First ever special training programme for Asstt Public Prosecutors

New Delhi, Jun 12 (UNI) Concerned at the low rate of conviction in criminal cases, Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit today inaugurated a Special Training Programme for newly-recruited Assistant Public Prosecutors, a first for the national capital.

Critically underling the important role of the Public Prosecutors and their function in the Criminal Justice System, she urged that the system must secure punishment for criminals and provide justice for the victims of crime.

She emphasised that the system must remain healthy, responsive and swift in delivery. She advised the APPs to assist the court to the best of their ability and with the highest standards of probity and ethics.

She asked the APPs to gain and retain the confidence of people they represented.

She noted that the fast changing world required that the APPs must keep abreast with the latest developments in their field and the government on its part would provide them the required support so that greater efficiency could be achieved.

The programme was organised by Directorate of Training (Union Territory Civil Services), which was a premiere training institute under the Delhi government.

Justice Manmohan Sarin of the Delhi High Court presided over the function. The District and Session Judge and other members from the Judiciary, Secretary (Training) and other eminent persons were also present at the occasion.

Justice Sarin in his address emphasised that the training should be interactive and the Assistant Public Prosecutors must not hesitate to clear all doubts which they may have.

He also suggested that the training programme must include a system on judicial ethics and on the conduct of APPs inside and outside the court.

He suggested that one of the reforms which could be considered was that an independent authority of the police could do the scrutiny of challans, prior to their being filed, a function, which was presently performed by the public prosecutors.

A checklist should be prepared to ensure that the filing of the charge sheet was done properly. If the scrutiny of challans was separated, it would severe the nexus between the Investigating Officer and the public prosecutors, which often resulted in unethical and undesirable practices.

He further suggested that the service conditions of the public prosecutors should be improved so that they had a career path with incentives where merit was rewarded.

The training programme was spread over nine days and would focus on subjects like Medical Jurisprudence, problems of Hostile Witnesses, Acquittal Reports, Speedy Trial, IPR and Cyber Crime, Challan Checking, NDPS Act, Economic Offences, Forensic Science, Juvenile Justice Act, use of IT and Internet in Criminal Justice System, and practical aspects of the Code of Criminal Procedure, Evidence Act and the Indian Penal Code.

At the end of the training module, the APPs would also be taken for visit to the Tihar Jail, Police stations and National Institute of Criminology and Forensic Science.

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