Bombay High Court: Modernise police force to probe all cases faster

The Bombay High Court on Tuesday asked the state government to take steps to modernise the police force which would result in better investigation of criminal cases. 

A division bench of Justice VM Kanade and Justice Nutan Sardesai said, “In earlier days, a constable with a lathi could deter crowds. Now the situation is that policemen need protection because of the increasing attacks on them.”  

The bench added: “Nowadays, the police arrest anyone and obtain confessional statements, but the case leads to an acquittal in court. Policemen are mostly busy with bandobast duty, constables are entrusted with investigation and they are ill-equipped to probe.” 

The court has asked the government to inform it within two weeks as to what it does when cases reach a dead end. Citing the example of the murder case of rationalist Dr Narendra Dabholkar, which has seen no headway for many years, the court said: “CBI also has complained of lack of infrastructure. What you do then in cases like these which reach a dead end? Old methods of investigations are to some extent obsolete and now advanced methods of investigation have to be used.”   

The court gave the directions while hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Pune resident Ashwini Rane, who questioned the skills of various investigating agencies, including the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).