High Court Orders Training Of Punjab Cops On Fundamental Rights Especially Article 21, Recommends Compulsory Exam

Observing that  "police officers are performing the duties which touch upon freedom of life and liberty," the Punjab & Haryana High Court has directed the Director General of Police, Punjab to arrange a training program on Fundamental Rights for police officials irrespective of their ranks.

Justice Jasgurpreet Singh Puri said, "This Court is of the view that even the police officers should also be given adequate training dedicated only on the chapter of Fundamental Rights and especially Article 21 of the Constitution of India since they are in day to day functioning and rather minute to minute functioning performing the duties which touch upon the freedom of life and liberty of the citizens of India. Article 21 of the Constitution of India not only protects the citizens of India but it also protects any other person irrespective of his/her nationality."

It added further that deprivation of the right of speedy trial due to carelessness, insensitiveness, malafide or any other reason on the part of police officers is unacceptable and violative of Article 21 of the Constitution of India. Therefore, even the police officers should also be imparted dedicated training by engaging appropriate faculty, who are experts in the field of Constitutional Law from any University or otherwise on the subject of Fundamental Rights.

These observations came in response to a bail plea filed by an accused under the NDPS Act registered at District SAS Nagar, Punjab.

The petitioner submitted that he is in custody for about 3 years, and 7 months and he is not involved in any other case.

Considering the submissions, the Court noted that charges were framed by the trial Court in 2021, which is almost 2 years ago "but not even a single prosecution witness has been examined to date."

As per the affidavit filed by the DIG, STF, Mohali, the matter was adjourned for 18 dates and for 6 times bailable warrants were issued and even 2 times non-bailable warrants were issued to the Deputy Superintendent of Police, STF, Amritsar and on 9 occasions summons were issued to various other prosecution witnesses but they did not appear before the Court for deposition, added the Court.

When the Court asked why the prosecution witnesses had not deposed before the Trial Court for almost two years after the framing of the charges, the response, received after instructions from the concerned officers present in Court, stated that there was no valid justification for the delay. Consequently, action is now to be taken against the police officials in this regard, he informed.

In light of the above, the Court granted the bail to the accused considering his custody period and on the ground of parity.

Justice Puri further stated that the bar contained under Section 37 of the NDPS Act will not apply to the present petitioner in the light of Article 21 of the Constitution and also in the judgments of the  Supreme Court [ Mohd. Muslim @ Hussain v. State (NCT of Delhi)”, 2023 AIR (SC) 1648 ; Rabi Prakash versus The State of Odisha”, Special Leave to Appeal (Criminal) No.4169 of 2023]

Non-deposition Of Prosecution Witness 

The Court took serious note of the issue with regard to the non-deposition of prosecution witnesses for a long period of time resulting in the long incarceration of the accused.

It stated that "the police acts and performs its duty as per law but at the same time it is the duty of the Police Administration to have detailed and in-depth knowledge of the Fundamental Rights of the citizens of India, especially under Article 21 of the Constitution of India."

It is extremely necessary to sensitize and to give proper learning to the police officers at least on Article 21 of the Constitution of India so that while performing their duties they should be aware of this most precious provision.

The Court recalled that earlier it had directed the Judicial Academy to impart training to Judicial Officers of the State of Punjab, Haryana and U.T., Chandigarh dedicated to the subject of Fundamental Rights only, since the justice delivery system is also dependent upon Article 21 of the Constitution.

It is pertinent to note that in November, after facing the Court's wrath the Punjab Government informed the High Court that it has issued directions to the police officers to not seek more than one adjournment from the trial court for appearing as a witness in NDPS cases.

It was also submitted that the DSP of the area concerned shall be personally responsible for ensuring the presence of witnesses who have been summoned through bailable or non-bailable warrants in any trial under the NDPS / PTNDPS Act.

The development came after the strong criticism from Justice Manjri Nahru Kaul, regarding police officials not appearing as witnesses in NDPS Act cases. She observed that such non-appearance often led to prolonged trials, resulting in the bail of 'Drug mafias.'

Training Program & Exam On Fundamental Rights For Police 

Expressing concern over prolonged trials, the Court directed the Director General of Police, Punjab, to establish a systematic schedule for providing education on Fundamental Rights, especially Article 21 of the Constitution of India, to all police officers in the State of Punjab, regardless of their rank and cadre. 

It will be also appreciable if a short notebook etc. is prepared for their guidance and even a short exam can also be made compulsory at least for the ranks upto the level of Deputy Superintendent of Police, added the Court.

The Court further clarified that the direction is only for the purpose of improvement of the criminal justice system and will not be deemed to mean any adverse observation against any police officer.

Appearance: Yajur Sharma, Advocate for the petitioner.

Luvinder Sofat, DAG, Punjab.

Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (PH) 270

Title: Karam Singh Alias Salu v. State of Punjab

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