'60 percent of police arrests unjustified'
Source: Hueiyen News Service
Imphal, March 03 2013 :
Citing the 3nd report of National Police Commission, Dr N Pramod Singh, Assistant Professor of LMS Law College, has stated that nearly 60% of the arrests were either unnecessary or unjustified and such unjustified police action accounted for 43.2% of the expenditure of the jails.
Speaking as one of the resource persons on the topic of 'role of police in criminal justice system' at a day-long legal training for Meira Paibi leaders organised jointly by Human Rights Initiatives and Manipur State Legal Service Authority (MSLSA) at Palace Compound's Lamyanba Shanglen here today, Pramod observed that since state police is under the control of the Home Department, they sometimes succumb to pressures from people in power and they try their best not to keep criminal records.
Number of criminal cases recorded in a year indicates the efficacy of the Home Department in maintaining peace and social order in the state in that particular year.
So instead of filing FIR unfair means are being adopted to show that the police have been maintaining law and order effectively.
Thus, the very purpose of establishing the police, which is to arrest offenders, gets defeated, Pramod said.
He also pointed out that since the insurgency movement started in Manipur various stringent Acts like Armed Forces Special Forces Act- 1958, National Security Act, etc.have been introduced and Manipur has become a mixed pot of criminal laws and Acts.
Technically, the particular word used by armed forces 'combine forces' is just a ploy to arrest a person on the basis of either criminal laws or the provisions vested on armed forces or police personnel.
Highlighting the importance of criminal charge sheets framed by police personnel in the process of rendering justice to people, M Manojkumar Singh, District Session Judge of Imphal West, who attended the programme as Chief Guest, said that considering the law and order situation, Manipur needs police personnel who are well informed about criminal proceedings and training should be organised for this purpose.
Nature of the case might took the other opposite side if the police officer framed the charge sheets wrongly, he noted.
Ch Momon, Assistant Professor, LMS Law College, who spoke on 'Consumer's & property rights' as one of the resource persons, said that we should blame ourselves for the lesser amount of land compensation provided by state government.
While selling or buying, we don't want to pay fees during land registration and given lesser price in the registration deed.
Based on these records obtained from the Land Revenue Department, the government fixed the rate of particular land areas.
He also urged all to approach any of the legal clinics in the state that are opened under MSLSA for necessary legal advice and suggestions.