Fair police probe key to justice, must be overseen: R.K. Singh

Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy R.K. Singh on Friday stressed the need to oversight police investigation and suggested that it be kept insulated from political interference.

"Police investigation is a part of justice delivery system, so any kind of interference can't be allowed there, other than a professional or a judicial oversight. But there is no system of judicial oversight in the initial stages, as the judicial intervention starts after the filing of chargesheet," Singh said.

The minister was speaking at the Annual Conference of Indian Police Foundation here.

"As a citizen, I want justice to be done. When I have a grievance, when I believe that my rights have been violated, I want to go and lodge an FIR and it should be lodged and fairly investigated. I believe that investigation is a part of justice delivery system."

"If a case is not investigated properly, you can't get justice," he said, adding that "as a citizen, I don't want any compromises in my case or any political interference".

Before the Uttar Pradesh elections, at the behest of his party -- Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), he had to spend time in some districts of the state where he came across various law and order-related complaints under the then incumbent government.

"The feeling was that politicians and goons controlled police. The goons could beat up anybody and if a person went to police station, his FIR would not be lodged.

"I believe it was one of the prime reasons that we won this huge number of seats in Uttar Pradesh. People react against the unfair system... You can't have a system where justice delivery mechanism is hijacked by goons of political parties," he said.

Singh added: "If you go to villages, you know the reality...the reality is that if an incident takes place, relatives of the person killed lodge an FIR. They name all the enemies and the officer in-charge takes out their names after taking money from the assailants.

"This process of investigation needs to be overseen. Judicial oversight needs to be incorporated in the system."

He also called for insulation of the criminal justice system from political interference. "Criminal justice system, which includes investigation, must be insulated from politics."

--IANS

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