The responsibility of the police is not restricted to registering cases, arresting the accused and producing them before the court. Police should sustain their attention till the case reaches a logical conclusion and in ensuring a successful prosecution.
City Police Commissioner Amaresh Pujari says policing and crime control efforts will be successful only if offenders are prosecuted and deterrent punishment given to them.
To ensure this, non-bailable warrants should be executed against the accused and the witnesses should be produced on time before the trial courts to avoid adjournments and delay.
In all the 15 police station limits, there is a special team led by a Special Sub-Inspector for executing the pending warrants. The team members are not drafted for any bandobust work.
The team is dedicated to ensure that the exercise gets the much-required undivided attention it requires.
The special team concept has paid rich dividends in execution of warrants and in getting the trial speeded up in a number of cases in June and July (see graphics).
The progress in execution of warrants is monitored first by Inspectors and then by the Assistant Commissioners of Police on a daily basis.
Deputy Commissioners of Police monitor the execution of warrants in grave crimes on a daily basis and in cases of Sessions and Additional Sessions jurisdictions warrant execution reports are sent to the Police Commissioner every day.
In addition to special teams, police squads on night patrol are provided with the list of accused against whom warrants are pending. The accused are picked up immediately on being spotted.
In case of suspicion, police take the thumb impression for verification of records. The judiciary did express its concern on the failure of the police officers in not producing the witnesses for ensuring a smooth pace of trial.
The issue has been addressed now and Inspectors have been asked to produce the witnesses on time.
Inspectors have been asked to frequently interact with the Assistant Public Prosecutors to avoid communication gap and in ascertaining the schedule for producing witnesses before various courts and Inspectors do regularly cross verify their case diary with the court records.
The meeting of judicial officers – Sessions Judge, Chief Judicial Magistrate, police officers and prosecutors – that is due every six months will be held in September.
In addition, judges, police officers and prosecutors meet once a month to review the progress in cases on trial and to address lacunae in these, if any.
In addition, the powers for disposal of court properties (properties seized in cases and due for auction) have been delegated to the District Collector.
This will help in preventing the accumulation of court properties and their getting damaged.
