BJP to move to court against Odisha Police Bill-2015

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Aug 29:

Odisha BJP has decided to move the court challenging the Odisha Police Bill-2015 that was passed in the assembly on Wednesday in the absence of opposition members.

“The government passed the bill yesterday without the opposition being there. We are going to challenge this decision in the court after a discussion with the civil society,” said BJP State unit President and Patnagarh MLA KV Singhdeo.

“As I have pointed out earlier, this is a draconian bill. I believe it would be struck down by the court as all the suggestions and recommendations made by various committees have been ignored in it,” he added.

It may be noted that both opposition Congress and BJP have been opposing the bill ever since it was introduced in the assembly and have been demanding revisions to make it more people-friendly based on the guidelines of the Supreme Court.

The opposition parties have been saying that while the apex court had directed adoption of one of the two models – the Ribeiro Committee and the Sorabjee Committee – recommended by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), neither of the models has been taken into consideration by the state government in formulating the Bill.

They have also pointed out that the Model Police Act-2006 prepared by the Central government after the Supreme Court directive, has a provision for constitution of a State Police Board, which will be headed by the Home Minister and Leader of the Opposition with other members in it, within six months of bringing the new police bill. However, this provision of the model police bill 2006 has found no place in the Odisha Police Bill, 2015.

This bill seeks to consolidate the provisions of the Police Act, 1861 and Odisha State Armed Police Act, 1946 in a single legislation for better police administration in the State.