**Public urged to utilise services in serious allegations against police
The Capital News
Mangalagiri: May 28: The services of the State Police Complaints Authority are available across the State. As part of it, the Authority for Guntur district has been established under the chairmanship of former district sessions judge R Niranjan.
The office is located at the basicde of Murugan hotel under the purview of Mangalagiri in Guntur district. On this occasion, Authority Chairman Niranjan and Officer Chennakesavulu explained the details and functioning of the newly established authority.
The authority will receive complaints from the public who face unnatural problems from the police personnel. The authority can work as a quasi-government and it would conduct inquiries as civil courts and submit reports to the government on particular complaints.
The authority was established as per the directions of the Supreme Court. The State Police Complaints Authority office headquarters is located at Vijayawada and located in Karthikeya Residency, Kanakadurga Nagar 3rd line, Kanur, Vijayawada.
The Supreme Court of India in its historical judgment in the Prakash Singh Case delivered in September 2006, directed all State governments and central governments to set up Police Complaints Authorities in all the States.
These are intended to function as robust, independent mechanisms designed to make the police accountable and can deal exclusively with complaints of serious misconduct and dereliction of duty by the police.
The SPCA is constituted and its functioning started from March 13 with the Chairman as head of the office and three members in State and district-wise authorities.
The State Police Complaint Authority (SPCA) will take up complaints against police officers of Additional Superintendent of Police and above cadre on allegations of “serious misconduct” involving –death, grievous hurt, or rape in police custody only.
The District Police Complaints Authority (DPCA)s will take up allegations against police officers of up to the rank of Deputy SPs on the allegations of “serious misconduct” involving death, grievous hurt or rape in police custody, extortion of land or house grabbing, and serious abuse of authority by the police. The Authority will not take up the complaints of the vague, anonymous, pseudonymous, illegible, trivial, or frivolous.
