Legal unit at Police Divisions to curb crime

Ashwin Hemmathagama

Work is underway to establish a legal branch in all police divisions as a part of the Unity Government’s measures to curb crime and reduce the number of accused getting away due to technical issues in the litigation process. 

Responding to a question, the Deputy Minister of Justice and Prison Reforms H. R. Sarathie Dushmantha on Friday said that establishing legal branches will help the police department file cases properly and furnish evidence effectively. 

“During 2015, only 37% of the accused were punished by magistrate’s courts, and in 2016, it came down to 35%. Compared to Japan, China, and Singapore, we have a much higher percentage of accused getting away without punishment,” said the Deputy Minister, who highlighted a total of 825,140 cases filed in magistrate’s courts last year in the country. According to the Deputy Minister, standardising the investigations, providing state-of-the-art technology and training for the institutions engaged in conducting investigations on the matters related to crimes, and increasing emoluments of the judicial officers, including the judges, are some of the measures the Government took during the last three years.