A STUDY ON ABUSE OF POWER BY POLICE OFFICERS WITH SPECIAL
REFERENCE TO ENCOUNTERS IN INDIA
AUTHOR
ARIVARASU. J
132203103
SAVEETHA SCHOOL OF LAW SAVEETHA INSTITUTE OF MEDICAL AND
TECHNICAL SCIENCES (SIMATS) CHENNAI - 600077
EMAIL ID -
CO - AUTHOR
MS. RINI ADIYATTIL
(BBA, LL.B, LL.M)
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR
SAVEETHA SCHOOL OF LAW
SAVEETHA INSTITUTE OF MEDICAL AND TECHNICAL SCIENCE (SIMATS)
CHENNAI-77
EMAIL ID: riniadyattil.ssl@saveetha.com
PHONE NO: 9497225823
A STUDY ON ABUSE OF POWER BY POLICE OFFICERSWITH SPECIAL
REFERENCE TO ENCOUNTERS IN INDIA
ABSTRACT
The misuse of police authority in encounters is a persistent problem that erodes public
confidence in law enforcement, jeopardizes individual rights, and threatens societal stability.
An overview of the factors that lead to encounters in which police abuse their authority is
provided in this abstract. Systemic biases, inadequate training, a lack of accountability
mechanisms, and a culture that tolerates or condones misconduct are some of the
multifaceted factors that contribute to such abuses. Racial profiling and segregation
compound the issue, prompting unbalanced focusing on and abuse of underestimated
networks.the effects that encounters involving abuse of authority by police have on
individuals and communities. By examining patterns, contributing factors, legal frameworks,
impacts, and existing measures, the study sheds light on this issue. Enhancing accountability
measures, enhancing training, fostering community-police partnerships, and promoting a law
enforcement culture of professionalism and respect are among the recommendations based on
the research.The research contributes to the development of a just and accountable law
enforcement system, the protection of human rights, and the prevention of abuse.The findings
emphasize the necessity of reforms, comprehensive training, and accountability mechanisms
to address systemic bias and increase community engagement. Transparency must be
encouraged and legal frameworks must be strengthened.The abuse of police power in
encounters has far-reaching consequences. Unreasonable utilization of power can bring about
extreme wounds, death toll, and local area agitation. False arrests and illegal searches violate
people's rights, undermine public confidence in the criminal justice system, and undermine
trust in law enforcement.
KEYWORDS
Use of force by police; encounters between law enforcement and citizens; police-
citizeninteractions
INTRODUCTION
Police misconduct raises serious concerns because it can erode public confidence and have
detrimental effects on both individuals and society. There have been cases where some police
officers have misused their position, despite the fact that the majority of them carry out their
jobs in a responsible and ethical manner. These wrongdoings can take many different forms,
such as the excessive use of force, racial profiling, corruption, and human rights
violations.When police use more force than is required to capture a suspect or maintain
control of a situation, this is known as excessive use of force. Serious injuries or even death
could ensue from this. In recent years, instances of excessive force have drawn widespread
attention and caused public outrage, resulting in calls for police reform and
accountability.The practise of focusing on people based on their race or ethnicity rather than
proof of criminal conduct is known as "racial profiling." This discriminatory conduct may
result in unauthorised stops, searches, and arrests, which can reinforce ingrained prejudice
and violate the rights of marginalised groups.
Officers who use their position for personal benefit, such as taking bribes or engaging in
unlawful activity, are considered corrupt inside police forces. Abuse of this nature
undermines public confidence and jeopardises the reliability of law enforcement agencies.
Any police activity that violates a person's constitutional rights, such as wrongful search and
seizure, forced confessions, or denial of due process, is considered a violation of their civil
rights. The values of justice and fairness are threatened by these transgressions.
Policies and laws that define and limit the powers of law enforcement officers during
encounters can be enacted by the government. Abuse can be prevented with clear guidelines
for when and how to use force, how to behave during searches and seizures, and how to stop
and arrest.
The collection and analysis of encounter-related data, such as the demographics of those
stopped, searched, or arrested, can be mandated by governments.
Enhancing law enforcement officers' training programs can be funded by the government.
Techniques for de-escalation, cultural sensitivity, understanding implicit bias, and
safeguarding civil liberties ought to be the primary focuses of training.
Legal reforms that increase transparency and accountability can be pursued by governments.
A serious problem that has received a lot of attention and scrutiny in recent years is the
misuse of police authority in encounters. Despite the fact that the majority of police officers
perform their duties with honesty and professionalism, instances of misconduct and abuse
undermine public trust, exacerbate social unrest, and raise concerns regarding the protection
of individual rights. An overview of the subject with emphasis on its significance, scope, and
implications is provided in this introduction.
A variety of factors can be cited as contributing factors to the complicated nature of police
power abuse. These include institutional biases that are systemic, inadequate training on de-
escalation and cultural sensitivity, a culture that tolerates or fails to address misconduct, and
inadequate oversight and accountability mechanisms. Additionally, racial profiling and
discrimination contribute to the exacerbation of the issue and the persistence of social
inequalities by disproportionately targeting underrepresented groups.
The abuse of police authority in encounters has profound and far-reaching consequences.
Excessive force can cause physical harm, trauma, or even death to victims. Communities that
are the victims of such abuses experience a loss of trust, increased tension between citizens
and law enforcement, and decreased cooperation in the fight against crime. Law enforcement
efforts become less effective as trust is lost, making it harder to ensure public safety and
maintain social order.
It is essential to keep in mind that the level of effectiveness of government actions can vary
from country to country. The results of these efforts can be significantly influenced by factors
such as political will, public pressure, institutional capacity, and a commitment to human
rights. In addition, ongoing evaluation, monitoring, and feedback from affected communities
are essential for ensuring that government actions to combat police abuse are effective and
accountable.
OBJECTIVES
● To find whether police abuse are the intention of killing humanity.
● To analyse the rights which are violated by common public who faced police abuse.
● The research aims to better understand encounters in which police use too much
power, shed light on the root causes, and provide evidence-based solutions for
effectively preventing and dealing with this problem.
REVIEW OF
(Neier and Rothman 1991)Prison torture is the confession of the failure to do justice to
prisoners having human rights. For a prisoner, all fundamental rights are an enforceable
reality restricted by the fact of imprisonment. Simply stated, the death of a person in custody
whether of the Police or Judicial will amount to Custodial Death. (ChennaiBajoria
2016)The figures of NHRC show a total of 894 deaths in judicial custody.The letter, signed
by the joint registrar (Law) of the National Human Rights Commission, stated that Uttar
Pradesh leads the chart of deaths in judicial custody by a significant margin, with 204 deaths
recorded in the period between 1 January 2017 and 2 August, 2017. (Ramakrishnan
2013)The state was followed by Punjab with 76 deaths and Bihar with 64 deaths.Needless to
say, a large number of custodial violence incidents go unreported. Arun Shourie once
observed: The victims were invariably poor. (Subramanian 2007)Several of them dragged in
on no formal charges at all. Even in the case of persons who were arrested, in an
overwhelmingly large number of cases they were all accused of petty offences n fact, the
victims of custodial violence are people from poor and backward sections of the society with
little political or financial power to back them. (Verma and Thockchom 2000)Personal
enmity, cast and political considerations and at times pecuniary benefits become important
considerations for custodial deaths rather than investigation of cases.Our constitution has
provided fundamental rights to guarantee certain basic rights and liberties to our citizens.
(Aston 2020)There are several institutes making an effort to assure the reach and exercise of
such rights by the common man. In the case of judicial custody the accused is sent to jail
(prison) where for the purpose of investigation the police requires the permission of jail
authority. (Lokaneeta 2020)So the deaths that occur in jail while in Judicial Custody are
called judicial custody deaths .There are basically two classified parts under the judicial
custody death that are Natural death and Unnatural death. 3In the case of Natural death the
SDM has the right to conduct magisterial enquiry under 176 CrPc and in such case no
compensation is provided by state. (Belur 2010)But the exception is Tamil Nadu and Andhra
Pradesh as they provide a compensation of Rs. 20,000 in the case of Natural death also. The
Unnatural deaths are consider under four sub points that are Suicide (309 IPC), Accidental
death (304A IPC), Murder (302 IPC), Medical Negligence (304 IPC).(Guha 1997) In such
cases the Judicial Magistrate under 176CrPc conduct magisterial enquiry and in all such
cases compensation are provided to the victims. The SC/ST are given more compensation in
case of death in jail.Human Rights are the fundamental rights that are intrinsic and
inalienable for the survival of individual in the
society. (Ghosh 1993)In the new millennium, by virtue of international declaration, it is
duty and the responsibility of the welfare state to protect these rights of individuals. The
whole constitutional machinery of India also aims at protecting human rights. (Kopecka
2020)The Constitution of India, 1950 under Part III which deals with fundamental rights
which are also considered as the basic human values. All these rights are inconsonance with
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 19485. Talking retrospectively, according to
Montesque theory in India, there is separation of powers. (Mahamad Arif et al. 2021)
Accordingly, there are three wings of the state, which play vital role for any type of tasks for
the protection and preservation of human rights. These are legislative executive and judiciary.
Besides this, press is considered as the fourth wing of the welfare state. (Nwafor et al.
2021)In day-to-day life, the media is highlighting a lot of violation of human rights of
citizens. .Personal liberty is fundamental to the functioning of our democracy. The lofty
purpose of Article 21 of the Constitution would be defeated if, the State does not take
adequate measures for securing compliance with the same. (Mugadlimath et al. 2018)The
State has to control and curb the mala fide propensities of those who threaten life and liberty
of others. It is for the State to ensure that persons live and behave like and are treated as
human beings. Article 21 of the Constitution is a great landmark of human liberty and it
should serve its purpose of ensuring the human dignity, human survival and human
development. (Haysom et al. 2018)The State must strive to give a new vision and peaceful
future to its people where they can cooperate, co-ordinate and co-exist with each other so that
full protection of Article 21 of the Constitution is ensured and realised. (Timerzyanov
2017)Article 21 is not a 'mere platitude or dead letter lying dormant. decomposed, dissipated
and inert. It Is rather a pulsating reality throbbing with life and spirit of liberty, and it must be
made to reach out to every Individual within the country. (Bosworth et al. 2022) It is the
duty and obligation of the State to enforce law and order and to maintain public order so that
the fruits of democracy can be enjoyed by all sections of the society irrespective of their
religion, caste, creed, colour, region and language. (Williams et al. 2022)Article 38 of the
Constitution also requires the State to promote welfare of the people by securing and
protecting, as effectively as it may, a social order in which justice social, economic and
political, shall inform all institutions of the national life. These are the goals set by the
Constitution, and Article 21 and other fundamental rights are the means by which those goals
are to be attained. (Loeliger et al.2018)His liberty is in the very nature of things
circumscribed by the very fact of his confinement and, therefore, his interest in the limited
liberty left to him is rather precious. The duty of care on the part of the State is strict and
admits of no exceptions. (Mehay et al. 2017)The defence of "sovereign immunity In such
cases is not available to the State. Therefore award of compensation would be a remedy
available in a proceeding under Article 32 or Article 226 of the Constitution of India based
on a strict liability or violation of fundamental (Deniz Bayrakdar, 2009),explores in his
paper ‘an imprecise and reductive discourse about cinema as merely a visual medium, then,
underestimates the potential of film language to transform ‘The Book’ into multiple realms in
which the word, images, sounds, dialogue, music, and written materials all constitute,
together, the complex space called cinema’. (David Dayan, 2019), The work also asserts
that in order to fully understand and analyse a documentary film, a wider range of factors
must be considered, most prominently the material conditions of the filmmaking process.
Those include the financing and commissioning of the film, the conditions of its production
as well as its distribution and reception.
METHODOLOGY
The study deals with empirical research. This is a non-doctrinal study. This paper depends on
both primary and secondary sources. The data for the present study is collected using random
sampling technique. Random sampling is used to collect the primary information from the
respondents. A random sample of samples has been collected from survey analysis from the
study area. The researchers have collected 205 samples from the respondents. The secondary
data are collected from various sources like books, journals,articles, e-sources. The
researchers have also utilised commentaries, books, articles, notes and other writings to
incorporate the various views of the multitude jurists, with the intention of presenting a
holistic view. The Independent Variable are the Age, gender, occupation. The Dependent
variable includes power abuse by police may reduce the trust of the people on functioning of
Indian government. The current paper uses SPSS analysis.SPSS is short for Statistical
Package for Social Sciences, and it is used by various kinds of researchers for complex
statistical data analysis.
ANALY
Figure 1:
Legend
The figure represents the age distribution of the respondents
Figur
Legend
The figure represents gender distribution of the respondents
Figur
Legend
The figure represents educational qualifications of the respondents
Figur
Legend
The figure represents the occupation of the respondents
Figur
Legend
The figure represents the residencial place of the respondents
Figur
Legend
The figure represents the marital status of the respondents
Figur
Legend
The figure represents that at what level people have trust upon the official after the abuse
faced by them .
Figur
Legend
The figure represents that everyone in the country have right to speak against their problems
based on gender of the respondents.
Figure
Legend
The figure represents that what are the type of police abuse of faced by people.
Figure
Legend
The figure represents effect of abuse of police power .
Figure
Legend
The figure represents that everyone in the country have right to speak against their problems
on the basis of marital status of the respondents.
Figure
Legend
The figure represents the abuse by police can impact in the trust what people have.
Figure
Legend
The figure represents that most common abuse faced by people .
Figure
Legend
The figure represents the effect of abuse of powers by police .
Figure
Legend
The figure represents how people are concerned about the abuse of powers on the basis of age
.
RESU
The figure 1 represents the maximum respondents are from the age group of 30-45 yrs
(32.22%). The figure 2 represents the maximum respondents are from male gender (54.44%).
The figure 3 represents the maximum respondents are from higher secondary schooling
( 32.22%). The figure 4 represents the maximum respondents are from private sector
(33.33%). The figure 5 represents the maximum respondents are from urban areas (44.44%).
The figure 6 represents the maximum respondents are married (53.33%). The figure 7
represents the maximum respondents from 30-45 yrs have said that they still have trust upon
the government officer (31.11%). The figure 8 represents that maximum no. of male
respondents are partially agree that they have their right to perform the rights they have
(32.22%). The figure 9 represents that discriminatory policy are the common form of abuse
said by higher secondary qualified respondents (32.22%). The figure 10 represents that
respondents from private sector said that effects of abusing the powers may create less focus
on community policing . The figure 11 represents that respondents are partially agree that
they have their right to perform the rights they have (31.11%). The figure 12 represents the
maximum respondents have said that they still have trust upon the government officer
(32.22%). The figure 13 represents that discriminatory policy are the common form of abuse
(31.11%). The figure 14 represents that respondents from higher secondary education said
that effects of abusing the powers may create less focus on community policing (32.22%).
The figure 15 represents that people are lightly concerned about abuse of powers by
officers(31.11%).
DISCUSSION
Figure 8 says that everyone in the country has the right to speak up about their problems as
the constitution of India provides them freedom of expression i.e. Article 19(1)(a) of the
Constitution guarantees the right to freedom of speech and expression. The right of
individuals to speak up about their problems, societies can create an environment that values
diverse perspectives, promotes dialogue, and works towards resolving issues in a fair and
democratic manner.
The Figure 12 shows that people from Urban and semi urban areas still have trust on the
Indian government as India has a long-standing tradition of democratic governance, with
regular elections and a system of checks and balances, Government Reforms and
Interventions, and Belief in the Power of Advocacy and Activism.
The Figure 13 shows that discriminatory policies and their impact on police abuse requires
policy reforms, training programs to address bias, and fostering inclusive and community-
oriented policing practices. It is essential to promote policies that uphold equal treatment,
respect human rights, and ensure fairness in law enforcement interactions with all individuals
and communities.
LIMITATION
The major limitation here is that only by looking into the 205 sample frame we will not be
able to come to a conclusion as to whether Experimenters should concentrate on developing
styles that are compatible with the growing legal system. The restrictive area of sample size
is also another major drawback. The physical factors are the most impactful and a major
factor limiting the study.
CONCLUSION
This study provides insight into the misuse of police authority during encounters. The study
provides a comprehensive understanding of the problem by examining patterns and types of
abuse, contributing factors, legal frameworks, impacts on individuals and communities, and
existing measures. To address systemic biases and enhance community engagement, the
findings emphasize the necessity of comprehensive training programs, robust accountability
mechanisms, and reforms. In addition, the research emphasizes the significance of
strengthening policy and legal frameworks to promote transparency and prevent abuse.
Evidence-based recommendations are made based on these findings, with an emphasis on
improving accountability measures, training and education, community-police partnerships,
and cultivating a law enforcement culture of professionalism and respect. In the end, the goal
of this research is to help stop police abuse, protect human rights, and build a just and
accountable law enforcement system that puts people's safety and well-being first.
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PLAGARISM
