Govt drags its feet over police complaint authority

The State government is still dilly-dallying on setting up a Police Complaint Authority (PCA), even after a massive protest demonstration staged by lawyers on January 17 against alleged police atrocity on an advocate.

Hundreds of lawyers had held the City to ransom for seven long hours, blocking traffic in the Central Business District in the wake of a police constable manhandling advocate Balakrishna after flagging him down for not wearing a helmet while riding his motorbike.

Such a situation could have been averted had there been a police complaint commission in the State, sources said. The government had been planning a PCA for more than a year and a half, to look into complaints against police action, but nothing concrete has emerged so far. On September 7 last year, it formally announced the formation of a PCA and even chose Justice R J Babu as chairman, but it did not set up a two-member committee comprising a retired bureaucrat and a representative from a reputable NGO. The two members are to be nominated by the Lokayukta, the State Public Service Commission and the State Human Rights Commission.

Director General of Police Shankar M Bidari said, “We are looking into the matter. There are some technical difficulties. Shortly, we will form a PCA,” he said.

Anti-graft crusader Anna Hazare-led India Against Corruption (IAC) is up in arms over the government inaction in setting up a PCA. Prithvi Reddy, an IAC officer-bearer, said the police were to be blamed for traffic snarls such as the one that occurred on January 17, inconveniencing people in large parts of Bangalore.

“This is not the first time these kinds of atrocities by the police have taken place. Though the State government had formally announced the formation of PCA and appointed a chairman, it did not set up the committee to allow the watchdog agency to function properly. The government is neither setting up the committee nor has it given details on how to approach the PCA,” Reddy said.

He said the Supreme Court, which had directed the states to set up a PCA, had admonished Karnataka in 2010-end for not adhering to its order.