Police Complaints Authorities: Reform Resisted (2011)

The Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) has monitored the working of Police Complaints Authorities since they were first established in 2007.This is CHRI’s second national-level report on the Authorities,following our first report in 2009.

The commonwealth Human Rights initiatives (CHRI) has monitored the working of police Complaints Authorities since they were first established in 2007. This is CHRI`s second
national-level report on the Authorities, following our first report in 2009. This report seeks to give a glimpse of the experiences of complaints who have gone through an Authority`s inquiry process, to assess if they are satisfied that the Authorities are working as the robust independent oversight mechanisms the Supreme Court intended them to. Direct interviews were carried out with a small sample of complainants in two states with well-established
Police Complaints Authorities-Goa And Uttarakhand. This primary data forms the basis of the report`s focus and recommendations. In addition, this report and discusses the serious nature of police misconduct which people complain against. The most common complaints involve some of the most serious human rights violations and abuses of police power, including torture, illegal arrest and detention,non-registration of complaints, registration of false cases, extortion and harassment.

It is clear that police misconduct continues and is een on the rise in some states in spite of the existence of Police Complaints Authorities. By and large, complaints are dissatisfied with the Authorities`s responses and are fast losing faith in them. Complainants are of the view that the Authorities fail them through overly bureaucratic and legalistic procedures, endemic delay in completing inquires, high costs and an unwillingness to exercise punitive action against police, and an absence of independent investigative capacity or sufficient powers to
compel compliance to their orders. Authorities have not developed into the independent mechanisms of redress that they were designed Tobe. and public trust is virtually lost. The Complaints Authorities and the police. It is crucial that all these stakeholders recognize and play their role in empowering their Authorities, which is now too urgent to delay.

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2. Goa Police Bill Dissolves State Police Complaints Authority