Now, cops can't call kids, women to police stations IGP circular says policemen should visit such witnesses to record statement

Now, cops can't call kids, women to police stations

IGP circular says policemen should visit such witnesses to record statement

Women, children and the physically-challenged named as witnesses in a police case can heave a sigh of relief. They will no longer be summoned to police stations when their statements need to be recorded. Instead, the cops themselves will arrive at their doorsteps. Deven Bharti, inspector general of police (law and order), has issued a circular directing all police stations in the state to ensure that women, children below the age of 15 and the physically-challenged are not asked to appear at police stations to record their statements. The circular adds that policemen should follow section 160 of the criminal procedure code, which restrains them from calling witnesses to police stations. Those in charge of a police station will have to inform all field officers about the circular. The circular was submitted in the Bombay high court during the hearing of a plea filed by advocate Geeta Haldankar, who alleged that she had got in touch with Shubhda Narvekar to rent a flat in Diva, Thane district. She claimed that although a consensus was reached upon, no leave and licence agreement was drawn up in her name. Recently, when she returned from outstation work, the landlady broke the lock and replaced it with her own. Haldankar then approached the Diva police to file an FIR against Narvekar, but she was made to stay at the police station till the wee hours of the morning. Even then, Narvekar was charged with only a non-cognisable offence. The advocate wrote a complaint to the senior inspector of the police station, but failed to receive a fruitful response. She then approached the court, seeking directions to the police to lodge an FIR against Narvekar and to crack the whip against the police officers who refused to take action. Advocate Sushan Kunjuraman, appearing for Haldankar, said: “The court was informed by the prosecution that an FIR can be lodged only if the woman came and gave her statement at the police station. That’s when the court asked them to put on record the procedure and to issue a circular to all police stations.” Accordingly, the circular was submitted in court on Monday. The HC was also told that an FIR had been lodged, following which the court disposed of the plea. A relieved Haldankar later said, “Finally, the investigation machinery has been set in motion.”