Editorial Desk :
We find it shocking that young boys were first kept in jail and later handed over to police for interrogation who took to the streets demanding safety on roads and reform in the quota system in the government service.
We find it shocking that young boys were first kept in jail and later handed over to police for interrogation who took to the streets demanding safety on roads and reform in the quota system in the government service.
We find it a most egregious case that these young boys were placed in the hands of police to be interrogated alone in an intimidating situation without considering adverse psychological effect it will certainly have on the young minds.
The fact of handing over an accused to the police for interrogation must not be seen as a normal or routine matter for the simple reason. The Constitution mandates upon the police to produce an arrested within 24 hours of arrest. So it makes no sense if he can thereafter be taken by police into their custody for days.
But sadly and unfortunately it has become a regular thing for our courts to allow police custody to treat him as helpless as one can be for interrogation. Once a person is arrested in connection with a case he cannot be interrogated by police to help the police about his guilt. This is again a Constitutional bar against collecting incriminating material from him. The responsibility is with police to prove his guilt not through an accused’s own admission but through independent and trustworthy evidence.
If police interrogation is not for torture and intimidation then there is no justification for taking him into police custody to be completely at the mercy of police. Under our Constitution even degrading behaviour to an accused is strictly prohibited.
The blame is to be taken by the courts of our country for allowing so much indulgence to the police not to be seen anywhere.
It is true that an atmosphere of fear is pervading the whole Justice system. In fact the people as a whole live in fear of police power because government is using police for its politics and abuse of police power is permitted in the administration.
But the judiciary has to be a different place. Here the courts are trusted for the protection of an individual’s fundamental rights as guaranteed by the Constitution. The judges have accepted this responsibility knowingly and this obligation as judges must be fulfilled judicially. If that is not done that will amount to not keeping faith with the people and obstructing implementation of the Constitution.
The people must be able to trust the judiciary, otherwise injustice and brutality will prevail everywhere. The people will have nowhere to go for protection of law but the streets. The judiciary is now standing between law and lawless brutality. We all cannot forget our higher patriotic duty to the country and sleep undisturbed that country will remain free and safe.
We are saying this not to underestimate the efforts of the judges despite the difficulties they are faced with. But if the judges cannot show courage for upholding the Constitution and law even for save our children from unconstitutional police investigation on police remand knowing fully well about the practice of torture and causing death in their custody. We place to our judges for their consideration how they justify being judges if they are devoid of minimum courage. Luckily we still have judges who are not yielding so readily and releasing hundreds of people being arrested politically on bail.
So the judges must not feel helpless when it comes to protecting individuals being harassed obviously through abuse of police power by initiating false case. The courts should take strong position to make it clear that the police or the judiciary should not be used for the power struggle of party politics. Let them use the power of detention but not the court. We remind them of the hard choice they have made. Without strong position of courts there will be police rule and not the rule of law.
