E-Paper
Ludhiana police lags behind in filing chargesheet in sexual assault cases
If the police don’t file the chargesheet on time, the accused can get bail from the court; Ludhiana police officials say the main reason behind lag is lack of cooperation from victims and their family members, many of who moved to their native places after the crime.
The Ludhiana police commissionerate has been lagging behind in filing chargesheet in sexual assault cases, giving a free pass to the alleged offenders in these cases.
This even as the district has the grim distinction of having the highest number of sexual assault cases in the entire state. Of the total 2,556 sexual assault cases registered in Punjab between January 2016 and December 2020, as many as 1, 031 (40.3%) were from Ludhiana. Of these, police managed to file a chargesheet in only 822 cases (79.7%).
Their counterparts in other districts seem to be doing much better. Of the 1,525 sexual assault cases registered in all other districts, chargesheet has not been filed only in 20 cases.
Advocate Gaganpreet Singh, president of the Help Organisation, said that if the police don’t file the chargesheet on time, the accused can get bail from the court. “In cases where the provision of imprisonment is less than 10 years, police have to file a chargesheet within 60 days if the accused is in police custody. In cases, where the imprisonment is more than 10 years, police have to file a chargesheet within 90 days,” said Singh.
Ludhiana police officials say the main reason behind lag is lack of cooperation from victims and their family members, many of who moved to their native places after the crime.
Additional deputy commissioner of police (ADCP, head quarters) Ashiwini Gotyal said, “Ludhiana, being an industrial city, has a large chunk of migrant population. In most such crimes, children of labourer are the victims. The labourers leave their kids alone at home while they go off to work in factories, leaving them vulnerable to such crimes. It is often seen in such cases that the families leave for their native places once such an incident occurs. We are trying to trace these victims and convince their families to pursue the case.”
Advocate Parupkar Singh Ghumman, former president of the district bar association, said that in cases where the complainant and witnesses do not record their statements, police remain helpless. He added that if migrant labourers go back to their native places, police should try to trace them using technology.
