Thiruvananthapuram, June 26: A top police official today questioned the need for judicial inquiries, saying the national and state human rights commissions had all the powers of a judicial commission as per the 1952 Commission of Inquiries Act. "When there is a state mechanism to look into contentious issues and sensational cases, why should we have a system of judicial inquiry?" Kerala Director General of Police P K Hormis Tharakan asked addressing a roundtable conference on police reforms organised by the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) and the press club here.

The NHRC was chaired by retired chief justices of Supreme Court and the SHRCs by retired high court chief justices. As such, these commissions had judicial character which made orders for judicial probe "unnecessary", he said.

Tharakan said a study by National Police Academy had found that detection rate would come down if police were asked to work within the limitations of human rights demands and directed to stick to scientific investigation. The DGP, however, said he was not defending use of third degree methods by police.

Kerala was implementing the recommendations of the National Police Commission for reforms for the last two years on an experimental basis, he said.

Bureau Report