The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government is expected to set up a Police Complaint Authority, within two months, that citizens can approach to report cases of alleged serious misconduct or abuse of authority on part of Delhi Police personnel.
A government source privy to developments in this regard said the move is in line with Supreme Court guidelines issued in 2006 and a recent submission by the Centre and the Delhi government to a two-member Bench of the Delhi High Court that efforts to set up the PCA were in the “advanced stage”.
“The proposal [to set up the authority] has been drafted and sent to the Chief Secretary for his nod,” said the source.
“It will be put up to Lieutenant-Governor Anil Baijal over the coming days and is expected to be notified within two months,” the source said.
Five-member authority
The authority will comprise five members, including a former senior police functionary, a woman member, a representative from civil society and a senior Delhi government functionary.
The proposed authority will be headed by a retired judge nominated by the Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court.
Apart from complaints ranging from death, grievous hurt and sexual assault in police custody, the authority will also be empowered to investigate complaints pertaining to arrest or detention without due process of law, extortion, land or house grabbing by a police personnel, in addition to being apprised of any incident involving “serious abuse of authority” against police personnel.
“Several States and Union Territories have such a system in place already which proves that it can work efficiently irrespective of who has Constitutional control over law and order,” said a senior government official.
“Complaints brought to the attention of the authority will be probed before bringing it to the attention of the Home Secretary or the L-G, as the case may be, for complaints pertaining to personnel below the level of Deputy Superintendent of Police and to the Ministry of Home Affairs for complaints against officials of senior rank,” the official added.
On December 5, the Centre and the Delhi government informed a bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar that they were in an advanced stage of setting up a police complaint authority to look into complaints against erring policemen.
Additional Solicitor General Sanjay Jain said the issue of constitution of a police complaint authority was at an advanced stage before the concerned ministry and “we need some time to take a firm decision.” The bench agreed to their request and listed the matter for January 31, 2018.
