Police cannot be accused of human rights violation at the drop of a hat: Madras High Court
"Police play a vital role in maintaining Law & Order. Not every instance can be termed as a violation of Human Rights. More sensitization of the police force in such matters is required", Court added.
The Madras High Court while allowing the Writ of Certiorari to call for records of the order passed by the State Human Rights Commission has recently observed that though there are instances of human rights violations in police stations, not every casual inquiry by the police can be termed as a violation of human rights.
“Though they need to exercise caution while handling such cases, they cannot be accused of human rights violation at the drop of a hat”, the court observed.
The division bench of Justice V.M. Velumani and Justice R. Hemalatha noted that the police have a vital role in maintaining law and order and such instances may turn out to be a demoralizing factor to the entire police force. The court observed, “It may turn out to be a demoralizing factor to the entire police force.”
The court was hearing a plea by an Assistant Commissioner of Police Lakshmanan challenging the order of the State Human Rights Commission directing him to pay Rs. 25,000 to a man and also ordered departmental action against him. The order of SHRC was based on a complaint made by Ramesh wherein he had argued that Lakshmanan had colluded with third parties and forced him to arrive at a settlement with respect to some money that was pending towards him.
Lakshmanan argued that he had merely called the complainant to the station with respect to a complaint and not because of any reasons as given by him. He further informed the court that Ramesh was in the habit of approaching different police stations with different lawyers to register FIRs.
The court observed that there was no allegation of mental harassment or torture or Ramesh being illegally detained, thus it could not be said that there was human rights violation. The court said, “Without any allegations of harassment or threat by the police, such conclusions regarding human rights violations as concluded by the State Human Rights Commission, Chennai, would put the entire police force on defence mode.”
The court further stated that in such matters, awareness among people is lacking and that people do not differentiate between civil & criminal matters, and that more sensitization of the police force is required.
Cause Title: Lakshmanan vs. The Secretary, SHRC & Ors.