Police not law maker, but enforcer of law: Justice Ujjal Bhuyan

A CORRESPONDENT

LAKHIMPUR, May 26: “The service of the police department will not be effective if the relation between police and public is not developed. The police department is the immediate authority for the common people to provide them justice during the hour of their need,” stated Brojenda Prashad Kotoky, retired Justice of the Gauhati High Court and the chairperson of the State Police Accountability Commission (SPAC), Assam, at an awareness programme-cum-interaction session in Lakhimpur on Saturday.

Inaugurating the programme held at the auditorium of North Lakhimpur College (Autonomous) covering Lakhimpur and Dhemaji districts under the aegis SPAC, in association with the police department, the chairperson spoke on the importance of organizing the awareness-cum-interaction programme.

“Only 1,200 complaints were filed at SPAC against serious misconduct by the police during the period of last 10 years. It does not mean that there are not many allegations against police personnel in the State, it implies the lack of public awareness regarding the issues,” he said. He also highlighted why there was need to make the common people aware of the beneficial legislation under Assam Police Act, 2007 which could be used to register complains of misconduct by police personnel. He added that the maximum participation of common people lodging complaint against misconduct by police could help administrative reforms in the police department.

The event, which was anchored by DSP Rashmi Rekha Sarmah, was chaired by Harendra Kumar Dev Mahanta, the secretary of SPAC, who also delivered the welcome address. Justice of Gauhati High Court, Ujjal Bhuyan participated in the programme as the chief guest. “Police is not law-maker but enforcer of law. There must be a dedicated team in the department for crime investigation. The department must take its faithful services to the threshold of the common people in order to wipe out the gap between police and public,” he stated in his lecture. He expressed his grievances on the issue of common people taking law in their hands every now and then in the State.

Shahnaz Rahman, the member of SPAC, stressed the seriousness of police regarding the handling of sensitive cases like trafficking and rape. Pradip Kumar Saloi, IGP(administration) elaborated the steps of reformation taking place in the police department in order to promote efficiency of the police personnel in the course of time. Lakhimpur District and Session Judge MA Choudhury, Chief Investigator of SPAC, Bhudev Goswami, Dhemaji District and Session Judge Sutham Das also delivered informative lectures on various aspects of SPAC and the accountability of police.