Law enforcement plays a crucial role in maintaining
law and order situation in a region. In India, the law enforcement
responsibility is managed by numerous law enforcement agencies.
Indian Constitution has demarcated law enforcement subject as a
matter of State List. This means that a majority of law enforcement
functions in various States are performed by respective State.
There are some functions that are closely related to
law enforcement responsibilities and that require a unified approach.
To take care of such issues, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs acts
in a centralised manner.
The Union Home Ministry of India has prescribed many
intelligence and law enforcement related projects that rely upon
information and communication technology (ICT). These include
projects like national
intelligence grid (Natgrid), crime
and criminal tracking network and systems (CCTNS),
national
counter terrorism centre (NCTC), etc.
Besides, projects like central
monitoring system, centre
for communication security research and monitoring (CCSRM),
Aadhar/UID,
national
cyber coordination centre (NCCC) of India, national
critical information infrastructure protection centre (NCIPC) of
India, etc are also in pipeline.
All these efforts are praiseworthy and deserve
public support. However, all of these projects are suffering from a
common constitutional problem. None of these projects are governed by
any constitutionally sound legal framework. These projects must
maintain a balance between civil liberties and national security
requirements. This balance is presently missing and these projects
are operating with great disregard to constitutional rights and
freedoms and human rights.
Similarly, we have no constitutionally sound legal
framework for law enforcement and intelligence agencies of India.
Parliamentary
oversight of intelligence and law enforcement agencies of India
is missing. After all intelligence
gathering is not above right to privacy in all
circumstances.
Take the example of the central bureau of
investigation (CBI) and intelligence agencies like intelligence
bureau (IB) of India. The Indian government is not willing to bring
transparency and accountability regarding law enforcement and
intelligence agencies of India.
The recent private bill titled intelligence
services (powers and regulation) bill, 2011 was shelved
out by none other than the Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh
who announced
that law on intelligence agencies would be formulated soon. However,
it proved nothing but a “time gaining tactics” and so far
intelligence agencies of India are not governed by any legal
framework and parliamentary oversight. Interestingly, even the
central bureau of investigation (CBI) is riding the same boat. The
draft
central bureau of investigation act, 2010 is another
example where the Indian government is just interested in making
“declaration” with no actual “intention” to implement the
same. It is high time to show political will to tackle these crucial
and controversial issues as they cannot be ignored any more.
In our subsequent posts, we would cover the techno
legal aspects of intelligence and law enforcement agencies of India.
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