KL Report
Srinagar
J&K police that has put its controversial bill in public domain for public response is in dire haste to manage its passage by the state assembly. It has already sent the draft bill to the law ministry on February 24 for vetting and submission, informed sources said.
“It sounds strange. They have published the draft bill on the home department website on February 15 and asked people to respond within 15 days,” a senior law ministry officer said. “The normal practice is that they should got the response and reworked the draft and then sent the law ministry for vetting but they are doing it simultaneously.”
Another officer said while the haste is visible, the issue is whether the home department was genuinely sincere in seeking comments from the masses. “If they had to take care of the response, they should have waited,” the officer, speaking on the condition of anonymity said. “It seems, as if they wanted to just follow the procedure for the sake of it.”
The bill seeks enormous powers for the over 100 thousand strong force. The bill aimed at police reforms under the apex court directions was expanded to a level that the force wants to take over as a major power centre in the state governance. It is seeking creation of certain special security zones in the state where police will be placed at the top of governance, albeit indirectly.
While the law ministry is yet to take a call on the issue, sources said they might wait for the public reaction and then only started working on the bill. It was not immediately known if the bill can make to the state legislative assembly in the about to start budget session.
“What we presume is that the police have simply copied some draft bill that any other state might have drafted,” the officer said. “We will take care of things, once we start working on it.”
J&K has a separate constitution and a parallel penal code. Policing is a state subject and state government has the final authority to take care of how it manages its police force. The officer said that the bill will undergo fundamental changes once the experts sit and start working on it. The officer was non-committal when asked if it would seek any details from the police about the response from the public as it had sought while putting the draft bill on the web.
