Uttarakhand High Court asks govt what it has done to abolish revenue policing system in state

It was said in the PIL that if the government had followed the high courts order passed in 2018, there would not have been so much delay in the investigation of Ankitas murder, so the revenue police system should be abolished.In January 2018, the high court had directed the state government to abolish the age-old system of revenue policing and ordered that a sufficient number of police stations must also be established.

The Uttarakhand High Court on Wednesday asked the government what it has done in compliance with its 2018 order asking the state to put an end to the age-old revenue policing system within six months. A division bench of Chief Justice Vipin Sanghi and Justice R C Khulbe asked the chief secretary to file an affidavit stating the position within three weeks.

The direction was given by the high court while hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking abolition of the revenue policing system in the state. The flaws of the archaic system in parts of Uttarakhand were in focus recently for allegedly causing delay in the start of investigations into the Ankita Bhandari murder case. The high court has asked the state government to file an affidavit stating the action of the government on the decision given by the court in 2018. It was said in the PIL that if the government had followed the high court's order passed in 2018, there would not have been so much delay in the investigation of Ankita's murder, so the revenue police system should be abolished.

In January 2018, the high court had directed the state government to abolish the age-old system of revenue policing and ordered that a sufficient number of police stations must also be established. This will include two police stations in each circle headed by an officer-in-charge of or above the rank of sub-inspector, the court had said.

Registration of FIRs, investigation, etc. will be done only by the regular police and not by patwaris after six months, it had said.

In 2004, the Supreme Court in the 'Navin Chandra vs State Government' case considered the need to abolish this system in which it was said that the revenue police are not given training like the civil police.

The Supreme Court had also said that there must be a uniform system in the state.

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