commission, a body meant to minimise political interference in policing, had been reduced to two. There was no clarity on the criteria for selecting these representatives either, she said.

The purpose of forming Police Complaint Authorities, as an oversight body, had been nullified by proposing to nominate three serving officers to it, she added.

Directives on dividing investigation and law and order wings of the police, making the process of appointments to posts, including that of DGP, more transparent and free from interference and the setting up of Police Establishment Board to oversee postings, promotions and transfers in the department too had been diluted, Ms. Sharma said.

The CHRI demanded that the Government hold open discussions with human rights groups and other civic bodies on the Bill, because people had the right to know what was going into such an important piece of legislation. It demanded that the draft of the Bill be widely circulated and a public debate initiated.

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