Bengal plans special cell to assess crime

CALCUTTA, MAY 13: To prevent criminals from escaping the long arms of law, the West Bengal Government is likely to create a directorate o...

CALCUTTA, MAY 13: To prevent criminals from escaping the long arms of law, the West Bengal Government is likely to create a directorate of prosecution which would coordinate between various agencies that deal with the investigation of criminal cases.

According to state government sources, over 80 per cent of the accused, because of lack of proper and foolproof chargesheets, could not be prosecuted and subsequently rejoin their old profession adding to the crimes.

This has a social dimension, a senior official said. “This is causing great frustration with the common people, who might take the law into their own hands,” he explained.

The directorate of prosecution, which would be headed by a senior police official of the rank of director-general with an expertise in law and with two deputies, the state government hopes would help the law enforcing agencies prepare foolproof’ chargesheets against the criminals.

Speaking to ENS, a top state government official said the growing trend towardscriminality and administration’s failure to “file chargesheets on most of the FIRs,” had prompted them to think on this line.

He said a recent observation has “proved the not many FIRs filed in various police stations could be taken to the chargesheet stage due to lack of coordination between various departments which investigate the cases.”

“The task of the directorate of prosecution would be to coordinate between these various departments and take care of chargesheets and prosecutions,” he revealed.

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Admitting that over the years even the public prosecutors had been making this point, the officer said: “Another important task of the directorate would be to raise the accountability-level of the advocates.”

He however said, “the state government is yet to take a final decision on the proposal submitted by the law department.” Disclosing that the spirit behind the move are the recommendations of the Law Commission, he said: “In its recent report the panel had suggested that efforts must bemade to create a bridge between investigation and prosecution.”