Using criminal cases is the worst kind of harassment of innocent people. We should be against courts and justice system to be used for political purposes. Honesty of police has been jeopardised by too much abuse of police power. Police are more feared than loved.
The lower judiciary is too much under all kinds of pressure including corruption. Our justice system appears to follow, contrary to law, presumption that one is guilty because police has filed FIR against him. We shall never be free without recognizing the importance of fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution. This goes to the root of our justice system to be fair.
When it is one’s fundamental right not to be a witness against himself why he should be interrogated by police alone without the help of his lawyer? This question is not asked and police do not answer.
In most cases confessions are obtained by torture or intimidation but such confessions serve no purpose for finding a person guilty or not. The only effect it has is making our police cruel and overpowering.
The system of FIR based imprisonment and torture in police remand is denial of one’s basic right to be presumed innocent as well as his right against torture.
Helping the police and not protecting the rights of the individual is no help for justice. Such help is no help for the police either as law enforcers.
The police is not to arrest anybody first then interrogate him on police custody to find a case against him. The practice should be otherwise before arrest the police must have sufficient evidence against him.
The UN provided protections are: he is innocent and the police have to prove his guilt in a court of law. The other protection is that he cannot be forced to make confession admitting his guilt. The third protection available to him is that he cannot be subjected to torture or degrading behaviour.
It is no reason to refuse bail claiming that if he is free on bail he will influence evidence, because if he does, his bail will be cancelled and never to be free on bail. Here, the court refuses bail saying the matter is at a very early stage of investigation, meaning helping police is more important than defending the accused’s liberty.
We are anxious to make things easy for police without caring about consequences of such detention for one’s livelihood or family suffering before he is found guilty.
The courts are not supposed to presume an arrested person guilty. The courts in doing justice are to respect one’s rights guaranteed nationally and internationally from arrest to trial.
Easy arrests are not reducing crimes because innocent ones are easily arrested and easily kept in jail.
Let us face the hard truth. Our justice system is being derailed for not adequately protecting the rights of pre-trial prisoners. The demand on the police to produce him before a court without delay does not in practice work to protect his rights against police power. FIR is good enough to keep him in jail. Police can also take him to their custody for questioning.
The lower judiciary needs proper guidance and supervision for ensuring protection of the rights of an accused.
We are citizens of a free country but we have yet to prove our realisation of the importance of securing rights for securing justice and freedom.
