Odisha: Criminals back amid Covid, cops face challenging task

BHUBANESWAR: The criminal justice system, which largely comprises the law enforcement agency, court and jail, faces an imminent challenge amid the Covid-19 pandemic as anti-socials are back in action following the easing of several restrictions over the last few days. Different law enforcement agencies like police, the special task force (STF), vigilance and forest officials have resumed their crackdowns after a lull of nearly two months.
“We have started our main activities of laying traps and registering disproportionate asset (DA) cases against corrupt public servants over the last few days. Some of our personnel, who were on Covid-19 duty, are back on vigilance. We have asked our squads to exercise utmost precautions while making arrests and conducting searches,” state vigilance director and additional director general of police Debasis Panigrahi said.
Police, which had earlier witnessed very low registration of cases and a significant drop in crimes, have now started registering more cases. They said the easing of restrictions, ease of movement of people and vehicles will gradually encourage criminals to strike. “We expect normal registration of cases in the next few days. As we have to live with the Covid-19 virus for an indefinite period, it will pose a big challenge for police in the coming days. We have to arrest the accused, keep them in custody for interrogation, take them to hospital for routine medical test, produce them in court and escort them to judicial custody. We have to adopt new standard operating procedures and technologies to work with the dangerous new normal situation,” additional commissioner of police Anup Kumar Sahoo said.
The STF said they have reactivated their intelligence-based operations against organized crimes. “We have asked our personnel to take the necessary precautions while conducting raids and arresting the accused,” STF’s deputy inspector general J N Pankaj said.
Sources said the parent organisations concerned have asked their law enforcement agencies to wear face masks and gloves while conducting raids and making arrests. For the time being, policing in containment zones has been put on hold as the officers may face resistance by locals while conducting raids. The agencies have also been asked to take precautions while placing the accused in courts.
The prisons directorate, which recently launched a special drive to decongest jails by releasing inmates on bail and on parole, is expected to see an increase in the number of under trial prisoners (UTPs) in the coming days. An UTP in Puri jail tested positive for coronavirus recently, triggering panic in the prisons directorate. “We have our standard operating procedures in place. It will be revised if the situation warrants,” DGP (prisons) Santosh Upadhyay said.
Inspired By