Punjab Police on Monday organised a one-day workshop on nuances of provisions of Article 21 of the Indian Constitution with a special focus on rulings of various Hon’ble Courts, especially Hon’ble Supreme Court of India, regarding scope of this article. This article protects the right to life and personal liberty of individuals, which is an extremely important arcticle of the Indian Constitution.
Former Director of the National Judicial Academy and a Distinguished Legal Luminary Dr Balram Gupta, who delivered an enlightening keynote address, especially focused on expansion of scope of this article from 1951’s landmark case AK Gopalan vs State of Madras to 2017’s landmark case Justice KS Puttaswamy (Retd.) & Anr. vs. Union of India.
Notably, Dr. Balram K. Gupta is a distinguished legal luminary with a career spanning over 55 years. The latter began his journey as a Parliamentary Fellow at ICPS, New Delhi in 1968. He has held various prestigious positions, including Professor of Law and Chairman of the Department of Laws at Panjab University, Honorary Dean of the Faculty of Law at Guru Nanak Dev University, and Director of the National Judicial Academy, Bhopal. Dr Gupta has received a Lifetime Achievement Award from Rotary International in 2016.
Dr Gupta, accompanied by Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab Gaurav Yadav and Special DGP Human Resource Development (HRD) and Welfare Ishwar Singh, addressed all the senior police officers, who participated enthusiastically in the workshop. Special DGP Community Affairs Division Gurpreet Kaur Deo, Special DGP Policy and Rules SK Asthana, Special DGP Railways Shashi Prabha Dwivedi also attended the workshop.
Dr Gupta's address emphasised the significance of upholding fundamental rights, particularly in the context of policing. He emphasised that this article is extremely important as far as protection of life and personal liberties of individuals are concerned. Police has to discharge an important constitutional duty as far as upholding of rights of individuals as enshrined in constitution and other statues are concerned, he added.
Dr Gupta further engaged in thoughtful and incisive interactions that made the session both productive and impactful. DGP Gaurav Yadav said that Punjab Police will continue to organise similar workshops and training programs to ensure that our officers are equipped with the knowledge and skills necessary to discharge their duties in a fair, impartial, and humane manner.
On the occasion, ADGP Technical Support Services Ram Singh, ADGP NRI Praveen Kumar Sinha, ADGP Traffic AS Rai, ADGP Cyber Crime V Neeraja, Director PPA Phillaur Anita Punj, ADGP Provisioning G Nageswara Rao, Director Punjab BOI LK Yadav, ADGP IVC Naunihal Singh, ADGP Intelligence RK Jaiswal, ADGP Law and Order SPS Parmar, ADGP Internal Security Shive Kumar Verma, IGP Headquarters Dr Sukhchain Singh Gill, IGP Railways Baljot Singh, IGP Babu Lal Meena, DIG Nilambari Jagadale, DIG Alka Meena, DIG J Elanchezian and DIG Sukhwant Singh Gill were among the other senior officers who attended the workshop.