During our training at Hyderabad, Lord Ian Blair (former Metropolitan Commissioner) quoted the statement of Lord Denning in the celebrated case of R. v. Metropolitan Police Comr., Ex parte Blackburn, in 1968. It is claimed that this case "has had more influence over the realities of police governance in their country than any legislated mandate ever did."
The decision relates to the position of the Commissioner of the London Metropolitan Police, who is that force's chief of police. Lord Denning held:
"I have no hesitation in holding that, like every constable in the land, [the Commissioner of the London Metropolitan Police] should be, and is, independent of the executive. He is not subject to the orders of the Secretary of State, save that under the Police Act 1964 the Secretary of State can call on him to give a report, or to retire in the interests of efficiency. I hold it to be the duty of the Commissioner of Police, as it is of every chief constable, to enforce the law of the land. He must take steps so to post his men that crimes may be detected; and that honest citizens may go about their affairs in peace. He must decide whether or not suspected persons are to be prosecuted; and, if need be, bring the prosecution or see that it is brought; but in all these things he is not the servant of anyone, save of the law itself. No Minister of the Crown can tell him that he must, or must not, keep observation on this place or that; or that he must, or must not, prosecute this man or that one. Nor can any police authority tell him so. The responsibility for law enforcement lies on him. He is answerable to the law and to the law alone." One of its detractors and critics Laurence Lustgarten said in The Governance of Police- "seldom have so many errors of law and logic been compressed into one paragraph,"
As per Lord Ian Blair, the situation in Britain today is more explicitly explained by the statement of Lord Denning than that of Laurence Lustgarten. What is your opinion about Police in India?
Amitabh
# 94155-34526
amitabhth@yahoo.com, amitabhthakurlko@gmail.com
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