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Bombay high court seeks details on cops engaged in investigation, VIP duty

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Clearly unhappy with the sloppy nature of police investigations and the meagre conviction rate, the Bombay high court, on Tuesday, asked the state govt to furnish details on the number of police personnel dedicated to investigation and those engaged in VIP duty.

A division bench of justices VM Kanade and PD Kode also asked additional public prosecutor Prajakta Shinde to furnish the ratio of police personnel to the total population in the city and the state, within two weeks.

The judges, who also sought information on training provided to policemen and officers, remarked that investigations seemed to be poor as majority of the cases ended in acquittals.

"Police conduct investigation, but due to lack of training or insufficient training, there are less convictions," observed the judges.

The court even wanted to know whether the police were provided facilities and perks like that provided to other govt personnel.

During the hearing, the judges suggested that higher rank officials should be appointed directly through MPSC as they had proper training and other technical knowledge as well.

Also, the station diary should be maintained on a daily basis so that there is proper record of progress or lack of it in investigations, suggested justice Kanade.

The court was hearing a public interest litigation by one Ashwini Rane seeking CBI probe into the murder of her husband, Nikhil Rane, a Pune-based builder, in 2009.

During the course of the hearing, HC took up the issue of vacant police posts and steps being taken to maintain security of the city and the state, which is a soft target for terrorists.

Anil Anturkar, Rane's counsel, argued that despite there being insufficient police force, majority of the cops were dedicated to VIP security and bandobast.

Following police's failure in cracking many cases, investigations have been transferred to the CBI. "But even the CBI has a poor history in solving cases, be it the Satish Shetty case or the Dabholkar murder case," said Anturkar.

Rane's case was handed over to CBI in 2011, but there has been no progress, added Anturkar.

In April, govt had issued an ordinance which provided for separation of police force into two main branches–those dedicated to investigation and those in charge of law and order.

The decision was taken as per a Supreme Court order in 2007. SC had wanted the police force separated into two branches to make it more effective.

Vacancies, a serious issue
Rane was shot dead on Nov 23, 2009. He succumbed to bullet injury in Pune's Sancheti Hospital. When investigations made no breakthrough, his wife Ashwini moved the high court seeking transfer of the probe to another agency. And the case was transferred. During the hearing, HC realised that the issue of vacancies in the force was a very serious one and took suo moto cognisance of it.

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