Jahanvi Agarwal
According to Justice Gautam Patel of the Bombay High Court, a ‘hero cop’ delivering swift justice without regard for the law, as shown in blockbuster films like ‘Singham’, sends out a very harmful message.
At a gathering initiated by the Indian Police Foundation to celebrate both its annual day and police reforms day, he questioned the public’s involvement with the legal system. The judge highlighted that the judgment of the Prakash Singh case[1] by the Supreme Court was an “opportunity missed” with regard to police reforms and that we cannot alter the legal system unless we first reform ourselves.
Justice Patel stated:
“Judges are often portrayed in films as being timid, docile, wearing thick spectacles, and frequently dressed very poorly. They claim that courts pardon the guilty. Justice is delivered by the heroic police officer alone, he claimed. The climactic scene of the film Singham, in which the entire police force surrounds the politician played by Prakash Raj, demonstrates how justice has been done. However, I do wonder if it has. Why all the hurry? We have to determine whether or not it is guilty or innocent. These procedures take time because it is a fundamental principle that no one’s freedom should be taken away.”
Justice Patel praised Prakash Singh, the former Director General of Police for Uttar Pradesh, during his remarks at the gathering. Singh filed a PIL with the Supreme Court, seeking changes to the way the police machinery functions. Singh’s “undaunted and untiring efforts in making police reforms a reality,” which resulted in the 2006 police reforms ruling, were lauded by the speaker.
[1] Prakash Singh & Ors vs. Union of India and Ors W.P.(civil) 310 of 1996.