What does it take to file a complaint against the city police?

BENGALURU: The first step would be to somehow make it past the police manning the gates of the Vikasa Soudha to the office of the Police Complaints Authority .
Madhava Reddy managed the first leg past a cop who turned hostile when he learnt of the reason for his visit. But inside, he encountered another belligerent policeman, who turned him back saying the PCA office had been shifted, and he didn't know where to.

The Marathahalli resident wanted to file a complaint against a police inspector who he said refused to register a case of theft.

If, unlike Reddy, one makes it to the PCA office, the next step would be to find someone to register the complaint. And that's where the chase ends, because the PCA has no one to investigate the complaints.

Out of a sanctioned staff strength of 55, the PCA has five, none an investigative officer. The PCA hasn't investigated even one of the 261 complaints registered with it since it was instituted a year-and-half ago. And according to PCA chairman M P Chinnappa, a retired Karnataka high court judge, he's the only active member out of the five appointed.

“There are no officers to investigate cases,“ said Adarsh G K, general secretary, Human Rights Defenders Forum, which has filed a petition before the Karnataka High Court for the state to fill up vacancies in the PCA. “The complaints can be dealt with effectively only when there is sufficient staff.“

Not that the PCA has punitive authority; it can only investigate and recommend action against erring policemen. Conceding that accessibility is a problem, Chinnappa said he has proposed to the state home department to sanction a separate building outside the secretariat.

The Supreme Court in 2006 directed all state governments to establish PCAs at the state and district levels.It took Karnataka seven years to establish a state PCA in Bengaluru in September 2013. The district offices are yet to be established.

Within three months, 106 complaints were filed. Then, over the next 15 months, as the authority's ineptitude became evident, only 155 complaints were registered.

Chinnappa also pointed out that the state has appointed two serving po lice officials as members of the PCA, violating the Supreme Court guidelines. According to the guideline, the five members can a retired judge of the Supreme Court or a high court, retired civil servants or police officers, retired officers from any other government department, or from civil society.