The number of FIRs registered against personnel is few and far between, show new data from NCRBIndia may not have enough safeguards to protect its citizens from human rights violations by the police, official data suggest. NCRB data from 2006 to 2015 show that on an average, 120 FIRs are filed against the police for rights violations. In the absence of a body similar to the Independent Police Complaints Commission as in the United Kingdom or the Independent Police Investigative Directorate in South Africa, allegations of human rights violations by the police in India are investigated by the police themselves. “The NHRC has complete authority to act against the police, but it chooses not to exercise its power,” lawyer and human rights activist Vrinda Grover said. In seven of the 10 years from 2006 to 2015, not a single policeman was convicted of human rights violations.

Source: The Hindu September 11, 2016 20:15 UTC