The Kerala High Court on Tuesday said that brutality in police stations will stop especially after CCTV cameras are made functional in the rooms.
The High Court made this observation while hearing a plea by a man alleging that he was chained to a railing and then charged with the offense of preventing an officer from discharging his duties. When he asked for the receipt of the complaint made by him.
“Aren’t you (police) ashamed to say that a man came inside the police station and used force to obstruct an officer in the discharge of his duties?” Justice Devan Ramachandran said, “It is very unfortunate that a citizen who came to complain was chained to a railing and then a police officer under section 117 (e) of the Kerala Police Act for obstructing the discharge of his duties.” Got slapped.”
The court said that this conduct is of the kind that took place in the dungeons of the 18th century and not of the 21st century.
Despite the court coming down heavily on the police, “instances of police brutality are still being reported”, the judge said.
The court further said that police stations should not be allowed to function like this and “this cruelty will stop only when we have CCTV cameras there.”
It said it was going to encourage the legislature to remove Section 117(e) of the Kerala Police Act.
During the hearing, the judge said that the cause for concern is that the police are now waiting to “recover” the CCTV footage of the incident, which took place in February this year, to ascertain the truth behind the claims of the complainant. According to a report submitted by DYSP in October, even though the video was not available in May.
The Deputy Superintendent in his report said this after conducting an internal inquiry into the allegations leveled by the complainant against two police officers, one of whom was the SHO.
In a memorandum filed by the police, the Inspector General of Police (IGP) South Zone has said that the CCTV footage of the incident will have to be retrieved and before deciding whether to drop the case registered against the complainant under section 117(e) or No. of Kerala Police Act
“This statement is of some concern as an affidavit filed on October 22, 2021 states that when the footage was available when the DYSP inquired, the entire incident would have come out in the open.
“The DESP had said that there was no CCTV footage. So I don’t know how the IGP proposes to recover the footage or where the police are going to look for it.
The court listed the matter for hearing in January next year and directed the police to file an affidavit as to why the complainant should not be compensated under public law for the trauma and harassment suffered by him.
The judge said that the police is keeping the case pending against the complainant under Section 117(e) of the Kerala Police Act so that the latter can bargain with him to drop his charges against the two officers, specifically the one who lodged the FIR. Was. against him.
“I will not allow this,” the judge said, adding that because the police and the state are defending errant officials in this way, they “are not afraid of the rule of law”.
“If you want the officers to fear the rule of law, the state has to take strict action against them in such cases,” the court said.
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