INTRODUCTION Policing and Human Rights are closely interrelated concepts. Ironically though, the general belief is that good policing cannot go hand in hand with human rights. One really needs to examine whether this is actually so and also if human rights is something which, as a concept, has come up very recently and is more in the nature of imposition on the police force. This analysis becomes more crucial in the face of incidents which have been disturbing for the society and the nation on the whole. Police, it would not be wrong to say, have been in news almost every day for wrong reasons most of the time in recent history. Nithari incident had shocked the country. The incident however, cannot be viewed in isolation. An analysis of the reasons that led to the situation would state that the police is unfortunately, always obsessed by the fact that increase in crime figures would be held against them and that they could be penalized for that. Incidence of inaction, non-registration of cases, tampering with evidence, custodial crime and police excesses or brutality likes rape, molestation, torture, fake encounter and death in police lockups and prisons are also reported with disturbing regularity. Indeed one gets an impression from reading this news that the police instead of defending legal and custodial rights of the people, functions as an instrument of violation. It conveys a notion that police force in our country is made of insensitive, brutal and corrupt officials, ignoring the fact that thousands of policeman have given their lives to protect and safeguard the integrity of nation and have rendered valuable service in crime prevention by putting down organized crime and by giving relief and succour to people affected by natural calamities. It is argued that the concept of human rights is opposed to effective law enforcement as the latter would necessarily imply “bending the rules” at times. In other words, end justifies the means. A tendency to use overwhelming force in controlling demonstrations, physical pressure to extract information from detainees, or excessive force to secure an arrest can be observed now and then, it is believed. While law enforcement is thought to be a war against crime, human rights are considered nothing more than obstacles in achieving this objective. As a matter of the fact violations of human rights by police only make the already challenging task of law enforcement more difficult. When the law Manual on Human Rights for Police Officers 13