CHENNAI: A mind boggling 21,129 people are roaming free in 13 districts of Tamil Nadu, though competent courts have issued arrest
warrants against them. Many of such non-bailable warrants (NBWs) are more than five years old.
Terming this situation as alarming,
Madras high court has now directed the DGP to take immediate steps to execute the warrants at the earliest.
In his order, Justice D Krishnakumar said: “It is found that Non Bailable Warrants are pending nearly 4 to 6 years, which resulted in increasing number of pendency of criminal cases before the courts concerned. Be that as it may, the situation is quite alarming, since it ultimately affects the disposal of cases by the criminal courts and adding to the pending case numbers. If this situation is allowed to continue, the very object of rendering justice at the earliest possible time, would be defeated.”
When the plea came up for hearing recently, the authorities produced a copy of a circular issued by the DGP deputing additional superintendent of each district to monitor and ensure execution of such pending NBWs at the earliest. The officers have been instructed to submit reports on weekly basis which would be forwarded to the DGP, the additional advocate-general informed the court.
Recording the submissions, Justice Krishnakumar directed the DGP to submit a consolidated report on or before second week of September with details of the number of NBWs executed, number of NBWs pending execution and the reason therefor along with the steps taken for execution.
Earlier, when the court called for details of NBWs pending execution from principal districts and superintendents of police concerned, both filed two separate reports with conflicting figures. In districts like Dindigul, the difference was about 2,000. As per the judge’s report there are 2,738 NBWs pending, while the report filed by the SP claimed that only 732 were pending.
Picture used for representational purpose
