Most of the 700-odd complaints by the residents to the Maharashtra State Police Complaints Authority over the past one year are claims that the police do not register First Information Reports (FIRs) and conduct no subsequent investigations. The authority, headed by retired Bombay High Court Justice A V Potdar, completed a year of operations on January 2 and received 649 complaints from across the state until now. It works as an independent body and looks into complaints of torture, abuse and harassment by the police. It has been ordained the powers of a civil court and conducts independent investigation into complaints. Retired Justice Potdar said that so far, 196 cases have been disposed off, 259 are being heard and 194 are under investigation. “People approach us when police stations don’t register their complaints. We have observed that when the police find out that a complainant has approached the authority, they immediately register complaints,” he said adding that people also complained about police personnel using abusive language and not being satisfied with investigation conducted into their complaints. Retired Justice Potdar backed up the observation with the example of a woman who was turned away by the police when she went to complain about her in-laws who allegedly took away her jewellery. “After we sent notices to the police station concerned, they registered her complaint and recovered the jewellery. The case is now in being heard in court,” he said. The authority receives complaints through letters and emails and conducts a preliminary investigation to ascertain how genuine the allegations are. “When we are convinced that there is substance in the complaint, we take information from the police station,” said Retired Justice Potdar. The authority then seeks answers from the police and conducts its own investigation before passing an order. Retired Additional Director General of Police P K Jain, who is a member of the authority, said disposing off a case generally takes five-six months. The recommendations for action against errant police personnel are binding upon the state government. “If the government does not want to take action in a case, it has to give written reasons,” said Retired Justice Potdar. So far, the authority has recommended that the government take strict action against an officer at Kurla police station who wrongfully detained a college student overnight last year. In the course of a year, the authority has also found two cases that were not genuine. Retired Justice Potdar said that in such cases, there are provisions to impose punishments and fines against people for making false allegations against police personnel. While complaints against senior police officers are heard at the authority’s headquarters in Mumbai, complaints against police stations and lower rank police personnel are referred to regional centres in the Konkan region, Nashik, Pune, Amravati, Nanded, Nagpur and Aurangabad. Retired Justice Potdar said the authority is keen to set up a centre in Navi Mumbai.
