June deadline to probe pending cases
2 min readPatna: A little over a lakh cases registered under different sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) are pending at police stations across Bihar.
Irked by the slow pace of investigation, the police headquarters has decided to issue notices to over a dozen deputy superintendents of police and sub-divisional police officers for their laxity in timely disposal of criminal cases pending for investigation.
The director-general of police (DGP), K.S. Dwivedi, at recently concluded law and order review meetings in police zones and ranges, had directed officials concerned to complete investigation on time and submit chargesheets in courts. However, several officers were found to be lax.
The officers found to be lax in adhering to the instructions of the state police chief were posted in Patna, Nalanda, Bhojpur, Sitamarhi, Jehanabad, Darbhanga and Araria districts. The officers will face the ire of the top officers if the pending cases were not reduced to a permissible limit soon.
Sources in the police headquarters said the DGP had given June 30 as the deadline to reduce the number of pending cases under their jurisdiction to a permissible limit.
At present, a little over a lakh cases are pending for investigation. Patna alone has over 17,000 cases pending for investigation.
According to rules, the pendency of the cases should not be more than three times of the total cases reported to the police station concerned.
On an average, 20,400 special reported (SR) cases are registered in the state every year. Going by the rule book, the total number of pending cases should not be more than 60,000 in Bihar.
In contrast, over a lakh criminal cases under the IPC are pending for investigation. The National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) data released in 2016, however, showed that a total of 92,321 IPC cases are pending for probe in Bihar.
During the DGP’s review meeting, the officers on field assignments, however, blamed the deputy superintendents of police and the sub-divisional police officers for the rise in the number of cases pending for investigation.
“Several cases were pending for want of seniors’ instructions, especially from DSPs or SDPOs to the investigating officers (IOs) and non-sub-mission of case diaries,” said a senior IPS officer.
A retired IPS officer, Sridhar Mandal, said: “Lack of sufficient manpower in police stations is one of the reasons for pending cases. Another important reason is lack of supervision. The interest of seniors in hardcore policing i.e. taking constant and regular reviews on pending cases on a monthly basis has come down. Earlier, it was a top priority.”
Mandal, who had earlier served in Patna, said separation of law and order from investigation was required but not practical as two different organisations will have to be made. “With increasing population, more police stations and manpower are required,” he added.
Courtesy: The Telegraph
