Director General of Police Prakash Mishra has been harping on the police force to become public-friendly, but the men in khaki are apparently reluctant to shun their British Raj image.
This is evident from the recent activity report of the Odisha Human Rights Commission (OHRC) for the year 2012-13, which was tabled in the State Assembly’s last session. Take the case of lalman Suna, a resident of village Khari under the Tarva police station of Subarnapur district.
He filed a petition alleging misbehaviour of Constable Dilip Mishra of the Tarva police station in an intoxicated state against his son Sushil Suna. After investigation and long a hearing, the OHRC held that there was violation of human rights of the victim and awarded a compensation of Rs 40,000 in his favour. Several such cases have come to the knowledge of the OHRC, whose report says that in 2012-13 there were 3,873 petitions, of which as many as 1,356 are against the police and 156 against the jail administration.
A total of 536 cases are related to service matters and 543 concerning harassment to women while 79 relate to neglect in health services, 25 relate to children and 71 in connection with minority and SC, ST matters.
This year, the OHRC received 1,227 cases, of which 523 are against the police and 63 against the jail aAdministration. OHRC also has taken 51 cases suo motu in the year, out of which 17 are against the police.
On the direction of OHRC, a number of cases was investigated by the competent authorities, including district police administration. After investigations and hearings, the commission has recommended awards in favour of the victims during the year 2012-13.
This year, the OHRC has ordered 43 compensations for victims, the amount ranging between Rs 50,000 and Rs 2 lakh. Out of these 43 cases, in 21 cases compensation money went to victims who filed complaints against police atrocities and 12 for custodial deaths. Two victims got compensation for inaction of the police.