313 cases under excise act against Chhattisgarh tribals will be withdrawn

india

Updated: Nov 01, 2019 06:25 IST

A committee appointed by the Congress-led government in Chhattisgarh has recommended the withdrawal of more than 300 cases against tribals under the state’s excise act in eight Maoist-affected districts.

The high-level committee headed by justice (retired) AK Patnaik reviewed cases registered in Kanker, Kondagaon, Narayanpur, Bastar, Sukma, Dantewada, Bijapur and Rajnandgaon districts.

A two-day meeting of the committee chaired by justice Patnaik concluded on Thursday.

“The other cases, which are registered under sections of Indian Penal Code, Local and Special Act, will also be reviewed in the next meeting,” a government press release stated.

The Justice Patnaik committee was constituted on March 8 this year by the Chhattisgarh government to review the cases pending against the tribals in Maoist-hit districts of the state.

According to the committee’s five-point terms of reference, all cases registered under the Indian Penal Code, National Security Act, Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and other Central laws along with the Chhattisgarh Excise Act will be up for review.

The committee will decide which of these cases eligible under section 321 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) can be withdrawn.

There are 6743 cases pending in eight districts, excluding cases under excise act, in which 16,475 tribal have been held accused.

Other officials present in the meeting were additional chief secretary (home) CK Khetan, director general of police (DGP) DM Awasthi, additional advocate general Vivek Ranjan Tiwari, secretary (home) Arun Dev Gautam, ADG/director public prosecution Pawan Deo and others.