Deputy Commissioners of Police (Law and Order) of Tiruchi and five other cities have been given magisterial powers under certain sections of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
Tamil Nadu government has issued an order appointing the six Deputy Commissioners of Police as Executive Magistrates in their respective cities to exercise powers under sections 107, 108, 109 and 110 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
The order was issued after the Director-General of Police sent proposals to the government in this regard following the announcement made by the Chief Minister at the conference of Collectors and Police Officers in December last year.
Other than Tiruchi, the DCPs in Madurai, Coimbatore, Tirunelveli, Salem, and Tiruppur have been appointed as Executive Magistrates.
The Deputy Commissioner of Police is equivalent to Superintendent of Police in the district.
The government’s order had empowered the Deputy Commissioners of Police to conduct inquiry into cases booked by the police under these four sections of the Cr. PC. Persons against whom either of the four sections were to be invoked in these six cities would be inquired by the Deputy Commissioner of Police instead of the Sub Divisional Magistrate / Revenue Divisional Officer, say police sources.
The four sections are primarily invoked by the police as a preventive measure to maintain public peace and good behaviour, say police sources.
Section 107 deals with security for keeping the peace; section 108 - security for good behaviour from persons disseminating seditious matters; section 109 – security for good behaviour from suspected persons and section 110 – security for good behaviour from habitual offenders.
Persons against whom either of these sections is to be invoked would have to execute bond for keeping peace or good behaviour.
Breach of bond conditions would attract appropriate action against them, say police sources. With the Deputy Commissioners having been vested with magisterial powers, an Executive Magistrate court was opened at the modern police control room here on Thursday.
The Deputy Commissioner would conduct inquiry on Tuesdays and Fridays to start with.
Inaugurated Commissioner of Police Shailesh Kumar Yadav inaugurated the Executive Magistrate court in the presence of the Deputy Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) Abhinav Kumar and senior police officers.
