E-Paper
App to help Pune police keep track of externed criminals
The platform, which is currently tracking one criminal on record, sends an automated alert if a criminal enters the area of externment, according to police officials
The Pune police have launched Externees Monitoring and Tracking System (Extra) to monitor criminals who have been externed from the city limits.
The platform, which is currently tracking one criminal on record, sends an automated alert if a criminal enters the area of externment, according to police officials.
In the first six months of 2020, externed violators have committed 30 crimes like murder, attempted murder, assault with a weapon, physical assault, and possession or sale of drugs among others. In the same time, 54 others have violated externment orders.
“Every criminal has a smartphone now. The application will be installed on the phone of the externee. Once in a day at least, and whenever he/she is randomly asked for it, the person will have to upload a selfie which will be geo-tagged,” said Bachchan Singh, deputy commissioner of police, crime, Pune.
Externment orders can be issued under Section 55, Section 56 or Section 57 of the Maharashtra Police Act. Externment can also be initiated under the Maharashtra Prevention of Dangerous Activities (MPDA) Act.
The order can be issued by a deputy commissioner of police (DCP)-rank officer. The externment order in city-structures is issued by zonal DCPs.
In case of failure to mark daily attendance, the externee can face police action.
“First thing we will check why the attendance was not marked. If a satisfactory answer is not received, action will be initiated under Section 141 of Maharashtra Police Act,” said Suhas Bawache, deputy commissioner of police (DCP), zone-5.
The alerts will be monitored by the surveillance team of the police station which recommended the externment action, the office of DCP crime, and the zonal DCP office. The alert of a geo-barrier breach that is, if the externee enters the region he or she is externed from, will also be sent to these three offices.
At the outset of the implementation of extra platform, a man from zone-5 of Pune police was externed.
Viraj Jagdish Yadav, 24, a resident of, Handewadi area near Anandnagar road, Hadapsar, was externed on June 13 for a period of one year. He has been sending selfies from the designated location since the day he reached, according to DCP Bawache.
“Every morning he has to send, and he has been sending, a selfie at a designated time. So far, it is working out well,” said Bawache.
He has a history of four cases of physical violence, including a case under Section 324 and 326 of Indian Penal Code (IPC) - since 2014. One of the four cases is registered in 2014, second in 2016, third in 2018 and fourth in 2019, according to information provided by the office of senior police inspector Ramesh Sathe of Hadapsar police station.
He was sent to a relative’s place in Kurduwadi area, Solapur.
The externment actions initiated by the city police henceforth will be monitored through this application. There are 32 other applications pending in the city, according to DCP Singh. It remains to be seen whether the monitoring system will make externment an effective method of prevention of crime.
