One is left totally ashamed, totally aghast and totally appalled which is beyond the capacity of my pen to describe in words to see how ruthlessly the lawyers of Hapur were being beaten so horrifyingly by the police there right in court premises on August 29 which has definitely not covered them with glory and this is definitely most shocking and has to be condemned most strongly in the most strongest parliamentary language. I still could not believe for some time when I first learnt of it. The lawyers of Meerut and many districts in West UP and UP will be on strike on August 30 in protest against this most dastardly act on lawyers who constitute the biggest crown of our Indian Judicial System due to which late Nani A Palkhiwala refused to accept Judgeship of Supreme Court and was more than happy being a lawyer and there are many more such innumerable cases!
Speaking for myself, at least I am definitely most shell shocked to see how the lawyers of Hapur district were being beaten black and blue as if they were some rioters who were killing innocent people and am completely shaken to the hilt. By the way, when rioters indulge in rioting then we rarely see such boldness by the police! How can any sane person justify such ruthless lathicharge by police on lawyers right inside court premises in Hapur?
It must definitely be asked: Why should men in police uniform be given a blank cheque to beat anyone whenever they want, wherever they want and whomsoever they want without being ever held to task in any manner! Such policemen who dare to cross their limits must be made to face the music of the law and should be imposed the most stringent punishment and this is what we rarely seeing happen due to which we see the growing tendency of the police to always cross their limits and go berserk even on occasions where it was just not warranted! Why police tends to be oblivious of the glaring and irrefutable fact that the men and women in black coat are officers of the court and they deserve to be treated with utmost respect and definitely not with contempt as if they were some rioters out to indulge in anti-social acts?
It must definitely right be mentioned at the very outset that in Hapur, we had seen how the office bearers and members of the Bar Association did not do judicial work even on August 29 alleging that a fake case was registered against the woman advocate and her father and blocked Tehsil Chopla. The advocates were very rightly demanding the withdrawal of the case and it is the right of the lawyers to fight for demanding the withdrawal of fake cases against advocates! What was wrong in it?
What I find most troubling is: Why even the woman lawyers were not spared? Why even senior lawyers who were office bearers of Hapur Bar were just not spared and why were they mercilessly lathicharged to disperse them when they were protesting in the most dignified manner? Why so many advocates of Hapur, Ghaziabad, Modinagar and adjoining districts also had to face lathicharge due to which many got injured badly?
It must be also asked: How can such dastardly act be justified by anyone on any pretext whatsoever? Why when the lawyers after protesting peacefully and returning to the court premises in Hapur were most brutally lathicharged by the police? How can this be justified under any circumstances and on any pretext whatsoever? How long will such police personnel be given the unfettered right to indulge in lathicharge as per their own whims and fancies?
It cannot be lightly dismissed by anyone that none other than the Bar Council of UP has also taken a very serious note of it and Mr Anurag Pandey who is the Vice-Chairman of Bar Council of Uttar Pradesh has even written a letter to the Chief Secretary of Uttar Pradesh mentioning about this ghastly incident which has shocked the entire legal fraternity which is well substantiated by this letter in which it is also very strongly urged in the interest of justice to take the strictest action against the erring police personnel and transferring them to some other place. There has to be zero tolerance for such unwarranted and excessive assault by men in uniform on officers of the court that is advocates! It is high time and now the message must go loud and clear that, “Be you ever so high, the law is above you”.
It is really in the fitness of things that while rising to the occasion for the welfare of the litigants, the Kalaburagi Bench of the Karnataka High Court in a most learned, laudable, landmark, logical and latest judgment titled Vittal vs The PSI of Bableshwar Police Station in Writ Petition No. 201668 of 2023 (GM-Police) and Neutral Citation No. – NC: 2023:KHC-K:5678 and also cited in 2023 LiveLaw (Kar) 294 which was finally pronounced on July 20, 2023 has most commendably directed the Director General of Police (DGP) to issue necessary circular/SOP to all (police) Station House Officers in respect of the most landmark directions issued by the Apex Court in Lalita Kumari’s case pertaining to the registration of FIRs when a cognizable offence is made out in the complaint and instruct them to follow it scrupulously. It is high time and Centre must amend the law and make it a serious, cognizable and non-bailable offence for the police if they dare to refuse to register an FIR. The moot question is: Why should men in uniform be given a long rope always and not held accountable for not doing their duty by which they are bound to do?
Needless to say, why should a common person suffer endlessly because of the police? Why should such person in police uniform not be dismissed from service if they dare to refuse to lodge an FIR? If persons in uniform in police are most strictly held accountable then no person in police uniform will ever dare to refuse to lodge FIR or dare to demand bribe for lodging an FIR or misbehave even with common man what to talk about lawyers so brazenly, brashly and blindly? We have seen how just recently the Apex Court wondered aloud that in Manipur why police for 14 days had refused to lodge an FIR? There can be no gainsaying that this definitely requires prompt redressal and cannot be put on the backburner any longer!
The Supreme Court in the landmark case of Prakash Singh case which have still not been implemented and which now must be implemented as the Supreme Court itself has been repeatedly saying but even after 17 years, they lie unimplemented has advocated for massive police reforms. In the landmark case of Prakash Singh v Union of India (2006) 3 SCC (Cri) 417, the seven directions given were –
1) Constitute a State Security Commission on any of the models recommended by various committees and commissions.
2) The Director General of Police shall be elected from amongst the three senior- most officers of the department having the good rank by the UPSC etc.
3) Prescribe a minimum tenure of two years to the police officers on operational duties.
4) The investigating police shall be separated from the law and order, police to ensure speedier investigation and better expertise.
5) There shall be police establishment board in each state which shall decide all working conditions related to police officers.
6) There shall be constituting of Police Complaints Authorities at the district level.
7) The Central Government shall also set up a National Security Commission at the Union level who should also be given a minimum two years tenure.
Above all, it is incomprehensible that when Centre can change our penal laws then why can’t it make the necessary changes involving our police by which our police is trained to make them more people friendly and with more respect for human rights? What stops Centre from doing so? Why we see that the most commendable and landmark directions delivered by the Apex Court in the high profile Prakash Singh case as I touched upon briefly hereinabove are still lying unimplemented even after more than 17 years?
The billion dollar question that really arises here is: Why unlike Army we see that Centre never even cares to seriously deliberate on launching “Agniveer Yojana” for the police also so that they cannot rest and take their service for granted? If this cannot be done then to say the very least why do we see that the police personnel are not made more accountable when they indulge in using excessive use of force? Why are they allowed to get away just by being transferred to some other place when they indulge in gross violations of human rights not sparing even lawyers and doctors what to talk about the rest?
Why should they not be jailed at least for few years when they resort to unprovoked lathicharge as we have seen most recently in Hapur itself? It is high time and both the Centre and the Uttar Pradesh State Government must take most decisive steps in this direction to ensure that a permanent cure is done so that the police becomes more dedicated, determined and disciplined to serve in the manner in which they are expected to! This is more imperative than ushering in reforms in any other field and last but not the least Centre must ponder that why should police be left untouched, unattended and unredressed which is the most crucial part in ensuring the smooth law and order in all over the nation and we all know that all is not well with our police and it is not just the common person but even those in black coats who are “officers of the court” and yet are so scornfully treated by police?
Sanjeev Sirohi