VRISHANK MAHATME
vrishank@herald-goa.com
PANJIM: It is almost for a decade now that the Goa Police Bill appears to be gathering dust at the Secretariat. Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar in his earlier tenure had, on August 6, 2014, stated in the Assembly that the bill would be passed in the subsequent session.
He has now said that the government is examining the possibility of drafting a fresh Goa Police Bill that will streamline the department and its services. The “fresh draft of the police bill is under examination,” the Chief Minister said in the Assembly on Friday.
After following the Mumbai police manual for decades, the Goa government in October 2017 had again said that they have started a process to draft its own document for its force for which former SP Om Prakash Kurtarkar had been given the task of drafting the police manual.
Speaking to Herald, Kurtarkar said, “The process for drafting the police manual is in process. It takes time.”
The Goa Police Reform Bill was drafted after studying existing police acts of four states, including Maharashtra and Delhi that have their own effective bills.
The Goa Police have been functioning under the Police Act, 1861, the Police Act, 1888 and the Madras District Police Act, 1859 which have been extended to the State when it was a Union Territory.
Members of various civil society groups demanded that reforms in the proposed Goa Police Bill need to be discussed at the grassroots level, including at gram sabhas and municipal meetings.
Albertina Almeida of Citizens’ Initiatives for Communal Harmony said that whenever it is introduced, the Police Bill must conform to the Supreme Court directives on police reforms as laid down in the Prakash Singh case.
“Till now, Goa has not fully complied with the directives in letter and spirit. The Bill must reflect full compliance with the Court’s directives, besides taking into account the voice of the people of Goa,” Almeida said.
In the absence of a comprehensive Legislation on the subject and with increasing pressure on the Police to take immediate action to prevent disturbance of the public peace and tranquility, a need has been felt to enact Legislation to arm the police force with legal provisions to enable them to handle all situations which may lead to disturbance of public peace or tranquility and also enable the police to take action in cases of public nuisance or acts causing annoyance to public.
There are various petty offences for which summary action is required to be taken by the police. In the absence of a comprehensive Legislation with enabling provisions the police force will not be able to act in such cases.
