Covid-19: Odisha police ask SPs to clear pending cases as virus load eases

BHUBANESWAR: With the functioning of police stations slowly returning to normal in view of a fall in Covid-19 positive cases in the state, the Odisha police headquarters has asked superintendents of police (SPs) to accord priority to clearing of pending cases.
Basic policing, including investigation of criminal cases was adversely hit with the virus infecting a large number of investigating officers (IOs) between April and August. Absence of cops due to treatment and home isolation coupled with registration of fresh cases in police stations gave a sudden rise the backlog.
At least 7,000 police personnel were so far infected by Covid-19 virus and 35 of them succumbed during treatment. “More than 80 percent of our personnel have recovered and resumed duties. Number of new infected police personnel has come down. Our immediate focus is to expedite the investigation and clear the pending cases. SPs have been advised to sensitize their investigating officers and personally supervise the progress of probes into sensitive cases,” a senior police officer said.
Investigators said it would be a big challenge to clear the pending cases. “We run short of staff in most police stations. Personnel are also busy in Covid-19 enforcement drives. Workload has increased during the ongoing festive season. Any investigation in haste would affect its quality and conviction,” a sub-inspector said.
Experts said the Covid-triggered crisis has reignited the necessity to separate crime investigation from law and order duties in police stations. “It is high time the state government strengthens the police stations by appointing adequate manpower and segregates the law and order from investigation. Though the Supreme Court had in 2006 asked all states to create the two separate wings, it is still a nonstarter in Odisha because of acute shortage of staff and other resources in police stations,” said S K Mishra, a retired deputy superintendent of police.
Significantly, in June 2018 former director general of police R P Sharma had proposed to the state government to create separate wings of investigation, and law and order in 115 police stations in the first phase. Odisha has around 620 police stations. The police stations were categorised on the basis of the number of cases they registered annually, population, urbanisation, communal sensitivity and industrialisation. But the proposal did not materialize.
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