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Oct. 2, 2010
Apex court issues notice to CBI in Ruchika case
The Supreme Court Friday issued a notice to the Central Bureau of Investigation on a petition of former Haryana police chief S.P.S. Rathore challenging his conviction and enhancement of punishment in the Ruchika molestation case.
April 27, 2010
Govt sanctions Rs 95.61 crore for Naxal-affected states
The government has sanctioned Rs 95.61 crore to Maoist-affected states, including West Bengal, under the 'Special Assistance Scheme' to carry out speedy development works
March 22, 2010
Mumbai police to file charge sheet against Headley
David Headley, the terror suspect arrested by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, will soon be charged separately by the Mumbai police for allegedly conducting reconnaissance of targets
March 22, 2010
Govt. released Rs. 742 crores for modernisation of police forces
Government stated that it has released over Rs. 742 crores over the modernisation of police forces.
March 22, 2010
No conclusive evidence to prove Headley's presence in Goa - Police
Goa police today said it does not rule out that American terror suspect David Coleman Headley could have been present in the state earlier this year, but has no conclusive evidence to prove about it.
March 22, 2010
lice remand for two BKI activists
Two alleged terrorists of Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) arrested by Mohali police were produced in the court on Sunday.
March 22, 2010
Police official's revolver stolen during IPL match
A Delhi Police sub-inspector lost his service revolver during the IPL match between Mumbai Indians and Delhi Daredevils at the Ferozeshah Kotla stadium on Wednesday evening, a police source said on Friday.
. Legality of National Counter Terrorism Centre
There have been a number of articles on NCTC in recent days in the press For a general understanding of the issues involved we must thank Sh. Tharakan for his article appearing in the Indian Express.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/intelligence-design/918326/
Sh. Prakash Singh has written his piece in the Deccan Herald linked to this piece.
There are also a no of posts in the topcops egroup about the same.
An attempt is made here to compile the various issues raised by knowledgeable persons to the formation of NCTC together with the suggestions offered to reconcile the differences of Federalism and States jurisdiction in matters regarding crime and law and order.
As we move forward in the 21st century we have to realise that the shrinking world is to be dominated by technology and information on the one hand and borderless crimes and Heckser-Olan theory on International free trade (http://www.princeton.edu/~ies/IES_Studies/S77.pdf ) We need to be ready to face the challenges of policing of our times than be guided by an anachronistic law on policing of 1861 and politically tainted interpretations of the constitution that we, the people, gave ourselves in 1951.
In a lively Doordarshan debate on the likely frictions in a Federalism , the constitutional expert Sh. Subhash Kashyap distinguished between the usage of the words centre-state relationship rather than Union - States relationship as mandated in the Indian Constitution. The word "Centre" which is NOT used in the Constitution he said, connoted concentration of powers in a power centre. Therefore in a centre- state relationship exercise of more power by the centre could be only at the cost of the States. On the other hand, the Constitutional terms Union- States, called for exercise of powers conjointly by States being parts of the same "Union". When the aim of the Union and the States were to be the same there could be no conflict.
Arguing that the legality of UAPA powers to NCTC cannot be legally questioned, but the propriety of such a measure needs to be discussed, Sh. Tarun Kumar from Kerala argued thus:
At the outset though, I wish to make a distinction between the legality of such a measure and the propriety of it.
Legally speaking, there seems to be no problem at all. The powers are sought to be given under UAPA sec 43. This act was passed by the parliament following due process. Designating any power under it is well within the authority of the central government. It has chosen NCTC, within IB with a separate director, as one of the designated authorities, not whole of IB. The NCTC while exercising this power will have to follow other requirements of the section 43 and any lapse in this regard will be open to judicial scrutiny. Whether IB has a specific legislation governing it or not in order for NCTC to have powers under UAPA, is not a legal requirement under UAPA. Frankly speaking giving NCTC such powers is as legal/illegal as the UAPA.
The same applies to federal structure argument. What should be questioned is not whether NCTC having police powers affects federal structure but whether UAPA provision to empower centre to designate any authority to use such powers is federal enough. The parties opposing NCTC powers now were represented in parliament when UAPA was passed. Did they oppose it then? Ideally that was the time they should have been more careful. It is quite absurd to say that the UAPA provision empowering centre to designate any authority to use powers under it is ok but selecting a particular agency would affect federal structure.
However, in a way, it might give legislative basis to a part of IB functioning, if not the whole of it as would be most desirable. Indeed, the CT Operations part of IB will become accountable to judicial processes in a limited way. Chances of misuse, political misuse, would be just as great as is with CBI or NIA. How more or less this risk would be with NCTC?
Coming to the propriety of it is, however, more nuanced. Is it ok to create multiple points of exercise of police like powers? More the number of such agencies, greater are the problems of co-ordination and greater would be the chances of misuse. The propriety aspect seems to be more serious and need to be debated.
Add to that, we as police officers can further point out difficulties in actually using these powers by NCTC- the modalities of it.
NIA already has powers under UAPA. Why can't the NCTC work in close co-operation with NIA instead of having similar powers for itself? Why was NIA created then? These are valid questions that need to be answered. Shri Raju's article is very informative in this regard.
Connected to the propriety debate is that perhaps the states should have been more involved in the process of setting up the structure.
What use this power of search and arrest will be put to? One possible answer was provided by Shri Ajit Doval in his article. He argued that the initial few hours after a terror module is busted or a person is arrested or a search is made are crucial for intelligence collection. Perhaps that way, if NCTC is making the arrest/search, it can have uncontaminated access to the subject of interest. Apart from it, what other benefits/problems will flow out of this power with NCTC can be an interesting point to discuss.
Police arms smuggled to kill police men?
The news that arms and ammunition stolen from Police armoury are being supplied to Maoists to be used against the police to kill and injure them is a very serious matter. This is not the first time such a news item has come out.
In April 2002, the UP Police had seized a huge cache of arms in Siddharthnagar near the border. The captured couriers had then confessed that the arms were being sent to the Maoists and that they had already successfully delivered three earlier consignments.
The Bihar Police in November 2007 had announced the reopening of an investigation into the theft of five self-loading rifles (SLRs) and a Insas rifle from the armoury of the 6th battalion of the Bihar Military Police (BMP) in Muzaffarpur district the year before. Deputy Inspector General (Tirhut range) Arvind Pandey was quoted having said that he had ordered the re-opening of the case and had announced a reward of Rs.100,000 for anyone providing information about arms stolen from the BMP armoury at Muzaffarpur.
Earlier in Karnataka too, many arms from Belgaum police armoury were found missing. The role some police officers were suspected then. A case was registered in Market Police station, Belgaum.
An anonymous letter written to the then district commissioner Atul Kumar Tiwari, said there was an illegal transaction of 128 pistols, guns and hundreds of cartridges from the armoury to underworld dons. On inspection, the information was found to be true. Investigation in the case is reported to be still on.
We need sustained investigation to choke the arms and ammunition supply to the law breakers.
Can we start a sustained movement atleast to unearth all the elements of this obnoxious behaviour in the police ranks? We can not afford to have such traitors in the police ranks.
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Pl come forward with your suggestion. Cambridge University to train police chiefs in India
A former metropolitan police commissioner, Sir Ian Blair, is to co-direct a new training programme for senior police executives in India, led by the University of Cambridge. Kingfisher plane explosives: Police still clueless
A day after a cocktail of explosives was found in the cargo section of a Kingfisher plane in Thiruvananthapuram, police on Monday were still clueless as to how it reached the aircraft despite multi-layered security checks.
