Despite notoriety KCP faction leader Thokchom Nando’s prison tenure has raised the problem of chronic pendency of cases in the public radar while the undertrial prisoners rot in the prisoners for years altogether. Nando as it turns out is the longest serving undertrial in the whole state with a tenure of more than 8 years and 8 months yet he is still alive and kicking. He was able to gain 4 more cases against him as he does prison time which is indeed exemplary of course on the negative angle. Well, the debate today is not of the exploits of Messrs Th Nando, but of the issue of sluggish investigation and prosecution work of our police force. Our throats have gone from bad to hoarse in raising this issue of investigation and prosecution. And the undertrials are crowding the jails of the state. The Central Jail at Sajiwa has a capacity of 720 not counting the new blocks. At present, it houses about 700 inmates including 34 convicts. The rest are all undertrials. The Imphal Central Jail near Ist MR has a capacity of 277 and it has at present 40 inmates including a convict and this is where the women inmates are lodged. This is a direct result of the poor investigation and prosecution of the state police force. In fact, it is the weak side of the state police department and it has done no good for the police image. The general public has lost confidence in the police force and they do not feel secure when they see a policeman. Like it or not, it is here to stay unless the government make amends. Crime investigation and prosecution had long been neglected by the top echelons of the police department and its administrative department which is the Home department. They say they do not simply have the time to even think about it citing law and order problems and insurgency. Everyone knows it is an excuse. Devotion to law and order and counter-insurgency has a much higher yield in terms of grease money and every policeman knows that. The grease money that you get at the police station with regard to cases has become peanuts in comparison to that of the commandos. Before Gaikhangam took over as the state Home Minister, the commando units were considered a plump posting and almost everyone from the regular policeman to the personnel of the IRB and MR ballations went to lengths to get the ‘posting’. In the days of yore, the engineers were the ones who had huge buildings for homes. Now it the ministers and top ranking police officials and the commandos and they are building mansions and farm houses in the suburbs. On the other hand, police officers right from the constable to the officer in-charge posted in the police stations were most of the time utilized in law and order detail, as the higher-ups consider law and order as top priority while neglecting the crucial wings of crime investigation and prosecution. These two crucial wings are in fact the face of the police force. Prowess in crime investigation and case preparation is what the general public expects from the police force. We all see the growing incidence of mob violence and vigilante justice, like in the recent case when a mob lynched a couple for alleged involvement in the rape and murder of a four year old child. This is the direct result of the vacuum created by police corruption and inaction towards crime investigation and prosecution. As winds rushes in to fill up the vacuum created by bush fire, the public while losing faith in adequate police action, takes law into their hands and delivers instant justice. They no longer expect justice from the police force which is indeed a dangerous situation for a society reeling with conflict. So, police reforms in Manipur should begin by strengthening the investigation and prosecutions wings. Surely, the state Home Minister understands that.
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