By Johan Sequeira

Mangaluru, Feb 2: The Apex Court in Arnesh Kumar (Supra) states, "The power of arrest is one of the lucrative sources of police corruption. The attitude to arrest first and then proceed with the rest is despicable. It has become a handy tool to the police officers who lack sensitivity or act with oblique motive."

Sebastian's encounter with the corruption, apathy and lawlessness in the police started the day he was arrested on a Sunday afternoon near Colaco Hospital for a false molestation charge. Five cops stopped the vehicle in which he was travelling and asked him to step outside. He was pushed inside their vehicle like a branded criminal as the public watched and was taken to the police station. No amount of reasoning or asking the police to verify the facts before they send him to jail had any effect on their thick skin. He even quoted the Apex Court judgement in Arnesh Kumar that gave him protection against such arbitrary arrests to which the inspector replied that the Supreme Court is not based in Mangaluru (blissful Ignorance or haughty arrogance?).

After a few hours of sitting in the police station resigned to his fate, he was sent to Mangaluru sub-jail to spend a night with alleged rapists, murderers and drug runners. While in jail he heard about the atrocities committed by the police which included systematic beatings to extract confessions, trapping victims in false cases, terrorizing families of the persons in jail and many such ghastly stories. He was shocked and felt sick in the pits of his stomach. How could it be that the officers whose duty it was to protect us were acting like agents of terror, lawlessness and oppression? It was that day in the dank confines of jail that he decided he had to expose the dark underbelly of the police.

He was released the next evening from jail more determined and stronger in spirit than the previous day. He filed complaints about illegal police actions to all the senior officers in Mangaluru and Bengaluru. What he saw to his chagrin was their acceptance that a wrong was done to him and others like him but their fierce resistance to take action against one of their fellow officers. They came up with all sorts of outrageous, unreasonable and unfathomable excuses. He started getting threats to keep quiet but he kept going not only because he wanted justice for himself but justice for hundreds of victims who could not fight back due to their lack of knowledge of laws and their basic rights and liberties guaranteed to them by our Constitution. A knowledge that he had imbibed due to his work as a men's rights activist and yet a knowledge that couldn't completely safeguard him against police excesses. If Sebastian as an activist was treated so badly how would common people fare?

Subsequently he kept meeting other people and hearing their stories of abuse by our so called protectors including refusal to register FIR, shoddy investigations to protect a particular party, beatings in police stations to which he was a witness several times and in the end a victim himself. He went to several police stations to help these people where he realized that most of the police officers had sparse knowledge of either law or fundamental rights and liberties. He argued with them, cited various High Court and Supreme Court judgements and it was then and only then that they started doing what was supposed to be their duty in the first place.

A pertinent point to mention here was that whenever he highlighted the mistakes or the Illegal acts done by the police their common reply was "Go to courts and get your reliefs". It was as if it was the court's responsibility to give us justice and the police were just present to take their salary (which ironically comes from the taxes we pay) and go home after a long day of sitting at the police station. It was as if the police were not scared of any disciplinary action by the courts for their wrongdoings whereas the High Courts and the Supreme Court have made it very clear that the courts should hold the guilty officers to account for their abuse of duty.

What brought me to write this article was the registration of an FIR u/s 107, 151 CrPC for the completely frivolous charge against Sebastian of disturbing public peace and his subsequent arrest. The cops were asking him for a bond of 1 lac rupees (you saw that right) for maintaining public peace. Clearly the cops were desperate to get him. They couldn't tolerate a person bringing to light their misdeeds in front of the higher up's and curtailing their source of corrupt income by helping persons get their work done in police stations based just on his strong knowledge of the law. Or as the High Court of Karnataka put it "CrPC 107 is not intended to afford the police a means of getting hold of a person against whom they cannot foist an offence or to enable them to detain him until they can work out a case against him", which is exactly what the cops' designs were on Sebastian. What tickles my rib is that an FIR cannot be registered under any section of CrPC (again exactly what the cops did) which exposes the scant knowledge of law of these so-called law enforcers.

When nothing else worked they assaulted him breaking a part of his tooth and damaging his larynx, about which an FIR is yet to be registered for grievous hurt, in spite of a complaint to the higher ups. This again as I mentioned is a usual tactic for police oppression. Yet he refuses to cower down and continues to fight the good fight in the hope that justice will finally be served. The only positive point he found is there are still a handful of good and honest officers that helped and greatly encourage him in his struggle for justice.

I am sure a lot of you reading this article would have gone through the experiences I described or would know someone who has. So what can be done about this? Are the police above the law? Can nothing be done to curb this widespread abuse? Not as per the Apex Court which says, "Where a criminal act is performed under the colour of authority but which in reality is for the public servant's own pleasure or benefit then such acts shall not be protected under the doctrine of State immunity". Which means that the police cannot hide behind their uniforms and that they can be prosecuted for their criminal acts.

There are several ways to do this. A victim can always take their grievances in writing to the higher officers under section 156(3) CrPC. If they refuse to take action then a representation to the courts can be made under sections 156(3) or CrPC 200 (private complaint). In addition to this a representation can also be made to the State Police Complaints Authority, State Human Rights Commission, ADGP (G & HR), DGP and of course the principal secretary (home affairs) and the chief minister.

Another major tool the victim has available is to sue the state/police for damages in a civil suit. In fact, the Allahabad High Court has recently awarded 5 lac and the Apex Court has awarded 10 lac to victims who were illegally imprisoned for in jail by the police who did not follow the directions laid down in the Arnesh Kumar judgement. Action has also been taken against the police who indulge in shoddy and coverupinvestigations. So I again encourage the victims of police excesses or inaction to stand up and raise your voices through legal avenues instead of sitting quietly or holding meaningless protests. It is only a collective raising of voices thru the proper channels that will shake the conscience of this corrupt police force. This infact will go a long way in breaking the cycle of police excess and inaction so unfortunately common in our country.

Disclaimer: All information in the above article has been given by the author alone. The views and opinions expressed above are personal.