THE POLICE BRUTALITY IN INDIA: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Abstract

The utilization of excessive power by the police might be named as police ruthlessness or police brutality. Although an exact definition of this atrocious act is yet to be given. The phenomenon of police brutality has existed since the commencement of policing in India and with the outbreak of Covid-19, there has been a lofty ascent in such instances of police fierceness. So it turns out to be important to investigate the laws and resolutions that administer the police and why the judiciary has ended up being incapable of curbing this unlawful policing culture. This article focuses on the laws and precedents related to police brutality and some of the instance of police brutality which still remains unsolved or unresolved. This is doctrinal research where the scholar has analyzed the provisions related to police and the reason why the judiciary proved to be ineffective to the common man in providing justice. With the help of the research, the scholar discovered that the Indian laws and statutes governing the police provide sovereign immunity to them which narrows the scope of the victims in getting justice. Even the judgments by the courts only provided pecuniary damages to the victims not only in cases of public liability but even in criminal acts done by the police. This situation of scant police accountability can be tackled if the lower courts are given jurisdiction to try the police brutality cases apart from the Supreme Court and High Courts. Separate acts or provisions should be framed defining the extent and liability of the criminal acts by the police. So that an unerring rule of law can be established.