NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court Friday asked the Punjab government how its policing functions were affected by the 2021 decision of the Union government to increase BSF’s concurrent jurisdiction to deal with cognisable offences from 15km to 50km of the international border, reports Dhananjay Mahapatra.
“Nothing is taken away from Punjab police. The power to investigate is still with the state police,” said a bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra.However, since it is an original suit filed by a state against the Union government, the bench said it has to hear it in detail.
Solicitor general Tushar Mehta said under the BSF Act, this armed force was given powers since 1969 to arrest persons acting in contravention of laws relating to border in an area which varied from 80km in Gujarat, to 50km for Rajasthan, 15km for Punjab, West Bengal and Assam and extended to the entire state of Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, and Jammu and Kashmir.
In 2021, a uniformity in area of jurisdiction of BSF was brought in by which it was allowed to exercise powers under criminal procedure code for areas falling within 50km of the border, Mehta said.
The AAP government alleged the increase in jurisdiction seriously impaired the police functions, which is the exclusive domain of the state government.
“Nothing is taken away from Punjab police. The power to investigate is still with the state police,” said a bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra.However, since it is an original suit filed by a state against the Union government, the bench said it has to hear it in detail.
Solicitor general Tushar Mehta said under the BSF Act, this armed force was given powers since 1969 to arrest persons acting in contravention of laws relating to border in an area which varied from 80km in Gujarat, to 50km for Rajasthan, 15km for Punjab, West Bengal and Assam and extended to the entire state of Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, and Jammu and Kashmir.
In 2021, a uniformity in area of jurisdiction of BSF was brought in by which it was allowed to exercise powers under criminal procedure code for areas falling within 50km of the border, Mehta said.
The AAP government alleged the increase in jurisdiction seriously impaired the police functions, which is the exclusive domain of the state government.
