Patna, May 5: Bihar’s “speedy trial” mantra to contain crime and improve law and order has impressed neighbouring Uttar Pradesh.
A two-member team from UP police arrived in Patna yesterday to study the concept of speedy trail adopted by their Bihar counterparts. The UP police team, led by Vijay Kumar, inspector-general (prosecution), met additional director-general of police (headquarters) Ravinder Kumar at the state police headquarters.
“Yes, they came to my office on Friday evening and requested me to provide details on the ‘speedy trial’ practice adopted by the state police. They wanted to speak to the Bihar DGP but the latter is not in Patna at present. I provided them all the details we had,” Ravinder told The Telegraph.
The visiting UP team spent more than an hour with the ADGP (headquarters), seeking information on the strategy which helped nail criminals who were moving scot-free ever after committing heinous crimes in the state. “Our seniors are very impressed with the Bihar police’s innovative method to curb crime and create fear of law in the minds of dreaded dons, who once used to call the shots even from behind the bars,” said Vijay before leaving for Lucknow with relevant documents.
He said he was asked by his senior ADGP (prosecution) R.N. Singh to visit Bihar to study the concept of speedy trial being successfully implemented to improve the law and order situation in the state. “Speedy trial was the first tool adopted by the Bihar police to rein in spiralling crime graph,” Ravinder told the UP police officers.
On the strategy to speed up trials in criminal cases, Ravinder said: “We started the drive by taking up cases under the Arms Act, in which policemen are direct witness and chances of them turning hostile during the trial are meagre.”
Vijay said he was impressed with the formula adopted by the Bihar police to control crime. “I will submit my report to the ADGP (prosecution) soon after reaching Lucknow. The Bihar police officials extended their full co-operation. We must thank them for sharing important information on maintaing law and order,” he said, adding that the speedy trial may be a useful technique to get the criminal convicted in UP.
Bihar DGP Abhayanand, who was away in Delhi, said: “I am aware of the visit by a UP police team to Bihar (Patna) to study the implementation of speedy trial for crime control,” he said.
From 2006 to December 2011, a total of 68,118 persons have been convicted for their involvement in unlawful activities in the state.
