GUWAHATI, June 16 ? As per the directives of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) a full-fledged human rights cell headed by an Inspector General of Police has been set up in Assam police headquarters to enquire into all cases of human rights violation by police personnel and it is expected that the cell will go a long way in improving the behaviour of the police towards common people. Inspector General of Police, Sri D K Borah, who heads the human rights cell, told The Assam Tribune that as per the NHRC guidelines, the basic objectives of the cell include monitoring of human rights violation on a day to day basis, inspection of the police stations on a regular basis to ensure that the Supreme Court guidelines on the rights of the arrested persons are strictly followed, training of police personnel, holding of seminars to create awareness, recommend investigation by the Criminal Investigation Department on the Central Bureau of Investigation whenever necessary and to work as the main link between the NHRC and the state police force. He said that any member of the public can approach the cell directly for redressal of their grievances in case of violation of their rights by police.
Sri Borah revealed that so far the cell has taken up a number of custodial death cases in Nagaon and Guwahati and the cell has already given its final report on the custodial death of a former police officer in North Guwahati. He said that the cell has also taken up suo-moto cases on the basis of newspaper reports, which includes a case of roughing up a school teacher by a policemen posted in Noonmati police station in the city. The IGP said that he himself was carrying out surprise checks of police stations to ensure that the Supreme Court guidelines on arrest of persons are followed. As per the guidelines, the rights of arrested persons should be displayed properly in all the police stations. However, he admitted that it would not be possible for the cell to carryout regular checks in more than 240 police stations all over the state and the DIGs of the ranges have been entrusted with the job of carrying out surprise checks of the police stations and report back to the cell.
The Human Rights Cell has also given emphasis on training of policemen as many police officers have wrong conception of human rights. Sri Borah revealed that steps have been initiated to include courses on human rights in the syllabus of the police training institutes, while, proposal has also been mooted to formulate a capsule course for the in-service policemen. However, he admitted that it might take some time to change the mindset of the policemen. Sri Borah revealed that the cell has initiated steps for creating awareness among the policemen and public and a regular news later would be published from next month. The cell is also organising a seminar on human rights in the city on July 26. Former chairman of the Assam Human Rights Commission Justice R K Manisana Singh will attend the seminar as the chief guest, while the seminar will be addressed among others by Prof Anuradha Dutta, the IGP posted in the Assam Human Rights Commission and Sri Homen Borgohain. All the district Superintendents of Police and commandants of the police battalions will also be invited to attend the seminar.
Meanwhile, the Human Rights cell has already issued circulars to all police stations through the district Superintendents of Police on the NHRC guidelines. The circulars gave details of the guidelines to be followed for arrest of persons. As per the guidelines, the police personnel carrying out arrests and handling interrogation of arrested person should bear accurate, visible and clear identification and name tags with their designation. The particulars of all such police personnel must be recorded in a register. The police officer carrying out an arrest must prepare a memo of arrest and it will have to be attested by at least one witness and counter-signed by the arrested person. A person arrested or detained should be entitled to have his friend or relative informed about the arrest. An arrested person should be subjected to medical examination every 48 hours during his detention in custody and an arrested person must be permitted to meet his lawyer during his interrogation, though not throughout the interrogation.
As per the NHRC guidelines sent to the police stations, any report of custodial death must be sent by the SP of the concerned district to the secretary general of the Commission within 24 hours and the same procedure will have to be followed in case of judicial custody deaths. The post mortem examination in respect of deaths in police or jail custody should be video filmed and the cassettees should be sent to the commission along with the post-mortem report. The guidelines issued to the police stations also includes steps to be taken in cases of deaths in encounters. As per the guidelines, as soon as the officer-in-charge of a police station receives information about death in encounter, the information should be entered in an appropriate register and immediate steps should be taken to investigate the circumstances leading to the event. Investigating agencies like the CID should be entrusted with the job of carrying out the investigation in this regard. The question of granting compensation to the dependents of the deceased can also be considered in cases ending in conviction where police officers are prosecuted.