The lawyer-policemen unholy nexus is one of the reasons for low conviction rates in cases of crimes. The Bar Council of India has failed to curb this problem.
The increasing number of lawyers cannot be blamed for this problem. Many city advocates feel that they are losing out an criminal cases. The court constables posted by the police department to overlook the court procedures of a particular case force the accused to hire lawyers of their choice.
There are thousands of criminal advocates and it is a shame if each lawyer has to bribe the court constable for want of a case. If this situation continues, the accused may not get the right advocate and can be cheated by the cop who may overcharge him for the procedures.
One thing we can do is to rotate the court constables so that they will not network between the lawyers. But transferring court constables will be tough because the post needs experienced hands and a flair for documentation. Ignorance of law cannot be an excuse for breaking it.
If policemen have committed something wrong then primarily it is the responsibility of the department to take action against them.
KG VILOP, Chorao
