Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh has directed the Home and Judicial Department to examine and implement the recommendations of the interim report of the Justice Gill Commission of Inquiry into false cases in a time-bound manner.The Chief Minister, who received the interim report from Justice (Retd) Mehtab Singh Gill on Wednesday afternoon, has directed the Commission to monitor the implementation of the report, with the help of Secretary Home and Director Prosecution.For follow-up action at the district level, the Department of Home may appoint the concerned District Magistrates and the District Attorneys as the Nodal Officers, the Chief Minister has further directed in an official order issued soon after receiving the report. The Nodal Officers will report the follow-up action to the Government through the Commission, the Chief Minister has instructed.The Mehtab Singh Gill Commission of Inquiry, constituted by the Chief Minister on April 5, has so far examined 172 of the over 4200 cases/complaints received by it.In 79 cases, it has, after a thorough examination, found that Enforcement Department of the Government of India had correctly and impartially concluded the cases to be false. In another 19 cases, the Commission has recommended cancellation of FIR/withdrawal of case against the accused, and has recommended that the Home and Judicial Department should make a request to courts concerned, in a legal and proper manner, to cancel FIRs.
Where the court accepts the cancellation report, the first informant/complainant should be prosecuted u/s 182 IPC except in cross cases, the Commission has recommended, adding that the culprits should, under no circumstances, be allowed to go scot free. Prosecution in such cases was necessary to check registration of such false cases, and save honest and innocent citizens from unnecessary high-handedness and harassment, Justice (Retd) Gill has said in his interim report.In the remaining cases, the Commission has, while recommending prosecution of the informant/complainant, has also suggested recovery of adequate compensation for the innocent victim from the Investigating Officer (IO). In some cases, Gill has also recommended action against police officers responsible for instigating the false case, calling for dismissal of the officers, including at the DSP level.Justice Gill has further stated that the government should ensure that police officers with clean track record and known integrity are posted to key posts, especially in the field. The Commission was mandated to conduct inquiry into cases in which final report u/section 173 CrPC had not been presented so far, cases in which accused had been acquitted by courts, cases in which cancellation reports had been accepted by the courts, cases in which FIRs had been quashed by the High Court, cases in which FIRs had been registered by or which had been/are being investigated by the Enforcement Department, Government of India.