CHRI Newsletter

Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative

Volume 14 Number 1
New Delhi, Spring 2007

Newsletter

C o n t e n t s

A Reflection on Real Security for Uganda

‘Cosmetic’ Commissions and the Rule of Law in Sri Lanka

Human Rights in Fiji-A ‘Clean Up Campaign’ For Whom?

Importance of Records Management

Around the Commonwealth

The Rule of Law and Safeguards to Democracy - The Right of Dissent

Hate-on-the-Net Targeted by Rights Commission in Canada

Making Access to Information Law Work for People in the Caribbeans

Pakistan: Danger and Anticipation in its 60th Year

Laying the Foundations for a Peoples’ Campaign for Better Policing

Laying the Foundations for a Peoples’ Campaign for Better Policing

Shobha Sharma
Consultant, Access to Justice Programme, CHRI

Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) has been working on police reform in India for a decade now. The Supreme Court Judgment in Prakash Singhand others versus Union of India and others in September 2006 provided a tremendous boost to this ongoing endeavour.

Since the judgment was handed down, CHRI has embarked on a three-pronged process that includes:

tracking compliance with the directives by states and territories;
analysing legislation of those states which have ushered in new police laws; and
informing civil society across the country about the implications of the judgment and the importance of engaging in this process.

In the first half of 2007, CHRI has held a series of state level consultations in the North East, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, as well as a national workshop and one with countries of South Asia in New Delhi. Consultations have also been planned in Karnataka, Kerala and Uttar Pradesh in coming weeks. The states of India represent a vast and complex diversity however there is singular synergy in what we heard across all the consultations in the campaign for better policing.

The following factors contained in the table below were identified in all consultations, i.e. what are the causes of problems in policing, the complaints with policing and the problems faced by police in doing their job was raised in discussion.

Causes of problems	Main complaints	Problems faced by police
Archaic laws	Non registration of FIRs	Poor working conditions
Lack of clarity on role of policing	Impunity	Lack of appropriate and regular training
Poor infrastructure, training	Insensitive to women, children	Inadequate supervision and management
Hierarchy in organisation	Discriminatory behaviour	Vulnerable to frequent transfers
Disconnect between people and police	Corruption	Often brutalised themselves
Weak leadership	Political interference/tool in the hands of political parties	Vulnerable to manipulation and corruption due to poor pays and insecure posts
Lack of accountability	Abuse of power	Long/inhumane working hours
Police subculture	A force not a service	Unrealistic and conflicting demands placed on them
Caste and gender bias still continues	Use of force disproportionate to offence/crime	Low morale
Feudal bias	Poor investigation leading to low conviction rates	Inefficiency within police as well as broader criminal justice system

Through the consultations CHRI raised awareness about how implementing the Supreme Court directives may solve some of the deep rooted and systemic problems in policing. Whilst there was robust debate on whether and to what degree the Supreme Court directives could solve the problems in policing, two things were universally agreed upon:

There is an urgent need for better policing; and
The state needs to involve the people in this process of improvement.

Some of the actions taken, or proposed by participants after the consultations have been as follows:

CHRI Banner for National Policing Workshop, New Delhi

North East

Letters to state Chief Ministers requesting transparency in the police reform process and involvement of people
Numerous and ongoing series of articles by journalists of the North East states tracking the reform process
Right to Information applications to obtain government notifications on compliance with the Supreme Court directives
District and local level workshops to raise awareness
An active electronic network of activists, sharing regular information and strategies
Advocacy at the North East Council – a body on which all the Chief Ministers of the North East states sit

Chhattisgarh

Six-point memorandum to the Chief Minister, Home Minister, Director General of Police, Law Minister and Chief Secretary
Meeting with the Home Minister
Sahara TV interviews with CHRI Chhattisgarh staff on police reform
Wide and ongoing local media coverage, including on the newly appointed drafting committee for the new police act for Chhattisgarh
Meeting elected members of Legislative Assembly
Ongoing district level workshops to raise awareness about the directives

Madhya Pradesh

A coordinated public awareness campaign including:
- Posting hand written postcards with two demands – transparency about the proposed draft police bill and immediate implementation of the Supreme Court directives
- Signature campaign on a large banner, to be submitted to the Chief Minister o Posters of the Supreme Court directives in Hindi
- A series of district level and zonal workshops
A series of press conferences in regional centers
Forwarding of names of civil society representatives for inclusion in the Madhya Pradesh Police Bill drafting committee

Tamil Nadu

Meetings with various district Bar Associations on need to monitor compliance
Meetings with District Criminal Advocates Association
Discussion on a campaign on police reform by the Bar Associations in Tamil Nadu
Distributing police reform information to the Federation of Consumer Organisations in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry encouraging them to initiate a campaign for better policing
Addressing community policing groups on the need to monitor compliance
Meetings with Tamil Nadu government regarding the status of the draft police bill.

National Workshop

Some of the strategies identified by participants were:

Identifying ‘Model Police Stations’ and developing ten standards that must be in place for good policing services – implementing this as a pilot program in a few states
Creation of citizen’s watch groups by Non Government Organisations to monitor policing
Mobilising people on better policing using existing Non Government Organisation networks, self government institutions, legal aid committees, self-help groups, consumer rights organisations
Generating more user-friendly material on police reform/ better policing in a wide range of regional languages Ø Preparing a checklist on what constitutes good policing
Educating the media so that all stories on policing make links with systemic reform issues
Holding state and district level workshops and consultations to raise public awareness

The task of maintaining the momentum of this campaign for better policing is enormous and must be a shared responsibility among civil society across the country. CHRI will continue to support and resource civil society nationwide in a sustained effort to create a peoples’ campaign for better policing.

CHRI Newsletter, Spring 2007

Editors: Aditi Datta, & Peta Fitzgibbon , CHRI;
Layout: Print: Ranjan Kumar Singh, Web Developer: Swayam Mohanty, CHRI.
Acknowledgement: Many thanks to all contributors

Published by Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, B-117, 1st Floor, Sarvodaya Enclave, New Delhi - 110017, India
Tel: +91-11-26850523, 26864678; Fax: +91-11-26864688; Email: chriall@nda.vsnl.net.in

The Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) is an independent international NGO mandated to ensure the practical realisation of human rights in the Commonwealth.