The police may have the ability to control traffic, but they cannot be used to violate citizens’ fundamental rights, as the Gauhati High Court recently stated when hearing a PIL on the assault on a biker by an officer in Guwahati for a “trivial offence.”
After receiving a “alarming letter” from Supreme Court advocate Manish Goswami, the basis of the suo motu PIL, the bench of Chief Justice RM Chhaya and Justice Soumitra Saikia directed the Assam Police authorities on Monday to “to impart training to all police constables, who are handling traffic in cities, more particularly at all district levels, to remain citizen centric.”
On Monday, RM Chhaya and Justice Soumitra Saikia urged the Assam Police authorities to “impart training to all police constables, who are handling traffic in cities, more particularly at all district levels, to remain citizen centric.”
Goswami brought to the attention of the HC chief justice an incident that occurred on March 17 at Paltan Bazar in the city when a person riding a two-wheeler with his wife and their three-year-old child was assaulted by the constable on duty at the time, Fakhruddin Ahmed, for an alleged minor traffic violation. The incident was caught on camera and quickly went viral on social media.
The additional senior government counsel claimed that the authorities took the matter seriously and took necessary measures against the erring police officers. However, the bench stated, “For a trivial traffic offence, the police personnel should not and cannot be permitted to take law in their hands.
“It is, however, clarified that if there is any breach of traffic rules, the police personnel could have taken action in accordance with law instead of using force on the innocent citizens.” the statement continued. According to the bench, such an incident occurred “because of lack of training.”
“Though tolerance is a personal capability,” the court concluded, the authorities should practise it.
“periodically apprise their police personnel, more particularly on site, and practical training should be given by higher officers of the respondent authorities. The police personnel, who are handling the traffic junctions, are required to keep a citizen centric approach instead of using their might.”
The court also instructed the state authorities to “to educate their police personnel about their rights and responsibilities as a public servant” adding that “appropriate basic knowledge of law relating to the same should be imparted by conducting training.”
The court directed the state government to organise a committee to teach police officers on such laws in order to avoid similar incidents in the future.