Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Nov 15: Government has decided to fine-tune the criminal justice system in the State by deputing dedicated professional police officers for investigation of such cases.
This was stated by Minister for Law and Justice, Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, Abdul Haq during a meeting convened to review the criminal justice system in the State.
Minister directed the Director General of Police to identify Police Stations having high number of pending criminal cases and depute qualified and professional Investigation Officers to deal exclusively with such cases.
During the meeting it was observed that the investigation process gets affected because the IOs simultaneously deal with the investigation and are also deputed in law & order duties. Minister said the Government is planning to have a separate investigation wing in the Police Stations and professional investigators will be deputed so that no loophole is left in the investigation.
Calling for coordination between the investigating agencies, forensic experts, medical experts and prosecutors, Minister said it can lead to foolproof mechanism for establishing the case during criminal trial.
It was observed that the conviction rate is quite low in the country and the accused are either discharged at the stage of framing of charge or acquitted finally. It was observed that delay in trial also amounts to denial of justice and long time taken for finalization of the criminal trial also leads to discontentment among the people. Minister said the aim of Government is to improve the justice delivery system in the State.
Minister also called for examination of select disposed cases to identify the loopholes in investigation and Prosecution. He directed the Department of Law and Prosecution to take a random sample of 100 cases that have been disposed and examine them to identify the loopholes in these cases so that department is able to act accordingly in future to avoid frequent acquittals. He said the Government will also fix responsibilities and punish the officers who will be found responsible for leaving loopholes in the investigation.
Abdul Haq said constant studies should be carried out for streamlining the court processes and the process reengineering should be carried out by respective High Courts and rules of procedures for civil as well as criminal cases should be finalized at the earliest based on model rules framed in this regard.
The Minister for Law and Justice also directed the Department of Prosecution to review the working of prosecution at district level and also review the performance of prosecuting officers.
The meeting was attended by Principal Secretary Home RK Goyal, ADG Security VK Singh, Secretary Law Abdul Majeed Bhat and Joint Director Prosecution besides other officials.
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