Police Act draft to include SC suggestion

NEW DELHI:The proposed draft of the new Police Act, being finalised by the Police Act Drafting Committee (PADP) set up in September ’05, is likely to incorporate sweeping police reforms ordered by the Supreme Court recently.

A meeting chaired by Union home minister Shivraj Patil here on Tuesday to discuss the latest apex court verdict directing implementation of police reforms outlined by it on or before December 31, concluded that the judgement was in line with MHA’s thinking on the subject.

The consensus at the meeting — attended by Union home secretary V K Duggal, legal affairs secretary T K Vishwanathan and Delhi Police Commissioner K K Paul — was that since the PADP’s report on the new Police Act was expected to be in by next month, the draft Act could be converted into a Bill and placed before Parliament.

Although the final draft of the PADP’s suggested Police Act to replace the archaic law dating back to 1861 is not yet ready, the earlier drafts put on the MHA’s website for comments incorporates the SC’s directions like stable tenure for DGPs and other senior police officials, and separation of investigation and law & order duties. For the latter, the PADP draft suggests that a dedicated team of policemen of different ranks be created in each police station to exclusively investigate crimes.

The draft also talks of creation of separate investigation unit within the police to investigate crimes with inter-state and, possibly, external dimensions like terrorism, cyber-crimes, drugs trafficking and money laundering.

Other directions of the court — including constitution of a national Security Commission for selection of heads of Central police organisations and a state security commission to insulate police against political interference — are also likely to be considered by the PADP, which comprises former attorney general Soli Sorabjee, retired bureaucrat N C Saxena, and others.