The Indian Express (Delhi Edition)

In Bhopal, a race against time: ‘We’ll take 6 months to learn’

CRPC, and the Bharatiya Sakshya (BS) Act for the Indian Evidence Act.

Policestat­ionssuchas­thisone in Old Bhopal are at the forefront of this overhaul considerin­g that a bulk of their work – from filing First Informatio­n Reports to chargeshee­ts -- will come up againstthe­newlaws.armedwith only a day's training, police officers and the junior staff, from inspectors to constables, are now tasked with navigating the complexiti­es of these sweeping legal reforms.

Exhaustedf­romhisnigh­tshift and with hours to go for the rollout of the new laws, Inspector Kashiramku­shwahaasks­hisstaff for the hard copies of the new laws. When told that they are locked up in the police malkhana, hisfrustra­tionboilso­ver:"ihaven't bathed,ihaven'treadthene­wlaw books. All night I was working on thechainsn­atchingcas­eandnow Idon’thavetimet­ostudythen­ew laws… Why is the malkhana locked? When will we study?"

The person in charge of the malkhana, Asif Khan, who too hasn’t read the books, arrives at 2 p.m.,afteratten­dingtohiss­ickson at a hospital nearby. Dodging Kushwaha's glare, Khan rushes to the malkhana to retrieve the new law books, which are stored next to tear gas shell launchers. But by now, Kushwaha has left for another duty. The books are locked away again, waiting to be opened on July 1.

Foroveramo­nth,personnelo­f thebhopalp­olicehaveb­eentrainin­g at the city's police academy and the two police control rooms, where they have been attending marathonfo­ur-hourdailyl­ectures -- a mix of Powerpoint presentati­ons, lectures, Q&AS, and, if time permits, mock tests on filing FIRS using the new laws.

DGP Sudhir Saxena told The Indianexpr­essthatsof­ar,"60,000 officers and other employees of the Madhya Pradesh police have been trained on the new laws".

He has ordered for comparativ­echartsoft­heoldandne­wlaws to be sent to each police officer in the state and for each investigat­ing officer (IO) to be given a hard copy of the new laws.

Kushwaha, the SHO of the Kotwali Police Station, isn’t sure if hispersonn­elareprepa­redforthe challenge. "We had one training session.ourstation­hasashorta­ge of46office­rsandweare­stretched thin. The sessions were good, but our staff had to take time off their duties. They didn’t even get practical experience. Staff from other police stations were trained on dummy FIRS; we just listened to the lectures. At this rate, we will take at least six months to learn," he said.

This Saturday afternoon, Sub Inspector (SI) Phool Singh is the duty officer and has the responsibi­lity to register the FIRS. He is yet toreadthen­ewlaws."iamretirin­g in two months… why should I bother?iwouldhave­likedtorea­d the books in detail, but what's the point?," he says.

Constablep­awandamar,who is in his late 20s, is the station's computer operator. He has a smartphone and a smart watch and is one of the few tech-savvy officers in this police station. "Unlike the IPC, the new laws are not scattered and you can find them easily. But the senior staff don't want to learn. Over 50 per centofthem­areoldandm­anyare approachin­gtheirreti­rementage. The new laws require the use of some technology and apps and they are reluctant to learn," he says.

Yasminzehr­a,additional­spat the Police Academy (Bhopal) where many of the training sessionswe­reheld,agreesthat­many ofthesenio­rpersonnel­nearingret­irement showed a lack of interestin­learningth­enewprovis­ions. "We are focussed on training IOS who are below the age of 55 and those who are field officers. Our target group was around 80,000 police personnel. The new laws are not complicate­d and they will learn easily once they begin applying it practicall­y," she says.

Zehra says the training sessions will continue over the next few months. "We could not cover everyoneas­thestaffwa­sdeputed for the Lok Sabha elections," she says,addingther­eare302ins­tructors across the state who have been roped in to teach the new laws.

The instructor­s mainly relied on comparativ­e charts which were shared in soft copy format several months ago to the senior officers of the district. However, the hard copies of the new provisions were sent to all police stations just a few days ago.

According to the Madhya Pradesh police statistica­l data book 2022, there are around 1,117 police stations across the state’s 52 districts. On an average, for every 1,000 crimes committed, thereare40­2policemen­available.

Officers at the Kotwali police station and some of the officers conducting the training sessions say that among the most common doubts police personnel have is whether the new laws or the old will be used if a crime is committed before July 1 but is a "continuing crime".

Zehra, the Additional SP at the Police Academy, explained to The Indian Express that in such a situation, the case will be registered under both the IPC and BNS.

Besides, there are questions about the procedure to be followed while videograph­ing evidence and presenting it before a magistrate. Under Section 105 of the BNSS, any search or seizure at the crime scene and statements of witness and the victim must be videograph­ed and forwarded “without delay” to the District Magistrate, Sub-divisional Magistrate or first-class Judicial Magistrate.

A 52-year-old official at the thanashows­hissmartph­onethat has a cracked screen. "As per the new law, I have to record any evidence that I seize. In case there is a law-and-order situation, it will be difficult. Most cases collapse in court because of not following properproc­edures.wedon'thave a videograph­er and I don't know how to shoot videos," he says.

Acknowledg­ing the technologi­cal gap, Additional SP Zehra says the "police headquarte­rs has initiated the process of acquiring an advanced toolkit for the police officers, which will include highend smartphone­s for the investigat­ing officers".

An SI rank officer at the Kotwali thana says that when some of his juniors come up to him with doubts on the new law, he finds himself struggling for answers. "I don't have proper educationa­l qualificat­ions and don't understand most parts of the law... See, when I was young, I learnt the IPC sections the hard way – from all the scolding I got from my seniors. But this time, eventhesen­iorsarecon­fused.we will need legal representa­tives to sit with us for the first few months before the documents go to court," he says.