12/04/2012

New strategy adopted to check liberty of criminals on bail

Patna,(BiharTimes): In its second phase of crime control exercise the state government has set in motion a plan to ensure punishment to criminals and not to give them any liberty of moving around scot-free on the pretext of their appeals pending in upper court.

Addressing a high-level meeting of all the 38 district magistrates, superintendents of police and public prosecutors (PPs), in Patna on Wednesday chief minister Nitish Kumar called for better coordination between civil administration in the district and police.

It was decided to act seriously against those out on bail for long after appealing in upper courts against judgments of subordinate courts.

Though over 70,000 people have been convicted for punishable offences by fast track courts across the state since 2005, a number of them are out on bail, as the cases in which lower courts had held them guilty had been challenged in the high court.

Stating that the criminals should feel they cannot evade law after committing crime Nitish said speedy disposal of pending appeal cases is needed to create fear of law in the minds of the offenders.

He said the workshop, organised for the second time after 2006, would dwell on issues related to speedy trial, appeal and conviction of criminals.

Calling for the regular interaction among the DMs, SPs and PPs, he said the rule of law should be implemented in true sense of the term. The chief minister said that now the PP offices would be equipped with basic infrastructure like phone, fax and staff.

He asked the officials to analyse the anomalies in investigations, which led to the acquittal of the accused in some criminal cases. The investigation should be based on scientific evidence. The government is ready to provide all the assistance that is required for scientific investigation. Technical devices should be used for carrying out investigation and the state forensic science laboratory need to be strengthened. Proper training and orientation from time to time are also needed for the purpose.

He claimed that things have improved a lot now. Policemen have been appointed in large numbers. New posts have been created to match the national average of police-public ratio. More appointments are on the cards. Now, there is neither discrimination nor pressure on the police force from outside.

Others who put up their views included chief secretary Navin Kumar, home department principal secretary Amir Subhani, DGP Abhayanand, advocate general (AG) Ram Balak Mahto, law secretary Vinod Kumar Sinha and other senior officials of the home department.

 

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