14-06-2012, 04:40 PM
DEFENCE FORCES OF INDIA
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Introduction
India has one of the world's largest populations of pre-trial detainees with 249,796 people in overcrowded and unsanitary prisons. While in police custody, these Indian citizens are often subjected to beatings, sleep deprivation, and shock treatments - all in violation of their fundamental constitutional rights. Subjected to inhuman and degrading treatment, they are an example of human rights abuses on a colossal scale. Four people die in police or judicial custody every day from these abuses.
Many of these deaths could be avoided if cases were swiftly resolved. However, each year more cases are filed in Indian courts than can ever be disposed of, creating a huge bottleneck in the criminal justice system. There are currently 26,752,193 pending cases in Indian courts and in some jurisdictions case loads are so high that it would take a thousand years to clear court dockets. Because of this backlog, detainees who cannot make bail are sometimes kept in pretrial detention longer than the maximum sentence they would have received if convicted. In one case, a man was held in pretrial detention for 54 years even though the maximum sentence for his crime was only 10 years. During these periods of pre-trial detention, arrestees are at the greatest risk of human rights abuses as victims have reported that the longer the period of detention, the more intense the violence against them becomes.
These abuses are made worse and worse by the continuing deterioration of the Indian Police, one of the most ill-equipped police departments in the world. For every 1,037 Indian residents there is only one police officer. (Asian average: 558, global average: 333). Understaffed, under-skilled and under-resourced, the police in many Indian states work long hours under filthy labor conditions. Junior officers face intense pressure from supervisors to solve cases quickly and efficiently. As a result, bribery, brutal torture, murders, illegal arrests and other human rights abuses have become the norm, rather than the exception.
Recently, India has demonstrated an increased commitment to rule of law and citizens’ legal rights. Because of police abuses during interrogation, Article 22 of the Indian Constitution was added to prevent police from detaining citizens for longer than 24 hours without a special order from a magistrate. Though domestic law grants this fundamental legal right, there remains a tremendous gulf between the actual law and its implementation. Police officers regularly detain suspects for several days, post-dating arrest documents 24-hours before producing the defendant before the magistrate. Similarly, pretrial detainees are routinely denied due process rights taken for granted in the western world: notice of charges and an opportunity to contact family or lawyers. In many cases these prisoners – poor and marginally literate – are completely unaware they have any legal rights at all, further emboldening police officers.
NGOs have been successful in lobbying Indian authorities to criminalize torture, organizing public awareness campaigns on the issue of torture and aiding the rehabilitation of torture victims. However, systematic police denial, obstruction, an absence of records and a lack of accountability continues to plague the system.
Despite the fact that India has a limited legal aid system, the vast majority of pre-trial detainees never receive any legal representation, making this right illusory at best. India's current legal aid system operates primarily in urban areas, and due to caste segregation many Indians do not receive access to legal aid at all. Each of India's 28 states operates its own Legal Services Authority, resulting in an uncoordinated approach to India's legal aid problems.
Indian Army
The basic responsibility of the Army is to safeguard the territorial integrity of the nation against external aggression. Due to the country’s long borders encompassing different geographical and climatic conditions such as desert terrain on the west, snow-covered mountains in the north and thick rained mountainous jungles in the east, the Army has to constantly prepare itself for diverse challenges. In addition, the Army is often required to assist the civil administration during internal security disturbances and in the maintenance of law and order, in organizing relief operations during natural calamities like floods, earthquakes and cyclones and in the maintenance of essential services. Demands on the Army have increased manifold due to continuous deployment of its forces in intense counter insurgency operations in Jammu & Kashmir and the North East parts of the country. To achieve these objectives, the Army has to be constantly modernized, suitably structured, equipped and trained.
Indian Navy
India is a maritime nation strategically straddling the Indian Ocean with or substantive seaborne trade. To ensure their sustained development, umbilical linkages with the mainland and maritime security protection are essential pre-requisites of our maritime security. Our offshore assets within the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of 2.02 million sq. kms, fisheries and deep sea interests, major and minor harbors and the overall seaward security of long coastline and island territories are other vital aspects of our maritime dimension and Navy’s responsibilities.
Indian Navy has consciously taken the difficult route of indigenization in consonance with the national Endeavour towards self-reliance. The Navy embarked upon a program me for indigenous construction of ships and development of major sub systems, sensors and weapon systems with the help of Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) and Defense Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs).
The Indian Navy is organized into three regional commands
• HQ EASTERN NAVAL COMMAND, VISAKHAPATNAM
• HQ WESTERN NAVAL COMMAND, MUMBAI; AND
• HQ SOUTHERN NAVAL COMMAND, KOCHI
The Indian Navy is divided into the following broad categories
• Administration
• Logistics and Material
• Training
• The Fleets
• The Naval Aviation and
• The Submarine Arm