Acid attack, land grab will attract Goonda Act

Home Minister K J George on Monday said the Goonda Act will be invoked for some of the most heinous crimes in the State.

“The amended Goonda Act will be invoked against people who are involved in acid attacks, money laundering and land grabbing cases, including private and public land. We will also invoke the Goonda Act against those who cause damage to the environment,” he said.

On whether cyber crimes would attract the Goonda Act, George said there was provision for such offences also. “But in these cases, we will apply the Act to only habitual offenders and not innocent people,” he said.

He defended the Bangalore police after their flip-flop over the suspect in Vibgyor rape case – who was arrested and later released – by stating that the officers never said the suspect was the rapist. “Nowhere was it mentioned by the police that he was the rapist. The only thing which was told by the police was that he was arrested for his involvement in the incident and that the investigation was going on.

It is still continuing and those involved in the crime will be arrested soon,” he said.The Home minister refused to hand over the case to the CBI. George said the government would revamp the citizen committees attached to police stations in Bangalore. “We will strengthen the citizen committees with regard to policing in their respective jurisdictions, with better interaction between the police and the people,” the minister said.

He said the government would increase reservation for women in the police force from 10 to 20 per cent this year and keep increasing it every year.

For the recruitment of 364 sub-inspectors, George said the department had relaxed the age restriction only for this year.

Accordingly, the age for the general category is 28 (from 26 years) and for SC/STs it is 30 years (earlier it was 28 years, which is the general rule).

George said the department had relaxed the height and weight restrictions for the Scheduled Tribe candidates.