Provisions of CRPF, RPFA, PAC challenged

15 February, 2013

Former IPS officer and social activist Amitabh thakur has filed two separate Writ Petitions, one as regards certain sections of the Central Reserve Police Force Act and Railway Protection Force Act, and anotherfor the Provincial Armed Constabulary Act.

The Writ Petitions say that various provisions in these Acts related with criminal offences are discriminatory in nature and hence they shall be declared ultra virus. In the petition he said that all these forces are modelled on the Indian Army.

In the Army Act 1950 every person enrolled in the Indian Army is treated equal as regards the criminal liabilities of his acts and omissions. Similarly, laws related with other Paramilitary forces like Border Security Force (BSF), Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and Seema Suraksha Bal (SSB) also treat all personnel equal regarding their criminal liability.

But the CRPF Act, RPFAct and PAC Act treat the superior officers differently from the subordinate personnel. In these forces, while the subordinate personnel are criminally liable for various acts including absence from duty, ill-treating their subordinates, misbehaving/assaulting their superiors, the senior officers have not been held liable for such acts.

Amitabh Thakur, presently associated with Lucknow-based Institute for Research and Documentation in Social Sciences (IRDS), has challenged these provisions as not being based on any reasoning as being against right to equality as enshrined in Article 14 of the Constitution.