Police abuse of power
10 May, 2009 – Over the past months, there has been an unsettling drumbeat of incidents, where the police have been found to use their badges to falsely arrest and illegally hold private Bhutanese citizens in prison. Two Lhuentse cases, in particular, beg an increased and urgent attention on the issue.
Palden Dorji, 32, an ex-soldier, and Gyeltshen, 35, a mechanic, were both imprisoned arbitrarily by the Lhuentse police for 13 months and eight months, respectively, on suspicion of religious artifacts robbery – one from a chorten and the other from a monastery.
Palden was not told why he was put in prison, even after he was released for “lack of evidence”. Gyeltshen was allegedly tortured and then freed after the stolen artifacts were recovered from actual thieves. Along with him, his wife had been also jailed. The police compensated the couple with Nu 22,900, after BT wrote the story. Police say they are also going to compensate Palden Dorji, after Kuensel wrote the story.
The questions that needs reflection are – Is police above the law? Is compensation after damage to a human being has been done enough? How many such cases go unreported?
What the government can do right away, now that police is under the home ministry, is to appoint an independent agency to investigate the above reported matters, and demonstrate to the increasingly cynical Bhutanese public that the Prime Minister was not kidding when he told the press recently that he was going to “breathe life into every word in the Constitution”.
For the long run, to put limit to what is today an unchecked police power, the government must draw up concrete laws mandating severe punishment for police members found guilty of violating their oaths of office, or the Constitution, for abusing their power.
The justice system must ensure that there is adequate compensation and processes for civil lawsuits against police abuse of power. It must make sure that they are not just a mere window dressing, or a token gesture as it is appearing today.
One of the solutions also lies in the better recruitment, training and discipline of the police.
The police must obey the law while enforcing the law
Source: Kuenselonline