The recent move of the State government to en masse withdraw criminal cases filed against who have been termed “innocent people” will not augur well for the ruling party which has high stakes in the ensuing elections to the State Legislative Assembly.
There is no precedence in Karnataka or for that matter in any other State where a government has directed the police to withdraw criminal cases of any nature, in bulk, over any given period. It is another matter that such a role is not assigned to the police and is vested only with public prosecutors whose role is primarily to argue it out in jurisdictional courts in their pursuit to ensure a fair punishment for the guilty.
It is also clear in the Code of Criminal Procedure that the onus is on the law and order machinery to register cases against offenders and consequently they would never like to be a party to withdrawal of cases en masse. The morale of the police force would take a beating should the government decide to withdraw cases. However, there are instances when the government has overruled the opinion expressed by the police in relation to withdrawal of some rioting cases and decisions of the State Cabinet in such matters have been carried forward to its logical end.
The proposal of the Siddaramaiah government has met with much flak, particularly from the Bharatiya Janata Party which believes that the aim is to woo voters belonging to the minority communities which indeed is construed as the vote bank of the Congress. The government bungled in the first instance when its circular pointedly referred to withdrawal of cases made out against minorities, and it quickly corrected its stance to state that the withdrawal of cases will pertain to all “innocent people”.
The Chief Minister has stated that the government is also keen to withdraw cases against farmers and Kannada activists. “We are withdrawing cases against all innocent people, not just innocent Muslims. We are also withdrawing cases against farmers and Kannada activists. A circular seeking details of such cases has been repeatedly sent to all the superintendents of police in the districts apart from the police commissionerates, seeking their views on the withdrawal of cases.
If doling out money and gifts to voters is in itself wrong, improper and unethical, the proposal of the incumbent government to withdraw criminal cases, more so, at a time when crimes are on the rise, will not go down well with law-abiding citizens. Further, there is no yardstick to identify the “innocent people” against whom criminal cases have been registered. There could have been an error of judgement on the part of the police while registering rioting cases but then it is for the people who have been framed in false cases to approach the jurisdictional courts and plead their innocence.
Under the prevailing circumstances, it is highly unlikely that the Siddaramaiah government will be successful in pushing through with the proposal to withdraw cases. The coastal districts of Karnataka have been witness to an increasing number of rioting cases in recent months, and withdrawal of cases, which will obviously be selectively done, will do more harm to the civil society, and consequently not augur well for the ruling dispensation.
(The writer is Resident Representative, The Hindu Centre for Politics and Public Policy, Bengaluru)
