Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Thursday told officials of four departments of Police, Law, Social Welfare, and Revenue to work in coordination with each other to reduce cases of atrocities against Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and to ensure proper handling of registered cases.
He chaired a meeting of the State-level vigilance and monitoring committee and gave clear instructions to four departments to work in tandem with each other to reduce cases of atrocities. The SC/ST Atrocities Prevention Act, and Protection of Civil Rights Act have been implemented due to the fact that it was not possible to provide proper justice to cases of atrocities under the Indian Penal Code. The government should give utmost importance for effective implementation of the Acts, he said.
Police officers should consider the matter seriously. Strict instructions should be given to SPs and DCPs to file a chargesheet within two months. All efforts should be made to give sentences by considering them as special cases, he suggested.
“It is very disgraceful that the rate of conviction in the State is just 3.44%,” he said. Noting that submission of the chargesheet should not be delayed for any reason, Mr. Siddaramaiah said the police should be attentive so that the evidence does not fail. Politicians should not interfere in atrocity cases and should cooperate with the police. “We will consider setting up fast track courts where more cases are pending,” he said.
More power to CRE cell
Minister of Social Welfare H.C. Mahadevappa said that a report on strengthening the Directorate of Civil Rights Enforcement (CRE cell) has been prepared and the file would be submitted to the Chief Minister as announced in the current Budget.
