Uttarakhand State Police Complaints Authority - Commonwealth ...

The majority of these cases have been dismissed due to lack of evidence, or merely because the matteris under investigation by the police.In complaint # 98, the complainant alleged that the police have not taken any steps against a policeofficer who had abused his position of power. The Authority found that another authority is alreadyinquiring into the matter.• Serious Misconduct and MisconductForty-four complaints regarding serious misconduct and misconduct were received by the PCA. Themajority of complaints of serious misconduct relate to illegal detention but there are also cases ofallegation of torture (complaint # 80) and abduction (complaint # 43). In another case, (complaint#20), it was held by the Authority that since the police officer was of an unknown caste, he could notuse casteist remarks against the complainant.In one complaint of serious misconduct, the Authority stated that it could not look into it since it wasbeing heard by another Authority (complaint #124). In complaint #170 the Authority recommendeddisciplinary action against the police officers. But this type of bold decision by the Authority is rare. Incomplaint #143 the victim complained that the police accused him of being a Maoist sympathiser andharassed him repeatedly. The Authority did not find any documentary evidence against the accusedpolice officer but directed the officer to submit the litigation fee. In such types of cases, the Authorityshould go into the depth of the case and should not dispose it in a casual manner due to lack ofsubstantial evidence. Similarly in complaint #59, as the complainant failed to attend the hearing, theAuthority chose to dismiss the case without going into the reasons regarding the absence of thecomplainant.The majority of complaints of misconduct relate to misbehaviour. In complaint #178, the victimcomplained that police misbehaved with her while she was travelling and forced her to sit in the policestation without giving any reason.In several cases (complaint #34 and complaint #20), the Authority concluded that the allegationsmade against the police officers were fabricated and dismissed the cases accordingly. However, it isdifficult to gauge the basis on which such conclusions were arrived at.• Registration of False CasesTen per cent of the complaints relate to registration of false charges against a person. In complaint# 86 a case of assault, misbehaviour and framing of false case was filed by the complainant, butowing to his subsequent absence in the hearings, the case was disposed. The Authority has not goneinto the reasons for non-attendance. A matter of concern is that without cooperation from the police orthe presence of independent investigators the Authority probably does not even have the capacity tolook into such matters. However, for the future the Authority needs to give due consideration to suchissues and make appropriate recommendations to the government.COMPLAINTS AUTHORITY 23