news details |
|
|
| When shall Govt wake to reform State Police? | | Beyond empty recurring | | Abodh Sharma
Jammu, Jan 6: The brutal Delhi gang rape and the events that succeeded it have besides shaking the conscience of the nation, bottom lined once again the need to affect police reforms in the state police organisations; but more than six year since the Apex Court directed all state governments to implement these reforms, Jammu and Kashmir government has failed to do the needful despite loads of empty recurring on the issue.
On September 22, 2006, the Supreme Court of India delivered a historic judgment in Prakash Singh vs. Union of India instructing central and state governments to comply with a set of seven directives laying down practical mechanisms to kick-start police reform. The Court's directives seek to achieve functional autonomy for the police - through security of tenure, streamlined appoin-tment and transfer processes, and to enhance Police accountability, both for organisational performance and individual misconduct.
However, just seven months after the Supreme court directive, on April 26, 2007, Jammu and Kashmir Government through its then Chief Secretary C Phunsong filed an application in the Supreme Court seeking permission to suspend the implementation of its directions relating to police reforms. In its prayer, Chief Secretary explained, "It would be advisable to keep in abeyance the implementation of separation of investigation
till normalcy returns to the state in the larger interest. This is because the terrorism-related crime is accompanied by law and order and vice-versa and have to be dealt with together." Six years since then, sources in the government divulge that the draft of the said Bill has been prepared and shall be soon publicized for
larger public opinion . "The Bill could be introduced in the next budget session", the sources said.
While recent report of the CAG on the performance of the state police has further justified the need of accountability in the rank and file of the police as directed by the Supreme Court, many believe that the Police have been used by the political leadership as an instrument to curb voices of dissent and two decades of militancy have further transformed the mindset of the state police which became more of a combat force than a law enforcement agency.
"The Gory Delhi incident has yet again underlined the need to bring about fundamental changes not only in the administrative set up, but also in the training of the policemen to sensitize them to the changing crime structure of the modern society", said a retired senior Police officer. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
