Should the powers and duties of policemen at the police station be disclosed pro-actively?
31 Mar, 2012A meet was organised by Society for Women Action and Training Initiative (SWATI) and Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI). An open house was organised at the Ahmedabad Management Association (AMA), where the police and citizens came together and discussed the issue of transparency in police stations and the need for proactive disclosures under RTI Act.
The issue of listing powers and duties of individual policemen at the police station, list of documents that are held by police station or under its control like FIRs, providing particulars of any arrangements that exists with the consultation of the public, copies of works of police committees and a directory of its officers and employees greater participation of police stations in proactive disclosures and the participation of police in pro-active disclosure were discussed.
Venkatesh Nayak, programme co-ordinator for CHRI said, "Police-public interface should not be underestimated and nor should they be stymied through poor control”. Many cases were discussed including women facing domestic violence who followed their individual cases by using RTIs.
It is the need of the day that both the police and the public must also know the law and all the public authorities should be aware of the obligations under the RTI Act.