By Falakyar Askari:
“A person entrusted with responsibility must, so to speak, direct himself properly in law. He must call his attention to matters which he is bound to consider. He must exclude from his consideration matters which are irrelevant to what he has to consider. If he does not obey those rules he may truly be said to be acting unreasonably. Similarly, there may be something so absurd that no sensible person could ever dream that it lay within the powers of the authority.” [Associated Provincial Picture Houses Ltd. v. Wednesbury Corpn, All ER pp. 682 H-683 A; (1948) 1 KB 223]
In our real world, the portrayal of police is that of a devil, who cannot be trusted or even thought of as the agency to come to one’s rescue. It is often a depiction of two contrasting facets; one showing that the police is a dreaded agency which is just too reluctant to do any justice and the other dimension is that the ordinary man is an innocent person who has been entangled in the intricacies of the Justice Administration between police and the culprit.
The trouble and tragedy of the police administration is that only corrections are not rare to see, has also been reluctant to look at this aspect. It is therefore the most isolated part of justice administration system. More particularly it is a physical isolation, since it is a “dreaded institution with devils and corrupt people at the helm and does not allow the society to enter and have a feel of the problems they face in their operations.” Their isolation from general public has rendered them both vulnerable to often ill informed criticisms and bordering condemnations and hence a crying need to connect an ordinary citizen with the Police exists.
Truly speaking, the police hold a position of critical importance in the control of crime. They represent a system by which the society deals with the offenders. In that sense, they constitute an interrelated phase of the administration of justice and thereby making contribution to the prevention of anti-social and criminal activities prevalent in the society.
There is no denying that black sheep do occupy place in the system and hence the entire system bears the brunt. No denying that at times under influences, whether legitimate or illegitimate, the common man is denied his right to register complaints. No denying the possibility of yet another situation of misunderstandings and communication gaps and of misfires from both the sides — after all a human is a human. Here arises the need to rescue the common man with some mechanism which may act as a bridge between the public and the police.
What is needed is to connect the victims, besides common men in general, with the police. It should be an activism in the light of police and public relationship in justice administration. Emphasis must be on the agency (police) and the complainant and little on human beings (policeman and the complainant). Such endeavour would give the world a beautiful chance to have an insight into it and present a portrayal of police in our justice system besides enabling administration of justice to each.
When the intentions are right, efforts are endless and knowledge is eternal, victory is inevitable.