Resisting Reforms : Police Complaints Authorities in India

The pace of reforms in policing in India has been extremely sluggish. Despite recommendations made by various committees and directions given by the judiciary, legislatures at both central and state level have avoided introducing police reforms and continue to operate on colonial setups. The drawback of such setup is that the police rather than acting as an organization to enforce law and order and promote communal harmony, operates as a ‘force’ which often resorts to abuse and misuse of power in terms of violence, corruption, and victimization. Owing to legislative inaction, the Hon’ble Supreme Court intervened, pursuant to a PIL filed by Retd. DGP Prakash Singh, and issued seven directives which were deemed to be necessary to ensure separation and independence of police from political influences and unbiased adjudication of grievances of citizens. The court proposed establishment of Police Complaints Authorities at both state and district levels so as to address citizen complaints regarding misuse of power, custodial deaths and torture, corruption, and allied matters. This paper uses information gathered through Right to Information Applications to analyze the need for establishment of such authorities by looking at the number of complaints received by police authorities against its own officials in the National Capital Territory of Delhi. It also highlights inaction over such complaints as the same have been inquired into by police officials themselves leading to negligible penalization, thereby calling for independent complaint redressal bodies