Some police stations better equipped than CEN stations: HC

The High Court of Karnataka on Wednesday directed the state government to submit the number of cases registered and charge-sheeted by Cyber, Economic and Narcotics (CEN) Crime police stations in the city.

A division bench headed by Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka gave the order on a PIL petition filed by Sudha Katwa, a city-based advocate.

The bench perused the statement of objections filed by the state government on the infrastructure provided to eight CEN police stations.

“The state must first decide as to what is the requirement of hardware and software facilities for every CEN police station in the city. Secondly, the state will have to point out whether the requisite hardware and software has been supplied to these stations,” the court said.

Going through the statement, the bench observed that some of the police stations in the city have better equipment in comparison to the CEN stations.

The court directed the state government to submit on oath whether the staff available to CEN police stations is adequate. The bench directed the state government to file an additional statement of objections, including details of the number of cases investigated by the eight CEN police stations and charge sheets filed after the completion of the investigation.

The next hearing has been posted on April 9, 2021.

The petition said that the special police stations were established to deal with cases arising under 13 different enactments, but lack technical staff and infrastructure.

According to the petitioner, as against the recommended staff strength of 30 per police station, the state government has provided only eight staff to each station. Besides, the government has not made adequate budgetary allocation for enhancing the infrastructure, the petition said.