The Nagaland government has apprised the Gauhati High Court that a formal Notification for separation of the Investigation and Law & Order Wings of Police has already been issued by the State of Nagaland.
The Division Bench of the Chief Justice Sandeep Mehta and Justice Mitali Thakuria heard a suo moto Public Interest Litigation (PIL) registered by the High Court for implementing police reforms.
D. Nath, Senior Government Advocate, Assam submits that a Notification dated 19.05.2023 has been issued by the State of Assam in reference to the proceedings of this PIL and that he shall be bringing the same on record through an affidavit.
B.D. Goswami, Additional Advocate General, Arunachal Pradesh submits that the State of Arunachal Pradesh has imparted training of investigation skills to 84 Investigating Officers of the Investigation Wing based on the directions given by the Supreme Court in WP(C) No.310/1996 (Prakash Singh & Ors. -Vs- Union of India & Ors.) and by the Itanagar Bench of the Court in PIL No.9/2022 (Gamken Bam -Vs- State of Arunachal Pradesh & Ors.).
The State of Arunachal Pradesh has also filed an affidavit on 15.03.2023, wherein it has been stated that separation has been made in the Investigation Wing and the Law & Order Wings of the Police Department in the State of Arunachal Pradesh.
Similar steps have been taken by the State of Mizoram as has been pointed out by A. Kalita, Additional Advocate General, Mizoram. He submits that Notification to this effect has already been issued and that he shall also be bringing on record an affidavit relating to the Constitution of the Police Accountably Commission.
M. Kechii, Additional Advocate General, Nagaland, submits that a formal Notification for separation of the Investigation and Law & Order Wings of Police has already been issued by the State of Nagaland. She further submits that instead of constituting a separate Police Accountability Commission, the State of Nagaland has constituted State Level Police Complaint Authority and District Level Police Complaint Authority.
The High Court will heard the matter further after four weeks.