Tamil Nadu Director General of Police and Head of Police Force Shankar Jiwal has issued a circular instructing all Commissioners and Superintendents of Police across the State to ensure that appeals against acquittal in criminal cases are filed on time to prevent culprits escape from the clutches of law solely due to the delay in preferring appeals.
In the circular, the DGP stated that the Madras High Court had recently asked State Public Prosecutor Hasan Mohammed Jinnah to take note of the fact that courts had to dismiss some apppeals against acquittals solely on the ground of inordinate delay in filing those appeals and therefore the SPP had written to him seeking necessary action on the issue.
The DGP pointed out that Section 378(1)(b) of the Code of Criminal Procedure empowers the State government to direct the prosecutor concerned to prefer an appeal against any order of acquittal. Further, Section 378(3) requires the police to obtain the leave of the High Court while preferring appeal and Section 378 (5) requires appeals to be filed within six months if the complainant in the case concerned was a public servant and within 60 days in all other cases.
