According to National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) reports, 32,498 complaints were registered against police in 2015-16. This report has been reported by experts as highly under-rated. And only 94 first information reports(FIR) were registered in 2015, data by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) show.
The cases that have been filed against police includes illegal detentions, extortion, torture, fake encounters and others. The numbers do not include deaths in police custody, for which 153 cases were registered with the NHRC.
According to the report by The Hindu, between 2012 and 2015, over 30,000 cases have been made against police. It is around 30 per cent of all the cases the NHRC received.
Out of all the cases registered between 2015-16, 206 cases were of encounters. Chhattisgarh with 66 encounter cases, topped the list followed by 43 in Assam, 15 in Jharkhand, 10 in Odisha, 7 each in Maharashtra and Meghalaya, 5 each in Uttar Pradesh and Manipur. West Bengal with 11 cases, topped the list of registered cases of encounter by Para-Military forces. Uttar Pradesh with 401 cases topped the list of cases of deaths in judicial custody as well as in the list of cases of deaths in police custody with 27 cases.
Experts believe that there is unwillingness among the police to file an FIR against one of their own.
From April 2012 to July 2015, the NHRC recommended disciplinary action in just 22 cases and prosecution for a lone policeman, though monetary relief was recommended in 450 cases from April 2013 to March 2015.
“The NHRC has complete authority to act against the police, but it chooses not to exercise its power,” lawyer and human rights activist Vrinda Grover told The Hindu.
