The cinematic image of a hero cop delivering quick justice without bothering about the due process of law, as shown in blockbuster films like Singham, sends out a very harmful message, Justice Gautam Patel of the Bombay High Court said here.
Speaking at a function organised by the Indian Police Foundation to mark its annual day and Police Reforms Day, he also questioned people's impatience with the process of law.
Talking about police reforms, the judge said that the Supreme Court's judgement in the Prakash Singh case was an opportunity missed, and also noted that the law enforcement machinery can not be reformed unless we reform ourselves.
The image of police as bullies, corrupt and unaccountable is a populist one and the same can be said about anyone in the public life including judges, politicians and journalists, he said. When the public thinks that the courts are not doing their job, it celebrates when the police step in, the judge said.
This is why when a rape accused is killed in an encounter while allegedly trying to flee, people think it is not just alright but it is celebrated. Justice has been served, they feel, but has it? he said. In movies, police rail against judges who are shown as docile, timid, thickly-spectacled and often very badly dressed. They accuse courts of letting the guilty go. The hero cop delivers justice single-handedly, he said.
Singham movie has especially shown in its climax scene where the entire police force descends on the politician played by Prakash Raj and shows that justice has now been served. But I ask, has it, Justice Patel said, adding that we should think how dangerous that message is Why this impatience? It has to go through a process where we decide innocence or guilt. These processes are slow they have to be because of the cardinal principle that the liberty of an individual is not to be confiscated, he added.