Assam Police -- History

Rights of the Public:

Article 21 of the Constitution provides that no person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except according to procedure established by law. Every person has the right to live with human dignity which include guarantee against torture and assault.

Article 20(3) of the Indian Constitution gives the individual protection against self incrimination.

Right to be informed of the grounds of arrest (Section 50, 55 and 75 of the Cr.P.C. & Supreme Court Judgement in Writ Petition (Crl) No. 539 of 1986 D.K. Basu Vs State of West Bengal.

Right not to be subjected to unnecessary restraint (Section 49 of Cr.P.C.).

Right against arbitrary or illegal detention in custody (Section 56, 57 and 76 of Cr.P.C.).

Right to be released on bail if arrested (Section 436, 43, 50(2) and 167 of Cr.P.C.)

Right to obtain receipt when property is seized (Section 100(6) and (7) of the Cr.P.C.).

Right not to be detained for more than 24 hrs after arrest without judicial scrutiny (Section 57 of Cr.P.C.).

Right to medical examination at his behest to disprove the commission of an offence by him or to establish commission of an offence against his body by others (Section 54 of the Cr.P.C.).

Right to a fair and speedy investigation (Sec. 309 CRPC).

Right to legal aid at the expense of the State in certain cases (Sec. 304 of the Code).

Any person when arrested has the right to inform his friend/relative of his arrest or detention (Supreme Court Judgement in Writ Petition (Crl) No.539 of 1986 D.K. Basu Vs State of West Bengal).

Any person arrested/detained without reasonable grounds has the right to take shelter of the Court U/S 220 IPC.

Nothing is an offence which is done in the exercise of the right of private defence(Sec. 96 of IPC).

Rights of Women:

Every woman has a right to lodge a complaint in the police station , if she is forced to have sexual intercourse against her will (Sec. 376 of IPC).

Every woman has a right to take legal action against any person who assaults or tries to outrage her modesty by any deliberate constant gesture or physical force(Sec. 354 of IPC).

A woman has the right to lodge a complaint if she is being harrassed, even teased and passed rude remarks in public places like buses, trains, roads etc. (Sec. 354 of IPC).

Every woman has a right to take legal action against her husband if she is being tortured both physical and mentally or tortured for not agreeing to the demand of money or valuables (Sec. 498(A) of IPC).

If the relations of the husband of a woman or her mother-in-law or any other relatives, torture her and demand money, valuable articles from her parents, she can lodge a complaint against them. (Sec. 498(A) of IPC).

If a woman has been kidnapped and either forced against her will to marry any person or to have sexual intercourse, a crime has been committed and she has the right to lodge a complaint. (Sec. 366 of IPC).

If any person demands or requests for sexual favours, passes sexually coloured remarks, or verbally or non-verbally conducts himself in a sexual manner to the woman at her work place, then she has the right to complain against this harrassment to her employer and the complaint would be lodged through as per procedure/guidelines of the Supreme Court. (Supreme Court judgement in Writ Petition No-666-700 of 1992 in Vishaka and others Vs State Of Rajasthan).

A woman if she is a witness has a right to be examined in her own house in the presence of her close relatives(Sec.160 of Cr.P.C.).

A woman should not sign the FIR unless she is satisfied that it is accurate. (National Commission for women).
If the officer concerned refuses to register the FIR, a copy of the complaint should be sent to the Superintendent of Police immediately ( N.C.W.).

Every woman has the right to take legal action by approaching the Court if the officer in charge does not take any action on the complaint(N.C.W.).

Rights of child:

The UN convention on the Rights of Child which lndia ratified in 1992, lists the following as the Rights of the child.

The Right to survival : According to the convention, the "Right to survival includes the right to life, the attainable standard of health, nutrition and an adequate standard of living. It also includes the right to a name and nationality". These rights seek to ensure that the children have nutritious food, potable drinking water, a secure home and access to health facilities.

The Rights to Protection : According to the convention, this right includes freedom from all forms of exploitation, abuse and inhuman or degrading treatment. This Includes the right to special protection in situations of emergency and armed conflict. The aim is simple, to protect vulnerable children from those who would take advantage of them and to safeguard their minds and bodies.

The Right to development : The right includes the right to be educated, to receive support for development and care during early childhood and to social security. It also includes the right to leisure, to recreation and to cultural activities. This right seeks to ensure that children can study and play with whomever they want, practice their own religion and culture and accept their own uniqueness of other cultures and religion.

The Right to participation : According to the convention, the Riqht to participation accords the child access to appropriate information and the freedom of thought and expression, conscience and religion. In addition to this, one ought to respect the views of the child. The aim here is to see that the children are able to develop their own set of values and principles and that they have the opportunity to express themselves and their own opinions.

Apart from the Rights of Child laid down by the U.N.Conventions following are some of the Rights of child laid down by different Acts & the Indian Constitution :

No person below eighteen years of age shall be allowed to work in any mine or part thereof (The Mines(Amendment) Act 1983).

No child who has not completed his fourteenth year shall be required or allowed to work in any factory(The factories Act, 1948).

The Juvenile Justice Act, 1986:
The Juvenile Justice Act was enacted to provide for the care, protection, treatment, development and rehabilitation of neglected or delinquent juveniles and for the adjudication of certain matters related to and desposition of delinquent juveniles.

Childline:
Childline is a 24 hour free emergency phone service for children in need of care and protection. This service was set up in order to reach out to children who were being denied their rights. Every child /concerned adult can dial 1098 to access this service. This service has already been functioning in major cities of India and is shortly being opened in Guwahati.