Justice, peace and
security reads the preamble of Constitution of India. The Jammu and
Kashmir Constitution is no different on the basic human values. A
democratic state is believed to have a humanist approach for the
resolution of all the issues whether internal or external. But when you
look at the laws like Public Safety Act, Disturbed Areas Act, Armed
Forces Special Powers Act, your faith in Indian Constitution immediately
gives way to scepticism. The implementation of these ‘brutal’ laws, in
various conflict ridden states of North-East or Jammu and Kashmir, has
invited wide spread criticism from all over world. These ‘draconian
‘laws today stand as the biggest hurdle in peace process as their
revocation from Kashmir continues to be the unequivocal demand of
various resistance organisations and even the mainstream groups in
state. But Army and New Delhi are sceptic citing security situation
‘might’ worsen and state ‘might’ fall into the hands of the militant
again if these laws are revoked or diluted.
There is a growing concern amongst people belonging to different shades of life in and outside Kashmir over the unending violation of human rights, extra judicial killings, fake encounters, rapes and other kinds of acts of extortion done under the garb of ensuring National Security and fighting extremism in Valley. At the time when the demand for the revocation of notorious AFSPA, which provides blanket immunity to the troopers involved in crimes on civilian population, is at its pinnacle, the state govt has come out with a draft report of a bill which it says will empower the police forces in Valley. The act in its present form is a series of clauses borrowed from Ranbir Penal Code, Crpc, AFSPA, IPC, and disturbed areas of act. The bill which is originally supposed to deal with the organisational and infrastructural aspect of police department has included various provisions which are unclear and need to be debated on various platforms before its implemented. ‘Empowering’ the forces and enhancing their operational capabilities should not be done at the cost of safety and security of the civilian population of the state as has been the case with laws like AFSPA. The Draft at no place talks about the moral obligations on the police forces. Even the preamble of the law has completely eluded the phrases like ‘responsibilities, duties and obligations. This, of course, adds to the ambiguity. Not only should bill fix duties on forces but also encourage people to register their complaints against any wicked police personnel to a’ special cell’ formed within the police.
In a democratic set up army, police and other paramilitary forces are supposed to adhere to the instructions of the civilian govt and not dictate terms to it. But the present draft of police bill appears to be a blatant violation of this constitutional principle. The bill has completely omitted Section 7 of Jammu Kashmir Police Act and Section 4 of Indian Penal Code about the operation and control of police forces at District level under District Magistrate. Instead it authorises District superintendent of police to exercise the powers of issuing character certificate to the people and hence excluding district magistrate from the entire scheme of things. The bill also proposes a commissionerate system in urban areas which means once a city is brought under the control of a police commissioner, all the magisterial powers would vest in his hands. This means police is no more bound to seek permissions from magistrate to fire or to quell processions by force. Given the situation in Valley, in particular the volatile Srinagar city, where policing has always been unjust and bad , this can result in more avoidable causalities. The draft in its available form is aimed at creating a police state rather making a state within state. Leaving the Civilian administration non-operational will only exacerbate the law and order situation in Valley. The bill should instead empower the district magistrate by devolving on him the powers like inspecting all police stations falling under his jurisdiction, accessing all documents, issuing character certificates and hearing complaints against police forces involved in any unjust practices.
The bill also authorises the DGP to constitute as many Village Defence Committees, in disturbed area, as he wishes. This is in clear violation of the Supreme Court observation regarding the civilian counter insurgent group called ‘’salvajudam’’ operating in Naxal affected areas. The Supreme Court has termed it unjustified as it perpetuates the killing of these amateur, less armed and ill trained groups. In a state where people are still haunted by the gruesome memories of the atrocities inflicted by the much notorious group of militants turned counter insurgents ’’Ikhwanis’’ during mid 90’s,such a bill is no breather.
This bill also includes provisions for conferment of rewards and prizes on police informers and other collaborators. This is dangerous. We have seen countless cases of innocents killed in staged encounters just for the sake of rewards and promotions. Implementation of this clause is feared to mean more Pathribals and Machils.
Apart from mentioning of the arrest of a senior public figure of a community in case of non-rendering of services to police in a disturbed area, the bill has included many other provisions which, if implemented in its present form, can sabotage the already beleaguered peace process in Valley.
There is a growing concern amongst people belonging to different shades of life in and outside Kashmir over the unending violation of human rights, extra judicial killings, fake encounters, rapes and other kinds of acts of extortion done under the garb of ensuring National Security and fighting extremism in Valley. At the time when the demand for the revocation of notorious AFSPA, which provides blanket immunity to the troopers involved in crimes on civilian population, is at its pinnacle, the state govt has come out with a draft report of a bill which it says will empower the police forces in Valley. The act in its present form is a series of clauses borrowed from Ranbir Penal Code, Crpc, AFSPA, IPC, and disturbed areas of act. The bill which is originally supposed to deal with the organisational and infrastructural aspect of police department has included various provisions which are unclear and need to be debated on various platforms before its implemented. ‘Empowering’ the forces and enhancing their operational capabilities should not be done at the cost of safety and security of the civilian population of the state as has been the case with laws like AFSPA. The Draft at no place talks about the moral obligations on the police forces. Even the preamble of the law has completely eluded the phrases like ‘responsibilities, duties and obligations. This, of course, adds to the ambiguity. Not only should bill fix duties on forces but also encourage people to register their complaints against any wicked police personnel to a’ special cell’ formed within the police.
In a democratic set up army, police and other paramilitary forces are supposed to adhere to the instructions of the civilian govt and not dictate terms to it. But the present draft of police bill appears to be a blatant violation of this constitutional principle. The bill has completely omitted Section 7 of Jammu Kashmir Police Act and Section 4 of Indian Penal Code about the operation and control of police forces at District level under District Magistrate. Instead it authorises District superintendent of police to exercise the powers of issuing character certificate to the people and hence excluding district magistrate from the entire scheme of things. The bill also proposes a commissionerate system in urban areas which means once a city is brought under the control of a police commissioner, all the magisterial powers would vest in his hands. This means police is no more bound to seek permissions from magistrate to fire or to quell processions by force. Given the situation in Valley, in particular the volatile Srinagar city, where policing has always been unjust and bad , this can result in more avoidable causalities. The draft in its available form is aimed at creating a police state rather making a state within state. Leaving the Civilian administration non-operational will only exacerbate the law and order situation in Valley. The bill should instead empower the district magistrate by devolving on him the powers like inspecting all police stations falling under his jurisdiction, accessing all documents, issuing character certificates and hearing complaints against police forces involved in any unjust practices.
The bill also authorises the DGP to constitute as many Village Defence Committees, in disturbed area, as he wishes. This is in clear violation of the Supreme Court observation regarding the civilian counter insurgent group called ‘’salvajudam’’ operating in Naxal affected areas. The Supreme Court has termed it unjustified as it perpetuates the killing of these amateur, less armed and ill trained groups. In a state where people are still haunted by the gruesome memories of the atrocities inflicted by the much notorious group of militants turned counter insurgents ’’Ikhwanis’’ during mid 90’s,such a bill is no breather.
This bill also includes provisions for conferment of rewards and prizes on police informers and other collaborators. This is dangerous. We have seen countless cases of innocents killed in staged encounters just for the sake of rewards and promotions. Implementation of this clause is feared to mean more Pathribals and Machils.
Apart from mentioning of the arrest of a senior public figure of a community in case of non-rendering of services to police in a disturbed area, the bill has included many other provisions which, if implemented in its present form, can sabotage the already beleaguered peace process in Valley.
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