The Principle of Police Interrogation And Human Rights 

-Ashish Kumar

Introduction

In the Indian social structure, the police are one of the most significant organizations. Not only in Indian society but in societies of the world the police is a very important organization. Police keep and maintain law and order in society and if any individual violates these laws and orders they have the authority to arrest them. The police have the right to detain the accused person. All these powers vested into police authority sometimes leads to misuse of such powers which in turn leads to violation of human rights. But in a police interrogation, the accused have some rights which are mandatory for the accused person. Human rights and police interrogation are closely linked with each other. 

Relation between Police and Human right

Police are the group of people who have been given authority by the state to keep maintain the law and order in the state. The police work for the state they investigate and prevent crime. Police enforce the laws on society and the police duty to protect the basic rights of the people. But sometimes the police misuse their powers. The police interrogating the accused override its power and violate the basic civil and Human rights of living beings. so, to overcome of police these problems the various principles of police interrogation are evolved from time to time. the main motive behind these principles is that police cannot violate the fundamental Human rights of individuals. so these principles are made to protect and promote basic human rights and fundamental rights of individuals which cannot be even taken by the state.

So, the accused has certain rights while he/ she is being held by police for interrogation. 

Principles of Police Interrogation :

There are some principles of police interrogation :

Basic Right to life, liberty and security :

Every person who is being under police interrogation possesses the basic human right to life, security and freedom of his body. The police can not violate this right granted under Articles 20 and 21 of the constitution of India and also under Article 3  of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. 

Against Inhuman treatment and torture

No accused under interrogation by police be subjected to any kind of torture and inhuman treatment that would deprive him of basic fundamental human rights as to dignity, respect and independence.

Right to Equity

Every accused who is under police interrogation should be granted equity before the law and equal protection of the law. This right is recognized under Article 14 of the constitution of India so no authority under state and state even itself can take away this right from any individual under the process of interrogation before the police. 

Interrogation according to the protection of the law

Police while interrogating any accused are required to follow or according to the process of law and not to do any kind of torture on the accused while interrogating. 

Right of accused prior to police interrogation

Person arrested to be informed of grounds to arrest

The person who is arrested is to be informed of the grounds of arrest. Section 50 of the Criminal Procedure Code gives the right to know the grounds of arrest according to this section the police officer making the arrest need to inform the person arrested as soon as possible after the arrest and the offence he is arrested for. 

Right to have a relative of the accused be informed of his arrest

It is the obligation of the person making the arrest to inform about the arrest to a relative of the accused person. The police inform any person who is nominated by the accused when the person has been arrested, the nominated person may be his\ her friend, family member or anyone. 

Right to be informed of the accused to right to bail in bailable offence 

when an accused is arrested by a police officer, the duty of the police officer is to inform him about his right to file for bail and arrange for sureties. 

Right to hire a lawyer

It is the right of the accused who is arrested for any criminal offence to be defended by a pleader of his choice.

Legal Aid

If the accused person is not able to arrange a lawyer for his defence then it’s the duty of the state to provide a lawyer for him for legal aid. This right is also described under article 21 of the constitution of India as the right to legal aid. 

The arrested person is taken before a magistrate

If the police officer arrests any person, then he needs to present the accused before the magistrate within 2-4 hours of arrest and without making any delay. 

Right of accused during interrogation

Right to meet lawyer during interrogation – when any person is arrested by police for interrogation, he should be allowed to meet a lawyer. 

Right against unnecessary restraint

If any person is arrested, he\ she should not be subject to unnecessary restraint required to prevent his escape. 

Right to be medically examined

when any person is arrested by police, he needs to be examined by a medical officer, it is the right of an accused person to be medically examined. 

Confession is not to be used  as evidence in the court

If any person makes any type of confession before the police, then such confession is inadmissible before the court of law. Such confession made cannot be used as evidence against him/her in a court of law. 

Violation of Human rights under police interrogation

Every human being has some basic and fundamental rights. Basic Human rights include rights to food, shelter and clothes. but these days society has advanced in each sector so do the needs of the people in today’s era of every person’s dignity and right to a peaceful life with freedom are also considered basic human rights. In our constitution there are fundamental rights are given under  Article 12-35. Mainly Article 21 which is titled Right to life and personal liberty covers all the basic human rights that a living human is entitled to during his life and this right can’t be taken away by anyone, not even the state. But under police interrogation, there is some time violation of those such human rights.  The police use some type of methods for interrogation which violate human rights.

The police use many methods which violate human rights as –

• Torture
• Mind-altering drugs
• Good cop –bad cop
• Verbal and non-verbal cues
• Deception

1.  TORTURE- torture is mainly third-degree torture including taking away food, exposure to bright lights, electric shocks, keeping in a scheduled place for a long time, physical discomfort etc. Are done in order that the accused to confess or bow down before the authorities. These all acts are against the dignity and count as human behaviour derogatory to the human rights of individuals 
2.  MIND ALTERING DRUGS- this method is used by some officers. In this method, they give the drugs to the accused person to alter the position of mind. This method is illegal. This method is against the basic human rights of individuals. 
3.  GOOD COP-BAD COP – In this method to police officers takes the role of good cop and bad cop. They behave opposite in treatment with the accused this is done so to create an image in the mind of the accused that he can trust the good cop and can tell the truth. It is an illusion created in the mind of the accused.
4.  VERBAL AND NON-VERBAL CLUES – In this method, the interrogator tries to engage the accused in arguments so as to confuse him/her and play with the mind of the accused. This method is used to catch the lies of any is told by the accused.
5. DECEPTION – In this method, the interrogator tries to deceive the accused by telling lies after lies regarding his presence being framed by anyone else at the crime scene. This type of method is not prohibited under any law of India and is frequently used by the police making mental pressure and harming the image and dignity of the other in the mind of the accused which is against human rights 

Conclusion

The individual has some basic and fundamental rights which can’t be violated even in police interrogation. The police can use the legal method for the interrogation. The method which is used is not against the basic human rights of the individual. Authorities need to be corrupt free and individual needs to be more responsible and aware of their rights in order to ensure that no one is deprived of his basic human right while following any process of law .

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