GUWAHATI, May 29 � Terming the Assam Police Act, 2007 a �fraud on the people of Assam�, former Director General of Assam Police Prakash Singh claimed that the Act is nothing but a �gross violation� of a Supreme Court order.
Singh also commented that the Assam Police Accountability Commission headed by Justice DN Choudhury has also been constituted without completely adhering to the SC order. He went on to say that the gamut of serious misconduct on the part of police officials has been stretched beyond the apex court's permissible limit.
Pointing out a host of glaring loopholes in the Act, Singh alleged that the Act entitles itself as a contempt of court case as it failed to comply with the apex court's ruling in 'letter and spirit'. The SC, in its verdict, had fixed certain standard criteria in case of DGP tenure, formation of State Security Commission, besides a host of other aspects aimed at police reforms. The former DGP further advocated the need for challenging the existence of the Act in the court.
Singh was deliberating during a seminar on 'Police Accountability & the Civil Society' organised by the State Police Accountability Commission and the Assam State Legal Service Authority at Assam Administrative Staff College, Khanapara, today.
�Be it in the case of appointment and tenure of DGP or the formation of various commissions, the Act contradicts the SC ruling in more than one way,� Singh pointed out.
Taking the political bosses head-on, the retired Indian Police Service officer alleged that due to their 'uncalled for' intervention in the day-to-day functioning of the police department, accountability to the common people, which should be given top most priority, continues to float at the bottom.
�The chain of command has been broken and the whims of the political executives and bureaucrats tend to eat up the attention and time of the police department, which should have devoted to the issues of the common man,� he said.
Singh, while recalling his tenure in Assam as the DGP, recollected how the Chief Minister's Office facilitated release of ULFA members just for its political gains and that too without even discussing the matter with the police head.
�We definitely need an external force in the form of an Accountability Commission but not contrary to the SC ruling,� he asserted.
Earlier, Chief Justice of Gauhati High Court Justice MB Lokur inaugurated the seminar and deliberated on good governance and public perception linking them to police accountability.
�The Commission can certainly do the job of guarding the guards and only time will tell how good the mechanism turns out to be,� Justice Lokur pointed out.
A host of other speakers including noted scholar Dr Hiren Gohain, veteran journalist DN Bezboruah, Assam Police Commission Chairman Justice DN Chowdhury and Assam DGP Sankar Barua also spoke on various issues revolving round police accountability.
