Karnataka Police (Amendment) Bill, 2016

Karnataka Legislative Assembly adopted the Karnataka Police (Amendment) Bill, 2016 which gives additional powers to the police.

Karnataka Police Bill, 2016:

• The Bill states that there is a need to give more powers to the police “as negligence on the part of the staff as well as school management is being revealed in almost all the cases so far reported”. There was negligence despite booking cases under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act by the police, who investigate and file the final reports before the courts.
• The Bill also provides for the appointment of the Deputy Commissioner of the district concerned as chairperson of the District Police Complaints Authority instead of the present practice of appointing regional commissioners.
• A provision has also been made to appoint retired civil servants, not below the rank of Assistant Commissioner, as members of these panels instead of the present practice of appointing retired civil servants not below the rank of joint secretary.
• The Karnataka Police (Amendment) Bill, 2016 also seeks to remove certain Sections that are being viewed as discriminatory against transgenders. It proposes to replace the word ‘eunuch’ with ‘person’ in some Sections. This follows a court case in which the transgender community argued that some Sections of the Act were “discriminatory”.

Background:

This step has been taken in the wake of the Karnataka High Court’s observation that regional commissioners were unable to serve the purpose as heads of these panels owing to their busy schedule.