Justice still a far cry for victims' families

By K.V. Subramanya

BANGALORE, DEC. 10. Justice seems to be a far cry for the families of women who have been the victims of dowry harassment if one is to go by the adage, ``Justice delayed is justice denied.''

The functioning of the Anti-Dowry Cell (ADC) in the Corps of Detectives (CoD), which investigates dowry death cases reported in the State, has been crippled due to shortage of staff and increasing number of cases.

All the dowry death cases in the State, except in those cities where there are all-women police stations headed by an inspector, are investigated by the ADC.

According to highly-placed sources, every month a minimum of 30 and a maximum of 60 dowry death cases reported in the State are referred to the ADC for investigation. However, the ADC has not been able to investigate all the cases thoroughly and quickly due to shortage of staff. At present, there are only six Deputy Superintendents of Police (Dy. SPs) and half-a-dozen inspectors with the ADC, sources told The Hindu.

There are many vacancies even in the sanctioned staff strength. Further, after the Superintendent of Police (ADC), Mr. M.K.Nagaraj, was promoted as Deputy Inspector-General of Police a few days ago, the post of the ADC chief is also lying vacant. The Superintendent of Police (Fraud Cell) has been holding additional charge of the ADC, sources said.

As the Government Order clearly states that only a male officer of the rank of a Dy. SP and above or a woman inspector can investigate dowry death cases, the work has been hampered.

According to sources, at any given point of time, an investigating officer has at least 12 cases on hand. As the cases pertain to places all over the State, the officer cannot attend to all the cases at once, leading to inordinate delay in completing the investigation.

There have been instances where in an officer has been simultaneously investigating cases from the northern-most district of Bidar to the coastal district of Dakshina Kannada.

Staff shortage and increase in the number of cases have also led to the decline in the quality of investigations resulting in acquittals, sources said.

Piqued by the hardships it has been facing in investigating the dowry death cases, the CoD has made certain proposals to the Government to overcome the difficulties.

It has requested the Government to increase the staff strength of the ADC in proportion to the number of cases it has been handling. The ADC's staff strength has almost remained the same from the time of its inception in the early Eighties, while the number of cases has gone up by more than 10 times, sources said.

The awareness among the public is said to be the main reason for the rise in the number of cases as unlike in the past the families of the dowry death victims are now forthcoming with complaints, sources said.

The CoD has also urged the Government to refer only the ``complex and controversial'' cases of dowry death to the ADC and entrust the rest to the jurisdictional police.

Even the complex cases should be transferred to the ADC only on the recommendation of the Inspector-General of Police of the respective range, the CoD has said in its proposal to the Government.

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Section  : Southern States
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