Madurai City police on Sunday disposed of 351 petitions and community service register-issue complaints at special petition enquiry camps held at various places across the city.
Out of about 500 pending petitions, 351 were disposed of. “This initiiative was taken to clear backlog of petitions submitted to the Commissioner of Police and Deputy Commissioners of Police and at police stations,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) R. Shiva Prasad said.
“On working days, the officials are busy with various types of works. Besides, often when petitioners are asked to come to police station to conduct enquiry on their petitions, they find it difficult to come as they are busy with their work. Sometimes, the petition enquiry could not be conducted as the opposite party fails to turn up,” he said.
Stating that since Sunday being a holiday, all police officials - right from Inspector of Police, Sub-Inspector of Police and Special SIs - were present. The camps were conducted in marriage halls across the city so that there will be ample space for providing seating arrangements even while ensuring social distancing due to the COVID-19 threat.
Most of the petitions pertained to domestic issues, discord between neighbours and money transactions. “In those cases where the complainant and the opposite party agree for a mutual settlement, the police allow them to withdraw their petitions after giving them advice. But, if the complainant insisted on filing first information report, the police officials register the case,” Mr. Shiva Prasad.
He said this initiative would be repeated at periodical intervals to win over the confidence of the petitioners.