DNA: Mumbai: Friday, September
23, 2016.
All officers
who have been pulled up for shoddy investigations leading to the acquittal of
accused will now be in public domain. The decision of the committee that will
be deciding criminal cases that have seen acquittals will also be made public.
The State
Information Commission (SIC) has directed the home department and the city police
chief to upload the action taken against such officials on their websites by
October 17, 2016. The move follows a government resolution, prompted by a
Supreme Court (SC) order in 2014.
In 2014, the
SC had directed state governments to formulate a procedure to act against all
erring investigating / prosecuting officials / officers after the accused were
acquitted in the murder of a minor.
The SC, in
its judgment, said: "All such erring officials / officers ...must suffer
department action. The mechanism would infuse seriousness in the performance of
investigating and prosecuting duties and would ensure that investigation and
prosecution is purposeful and decisive."
The SC had
stated that the direction be given effect within six months. However, it took
an RTI application by an NGO and an SIC order in August 2015 for the government
to realise that it was in contempt of the SC order. The home department came up
with a government resolution that a committee be formed and action taken as per
the SC directive.
When dna
sought information on the cases considered and action taken, it did not get any
information. Hearing a complaint in public interest, Chief Information
Commissioner Ratnakar Gaikwad, who passed the order, stated that all
information should be provided and also be put up in the public domain. The SIC
pulled up the First Appellate Authority (FAA) for not attending the hearing and
not informing the commission about its absence.
"It was
literally shameful of the state to have not implemented the SC order on its
own. Even after the SIC order, they came out with a circular that they have not
implemented and put it on the website. The previous SIC order that directed the
home department to put up details on the website also stated that all high
court and SC orders of public interest should be put on the website separately.
They have not even done that. More and more unrest happens because of
non-transparency in administration," said Bhaskar Prabhu, who had taken up
the implementation of the SC order through the RTI. K P Bakshi, additional
chief secretary (home), did not respond.
What
triggered the SC order
In 2003, in
Gujarat, a six-year-old was found raped and murdered. The the girl was allegedly
enticed with a gola (ice-ball with syrup), kidnapped, taken to a field and
raped. She was later brutally murdered by the rapists. They also stole her
anklets and sold it for Rs 1,000. The trial court gave death penalty to the
rapists, but it was later reversed by the higher courts. The SC
"crestfallen, heartbroken and sorrowful" upheld the order of
acquittal and stated that the prosecution had failed to establish its case. It
also highlighted several serious lapses in the investigation by the Ahmedabad
police. It then directed state governments that all acquittals should be
studied by a committee, so that erring officials can be punished.
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