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Cops will face action if drug case offenders remain at large: Punjab govt to SC
The Punjab government has told the Supreme Court that senior police officers have been made personally liable for failure to catch offenders in drug-related cases.
NEW DELHI: Senior police officers have been made personally liable for failure to catch offenders in drug-related cases, the Punjab government has told the Supreme Court in an affidavit after the top court expressed concern at the state’s inability to arrest a large number of accused in cases under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS).
A circular dated May 7 issued by Punjab’s director general of police (DGP) in this regard was produced by the state in an affidavit filed on May 13 before the Supreme Court, which is pursuing the matter in a suo moto petition.
Failure to catch absconding offenders in Punjab charged under the NDPS Act will invite departmental proceedings against commissioners, senior superintendent of police (SSP) and other heads of police field units, who will now be personally liable for ensuring arrests, the circular said.
The apex court was concerned over the alarming state of affairs in the Punjab, where over 2,000 NDPS accused have either been declared proclaimed offenders (PO) or have jumped parole and are now untraceable.
The bench of justices AM Khanwilkar and JB Pardiwala, which took up the affidavit on May 17 has now ordered the state to file a status report informing the progress achieved based on the May 7 circular.
Posting the matter to July 12, the bench said, “Assurance is given by the advocate general on behalf of the respondent-state that all essential steps will be taken to ensure that the absconding offenders or accused persons are brought to book within a reasonable time and failing which the officer, who is made personally liable in terms of the order (of the DGP) shall be proceeded with departmentally for the acts of commission and omission.”
Advocate general of Punjab, Anmol Rattan Sidhu told the top court that the present affidavit showed a “sincere and earnest” resolve to catch the NDPS culprits by holding the police officers personally responsible for inaction. The state’s affidavit quoted the DGP’s circular that said, “The head of the field unit (commissioner of police, senior superintendent of police, other police units) shall be held personally responsible for ensuring arrest of proclaimed offenders/persons and absconders.”
The circular specifically said that ‘all commissioners of police/SSPs/ and heads of police field units dealing with NDPS cases have to activate the Proclaimed Offenders staff as well as ant-narcotics cells of the respective Commissionerate, district or unit to ensure arrest of POs and absconders.
To facilitate this, the state proposed a three-tier monitoring mechanism by having nodal officers at district/Commissionerate level (deputy superintendent of police or assistant commissioner of police), range level (inspector general of police or deputy inspector general) and state level headed by director, Bureau of Investigation who will get monthly briefing from the range IGPs/DIGs, commissioners of police and SSPs and other heads of field units dealing with NDPS cases.
The state told the court that in a meeting convened by DGP on this issue on May 7, officers were clearly instructed that CPs, SSPs, and heads of field units shall be held “personally responsible” for ensuring the arrests.
Some of the steps that the state proposed as part of netting the offenders included attaching property of persons declared PO, forfeit their illegally acquired property, register fresh cases under Punjab Good Conduct Prisoners (Temporary) Release Act, 1962 against those who have jumped parole. In this regard, the police officers were also instructed by DGP to get information from jail authorities to trace the persons who were in contact with the parole jumpers while they were in jail.
“It is the responsibility of the concerned SSPs/Commissioners of Police and heads of field unit to arrest the POs and absconders in cases registered at police stations under their supervision and jurisdiction,” the affidavit of the state said.
Commenting on the state’s response filed through advocate Jaspreet Gogia, the top court on the last hearing observed that the circular of DGP does not indicate any timeline for effecting arrests or initiating departmental action against erring police officials. The court has been pursuing the matter since November 2019 and on numerous occasions gave the state sufficient time to report action taken to nab the absconding offenders.
In one of its orders passed on October 6, 2021, the top court said, “We hope that some sense of urgency and seriousness would prevail on the high officials dealing with the subject matter of missing accused/persons connected with the offences under NDPS Act, 1985 in the state of Punjab in particular.”
After the change of government in the state in March this year, the matter was taken up on three occasions – March 28, May 2 and May 9. In the order of March 28, the state police sought time owing to the difficulty posed due to the Assembly elections in expediting the arrest of proclaimed offenders and absconders in NDPS cases. On the next date, the matter was adjourned at the state’s request. When the matter was again heard on May 9, the state Advocate General appeared and said that the government has just changed and police would require time.
The bench had then observed, “It is a serious matter. Change of government does not mean the police in the state has changed.” Following this order, the state revealed its new game plan to tackle the issue at hand through its latest affidavit filed by Assistant Inspector General of Police Sarabjit Singh, handling Litigation Wing of the state’s Bureau of Investigation.
