New Delhi/Ahmedabad, January 30 (HS): Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah on Thursday chaired a review meeting on the implementation of three new criminal laws in the state in the presence of Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel in New Delhi. The meeting reviewed the implementation and current status of various new provisions related to police, jail, court, prosecution and forensics in Gujarat.
The meeting was attended by Gujarat Minister of State for Home, Union Home Secretary, Chief Secretary and Director General of Police of Gujarat, Director General of National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) and many senior officials of the Union Home Ministry and the State Government.
During the discussion in the meeting, Union Home and Cooperation Minister Shah said that the soul of the three new criminal laws brought by Prime Minister Narendra Modi lies in the provision of providing justice in three years from FIR to Supreme Court in any case. Shah praised the work done so far by the Gujarat government regarding the implementation of new criminal laws and asked the state government to ensure 100 percent implementation of new laws in all commissionerates by 30 April 2025. He said that it should be reviewed monthly by the Chief Minister of Gujarat, fortnightly by the Home Minister of the state and weekly at the level of Chief Secretary, Additional Chief Secretary (Home) and Director General of Police.
Amit Shah said that Gujarat has done a commendable job of filing more than 92 percent charge sheets on time in cases with punishment of more than 10 years. In the remaining cases, a review should be done to ensure the use of the provision of seeking permission from the court in the Act. The Home Minister said that Gujarat has done a commendable job of converting Zero FIR into 100 percent FIR. He said that such a system should be made in which FIR can be transferred between two states through Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and System (CCTNS). Gujarat should adopt CCTNS 2.0.
On the provision of electronic evidence in the new laws, Home Minister Shah said that for its proper implementation, the Home and Health Department of the state should hold a meeting and emphasize on receiving post-mortem and other medical reports electronically from hospitals. He said that there should be a system of recording evidence through video conferencing in premises like prisons, government hospitals, banks, Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) etc. He said that there should be a video conferencing cubicle for every court in the prisons.
The Union Home and Cooperation Minister said that the police should provide information about the people detained for interrogation on the electronic dashboard, along with the seizure list and information about the cases to be sent to the courts should also be kept on the dashboard. He also directed the Director General of Police of the state to continuously monitor these matters. Shah asked to increase the network connectivity speed in police stations to 30 Mbps more than the prescribed standards. Apart from this, Shah directed the state government on many issues including organized crime, terrorism, mob lynching, recruitment to vacant posts in the Directorate of Prosecution as soon as possible.
Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar
