Udumula Sudhakar Reddy
26th dec 2008
Inefficiency and political interference continued to plague the law and order machinery in the passing year too. For citizens, it would not have created anything more than a sense of déjà vu.
Investigations were redirected and laws were bent to suit the interests of biggies in many instances.
And police tried to erase public memory of its umpteen failures through an ‘encounter’ in which three youth who attacked two engineering students with acid were gunned down.
The applause which it got for this dubious act may not have died down, but sordid facts remain. Statistics say that three out of every four persons accused of murder in the state walk out unscathed for “want of evidence”.
The prosecution even failed to prove the murder charge against Maoists and Maoist sympathisers who allegedly killed the tough cop K.S. Vyas. “Many persons could have impleaded in the case to help the prosecution but none of them did so,” said the senior cop.
Hired killers and faction ists, M. Suryanarayana Reddy and Moddu Srinu, were acquitted in two cases pending against them. And the depressing list goes on and on.
According to State the Crime Records Bureau, the conviction rate in Andhra Pradesh is very low.
Conviction in dacoity cases is 30 percent and in robberies it is 45 percent. But when it comes to simple thefts the conviction rate is as high as 60 percent.
This is yet another indication that while ‘influential’ criminals who do big crimes walk away, the petty thieves go to jail.
“The pity is that in rape cases the conviction rate in the State is only 14 percent,” said an SCRB official. “This means that 86 percent of alleged rapists are still on prowl. Even in cheating cases, the conviction rate is 14 per cent.” However, the police blames it on the tardiness of the legal system in the country. For instance, the state will have 3 lakh cases pending trial in various courts by the end of this year.
“A confession made before the police officer is still not admissible as evidence in the courts here unlike in western countries,” said a senior police officer. “As per Section 161 of CrPC, no signature shall be taken on the confessional statement. This has to go. Video recording of the confession and signature have to be taken. It should be accepted as evidence.” Mr P.P. Rao, a senior advocate of the Supreme Court, felt the need of the hour was an investigating agency that is free from influences. “It should be thoroughly professional,” he said. “Unfortunately, we don’t have such an independent investigation agency now. Mostly investigators work according to the wishes of the government.” It is alleged that political interference spoiled the attempt by some sincere police officers to investigate the bomb blasts in the city thoroughly and arrest the culprits. This is likely to affect a determined fight against terror.
At the same time, the case involving former APCC chief, Mr K. Kesava Rao’s son K. Venkateswara Rao and realtor Prashath Reddy got ‘solved’ in no time and the influential son of the influential father walked away.
“In certain high profile cases police and politicians collude to save the accused,” said a senior cop. “In some other cases witnesses are won over and police are unable to do anything.” The extent of interference became once more evident when a murder accused was killed within the ‘secure’ four walls of the Anantapur Central jail. The jail officials escaped with simple suspensions.
Police also suffered a major blow when Maoists ambushed a party of Greyhounds personnel at Balimela on the Andhra-Orissa border.
Strangely, the Greyhounds personnel who were trained in jungle survival were not trained to swim. Many drowned while others fell pray to Maoist bullets.
It was a tragic and telling instance of lack of foresight and preparedness which had crept into the training of an anti-terror force. Police authorities have to draw the right lessons from it.
No comments:
Post a Comment