Subrahmanya police compelled to travel 231 kms with the accused!

Subrahmanya: The best example for the difficulties faced by the police after providing protection to the citizen and responding to complaints from far off places is Subrahmanya police station. This is so because, if the police have to arrest an accused, they have to first present him before the judge at Sullia. Later, the accused must be handed over to the district prison in Mangaluru and by the time the cops have returned back to their station, they will have covered a distance of 231 kms. Sometime, not being able to catch a bus, they have to depend on lorries!

Why so?

Subrahmanya Magistrate Court is located 40kms from Sullia. The cops have to travel along with the accused in a bus for 90 min and then catch an auto rickshaw to cover the remaining 2kms to the court. .

The cops have to wait till the court proceedings conclude to present the accused in front of the judge and the proceedings only end at 6pm in the evening. During the investigation do special cases, the proceedings will take even longer to complete. By the time the accused is presented at the court or the Judge’s residence, night will have already commenced.

For judicial custody, the accused has to be handed over to the district prison in Mangaluru. By then, it is night and there are no buses to Subrahmanya. They have to stand in wait for a private bus, lorry, tanker or any other vehicle along the Mangaluru-Bengaluru NH, boarding which they have to reach Gundya from where they have to catch any vehicle proceeding towards Subrahmanya or hire a vehicle to their destination.

It repeats again

On the day the judicial custody is over in connection to the case, the journey repeats itself. Subrahmanya police have to first go to the district jail in Mangaluru, collect the accused and submit him at the court in Sullia and they again return back with the accused to Mangaluru to hand him back over to the district prison here. During such an occasion, the cops will have travelled a total distance of 380 kms, which also happens to be the approximate distance to the state’s capital Bengaluru!

Two decades of trouble!

Subrahmanya police station was created in 1997. Since then, this traumatic method of travel has prevailed. 19 villages come within the limits of the station. There are no modern weapons or CCTV cameras here. Located in a very old building, 212km of area comes within its jurisdiction.

It will be good if a court is established in Kadaba

Even though Kabada is a taluk and Subrahmanya is within Kadaba taluk, there is no court here. Until then, depending on Sullia is inevitable. If a prison is established in Puttur, then it can put an end to the wandering of Subrahmanya police.

“This problem being faced by Subrahmanya police since a long time has been noticed. This is not only causing trouble to the police, but also to the public. If the public applies pressure in this regard, action can be taken. If this is resolved, it is good for the public as well,” explained Murali, DySP, Puttur