KOCHI: The police records show that many persons accused in criminal cases commit other offences once they are out on bail. To counter that, the Ernakulam Rural Police have embarked on a drive to initiate proceedings to cancel the bail granted to habitual offenders.
Since last November, the Rural police have managed to cancel the bail granted to 31 persons. Also, reports seeking the cancellation of the bail granted to 111 persons have been filed before the courts concerned, said an officer.
Ernakulam Rural SP K Karthick said the police have detected 124 violations of bail conditions by the accused so far. “We have filed reports in the courts concerned showing that these persons don’t deserve bail in the previous case as they have been involved in crimes again. Of the reports seeking cancellation of bail, seven were rejected by the court,” Karthick said.
The move is intended to crack down on the menace of repeated crimes in rural areas, the officer said. On Saturday, the bail granted to Rajesh, alias ‘Thorappan Rajesh’, 47, of Pallippuram, was cancelled after he was involved in an assault case. Rajesh was arrested in a theft case and lodged in jail.
However, he was granted bail on certain conditions. Flouting the bail conditions, he was involved in an assault case. The police said Rajesh is named in the goonda list of the Munambom police station, and has been accused in as many as 30 cases.
On the same day, the bail of Ayoob, 26, a resident of Edathala, was also cancelled. He was arrested for cheating a private financial firm of Rs 1.6 lakh after pawning fake gold ornaments at Pookkattupadi last year. However, he violated the bail condition that he should present himself before the investigating officer every week. Subsequently, his bail was cancelled, said the officer.
“We are strictly enforcing this to ensure that no habitual offender or anti-social element creates law and order issues. This is one way of controlling anti-social activities, similar to what the police is doing by invoking provisions of the Kerala Anti-social Activities (Prevention) Act (KAAPA). The investigating officers are monitoring whether the repeat offenders on bail get involved in crimes again,” Karthick said.
Initiating the process to cancel bail is entirely different from invoking KAAPA against the offenders, the Rural SP pointed out. “A goon can be put under preventive detention under KAAPA. However, the cancellation of bail is more stringent,” he said.