Union Govt. assures High Court on Separation of Investigation from Law and Order

The Union government has assured the Delhi High Court of its prompt action to separate criminal investigation from the maintenance of law and order.

While doing so it has informed the Court that it had sanctioned as many as 4,227 posts in Delhi Police for the purpose.

Additional Solicitor General Sanjay Jain told the Court that these posts will be operational in two phases, half would be filled up in 2016-17 and the rest in 2017-18 after a review of the scheme.

A Division Bench of the High Court comprising Justice B.D. Ahmed and Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva, hearing a PIL initiated by it after the December 16, 2012 gang rape incident, said the additional police personnel should be used only for crime investigation.

The Bench has been giving directions to the Centre and Delhi government on the issues of appointment of more police personnel, creation of additional forensic laboratories and setting up of a victim compensation fund to provide relief to the victims of crimes against women.

“An investigator would only investigate crimes and would not be standing on the roadside during the VIP movements. The investigating staff or group should not be part of the law and order duty.” said the Court.

The Court noted that the Finance Ministry had sent the proposal back to the Home Ministry for reviewing if the increase in manpower was necessary and whether the advancement in technology would serve the purpose.

The Court had expressed displeasure over the Centre's failure to take a prompt decision on appointments to 11,000 posts.

The Court had earlier asked the Union government to file an affidavit on whether it had funds to create additional force and whether it intended to create the additional force, while laying emphasis on ensuring safety and security of people, especially women and children.

Earlier this month, the Karnataka High Court has directed the Government and Police department to seriously think of forming an Expert Committee to scientifically work out the allocation of work of each police station defining the territorial jurisdiction, staff strength, de-linking investigation from law and order, establishment of an excellent Training Centre and also opening of new police stations at the earliest.

“The authorities need to seriously think of bifurcating investigation from regular law and order and thus enhance the credibility of the investigation. This would indeed drastically cut down the crime”, the Karnataka High Court said. Read the Live Law story here.