The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : DSPs to exclusively deal with SC/ST atrocity cases

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Wednesday, Aug 13, 2008
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

DSPs to exclusively deal with SC/ST atrocity cases

Special Correspondent

Officials to be initially deputed in seven districts of State

Move to instil confidence among victims as well as witnesses
Majority of atrocity cases are being treated as routine ones

HYDERABAD: Concerned over the delay in expediting the trial of cases registered under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, the State Government has decided to depute officials of the rank of Deputy Superintendents of Police to exclusively deal with the cases.

Though cases under the Act were being registered frequently, action against the perpetrators of atrocities on SCs and tribals could not be launched for want of a separate mechanism to deal with them.

As a result, a majority of the cases were being treated as routine ones, which prompted the authorities concerned to nominate senior officers to deal with the cases.

According to Home Minister K. Jana Reddy, DSPs will be deputed initially in Nellore, Kadapa, Nalgonda, Kurnool, Guntur, Mahabubnagar and Anantapur districts wherein the incidence of the cases is more and the provision would be extended to other districts subsequently.

While it was mandatory that the cases under POA should be investigated by officers not less than the rank of DSPs, they could not effectively take up the task as they were “overburdened.”

Mr. Jana Reddy told reporters after a meeting convened by Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy to review the implementation of the Act that the move to depute DSPs to exclusively deal with the cases was aimed at instilling confidence among the victims as well as the witnesses.

The Government had contemplated setting up exclusive police stations for dealing with atrocities on SCs, but the proposal had been put off.

Asked about the demand from Backward Classes for bringing them under the purview of the Act, he said the matter had been forwarded to the Centre.

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