Any police officer arresting a person should bear accurate, visible and clear identification and name tags with his designations is the first guideline of the Supreme Court of India enunciated with regard to arrest procedure.
Ironically, that is the most breached guideline if the spree of detentions made by different police agencies in the State capital following the twin blasts at Dilsukhnagar is any indication. In almost all cases, policemen in plainclothes without identifying themselves picked up suspects. In some cases, they barged into houses while in others they intercepted individuals on the roadside and whisked them away. “Forget about accurate, visible and clear identification and name tags, the persons who took away these youngsters didn’t even mention that they are policemen leaving their respective family members in mental trauma,” says Lateef Khan of Civil Liberties Monitoring Committee-India.
Syed Adnan, a degree student, stepped out of his house at Ameen Colony in Saidabad when some persons took him away in February last week. After running from pillar to post for next two days, his father Syed Haji, a retired government employee, had to address a press conference seeking the government’s intervention to trace his son.
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He had approached the Malakpet police and several other police officials, but no one could give any specific information why police had taken away his son. Adnan was set free while his family members prepared to file a habeas corpus petition in High Court.
Not just terror-related cases, the apex court guidelines are observed more in breach even in cases of theft. Five of a family were picked up by the police from Yousufain Colony in Chandrayanagutta three days ago. The policemen drove in a Red Tavera and took away the five youngsters stating that they were from nearby Santoshnagar police station.
The tensed up relatives rushed to that station only to realise that the information was wrong. Several hours later, the KPHB police of Cyberabad told media persons that they had detained the five persons on suspicion of involvement in a theft case.
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The guidelines say the arrested person must be made aware of his right to have someone informed of his arrest or detention as he is put under arrest or detained. “In no case this is followed,” Mr. Khan observes stating that violation of the guidelines should be treated as contempt of Supreme Court direction and action should be initiated against erring policemen.