GUWAHATI: Last year, a total of 62 complaints were registered against the police personnel in Kamrup (M) district by the citizens, making it the highest district in the state to record such cases.
As per data available with the State Police Accountability Commission (SPAC), out of those 62 cases, 48 belonged to “misconduct” category while the remaining 14 were “serious misconduct” cases.
With 29 cases, Nagaon stood second in terms of cases registered against police personnel last year.
Cases of “serious misconduct” refer to those cases where a police personnel is accused of being involved in the death of someone in police custody, in rape or attempt to commit rape, in extortion, in land/house grabbing, among others.
“Misconduct” cases are those cases where a police personnel breaks his/her social contract and indulges in various unscrupulous activities such as using his/her power for personal or official gain.
According to figures available with SPAC, altogether 310 cases were registered against police personnel in 2018 in Assam. Out of those cases, 250 were misconduct cases and 60 were serious misconduct cases.
However, SPAC, which was established to make the Assam Police more accountable to the people, found it difficult while disposing cases against police personnel.
Speaking exclusively to G Plus, Bojendra Prasad Katakey, chairperson of SPAC said, “The accused is proven guilty only in 20-25% of the cases registered with us. This is because of the difficulty that we face while finding and submitting proof against the accused in the court due to lack of evidence.”
So far this year, SPAC received as many as 115 cases, of which only 29 were disposed.
The Commission has the right to enquire into allegations of serious misconduct against police personnel on complaint received from various sources including a victim or any person on his behalf, National or the State Human Rights Commission and any other sources.
Katakey further added, “If any of the police officials does any misconduct or serious misconduct then the Commission files a First Information Report (FIR) on the basis of the allegation.
“The Commission then takes a report from the DGP and if the Commission feels that there isn't sufficient evidence to support the misconduct then a notice would be issued to the complainant, stating whether he/she has any evidence to support his/her complaint.”