Election revamp: Supreme Court order on politicians brews trouble for cops

Hyderabad: With the Supreme Court directing the Centre to expedite criminal cases against MPs and MLAs by setting up fast-track courts, as many as 100 MLAs and nine MPs from both the Telugu states will face the music.  This will become a major task for the police.  Most of the cases are pending trial, while others are under investigation. The police said that the cases are pending as the accused use the loopholes and delay the trial, while in some cases the witnesses and the police are influenced. If all the cases are to be expedited, it becomes a Herculean task for the department. Senior police officials from the city said that majority of the cases against public representatives are registered during the elections, which is often a tip-off by rival candidates.

“In such incidents, a case booked and the chargesheet is filed. However, once the matter is in court, the accused try to influence the witnesses and divert the case,” a senior police official said. They use the loopholes in the legal system and get bail or do not attend the court, citing various reasons. “They do not miss any chance to delay or weaken the case. If they cannot do anything in the lower courts, they go to the High Court and seek  anticipatory bail or get a stay on the proceedings of the lower courts,” another official added.

“Each court will have its calendar of cases for the coming six months and cases will be tried as per the schedule. Cases against the accused representatives also fall in the same line, resulting in the delay,” the official added.  “But in some cases, there is political influence on cases and investigation, which cannot be avoided from the system,” another senior official said.

Fast-track courts for speedy trials

Fast-track courts on the lines of the ACB and CBI courts to deal with cases against public representatives can be a solution.  There should be a mechanism to verify the poll-related irregularities which are brought to the notice of the election commission (EC).  As per the Supreme Court’s direction, a fast-track court sho-uld be instituted in each state and a deadline should be given to close the cases.

“We have no special courts for CBI, ACB and Pocso cases. To conduct trial of these cases, we should have a special court,” said Mr M. Padmanabha Reddy, secretary for the Forum for Good Governance. Many leaders are involved in various cases, which include grave offences. In fact, the number of cases mentioned in the poll affidavit is far less than the actual  number of cases registered against the candidate. “Since there is a minimum two months period from the time of filing the nomination and declaration of the results, the EC should share the data with the police to get the details verified,” he added.