CUTTACK: In the wake of the alleged police assault on an Army officer and his fiancée at Bharatpur police station in Bhubaneswar on September 15, which fuelled a national outrage, the state government has finalised a standard operating procedure (SOP) for cops to deal with defence personnel.
The SOP was approved by the Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi on Monday, advocate general (AG) Pitambar Acharya submitted in the Orissa High Court.
Taking it into consideration, the division bench of Chief Justice Chakradhari Sharan Singh and Justice Savitri Ratho on Tuesday fixed November 19 for final order and disposal of the PIL it had registered after taking suo motu cognizance of the Bharatpur police station incident. The court, on October 8, had directed the state government to inform the steps intended to be taken to protect the dignity of the personnel of the Armed Forces on the police station/outpost premises.
Laying down clear guidelines for dealing with Armed Forces officers and personnel, the SOP, which was submitted in the court by the AG, stresses on proper behaviour and interaction with defence personnel visiting the police station. “Problems and grievances of the defence personnel shall be promptly attended to by the police officer and all required legal and logistic support shall be extended to him as early as possible,” it states.
“If the defence personnel make any oral information revealing commission of cognizable offence, without insisting for written report, the police officer shall forthwith reduce the information to writing and obtain signature of the complainant to initiate legal action into motion,” it adds.
The SOP has stated that a serving defence personnel cannot be arrested without permission of the central government. “Police can arrest serving officers without permission if they are involved in heinous crimes like rape, murder and kidnapping, etc. which are unrelated to their duty. If the offence is other than the above crimes, the police is not authorised to make arrest of any defence personnel without prior permission of the authority,” it has clarified.
“In case, the police officer arrests defence personnel in crimes unrelated to performance of their duty, it is mandatory for the police to inform the nearest military station headquarters with the details of offences, date of arrest and the place of detention and custody,” the SOP further specifies, adding, “The defence personnel under arrest should not be manhandled or assaulted or beaten up. He should not also be handcuffed.”