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• The state cabinet of Uttarakhand has cleared a proposal to replace the “Revenue Police” system with the regular police.
• In Uttrakhand, Regular police force jurisdiction does not extend to several hilly areas.
  • Currently, the revenue police jurisdiction covers over 50% of the state in terms of area, and about 25% of the population.

The Revenue Police System in Uttrakhand

• The British government introduced the system of revenue police in Uttrakhand; the motive was to save money and resources by not deploying regular police, as the crime rate was low in the hilly areas.
• Under the system, civil officials of the revenue department have the powers and functions of the regular police.
  • The revenue police of the area file an FIR investigate the case, arrest the accused and also file a charge sheet in the local court.
• Heinous crimes like murder, rape, or crimes against Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST), are transferred to the regular police.
• The main criticism of the system is that the revenue officials are given the additional task of policing without any adequate training.
  • The prevention of crime, either by collecting intelligence or creating a fear of law and order, cannot be done by the revenue officials, as they are not trained to do these added responsibilities.
• In 2018, the Uttarakhand High Court ordered the state government to abolish the revenue police system.
• In other states, the core function of revenue officials is to maintain land, cultivation and revenue records of villages, and collect revenues on behalf of the government.
  • Revenue officials like patwari collect data on crop production, perform election-related duties and collect census and literacy data.
  • They are also given the duty of implementing government schemes and preparing birth, death, and caste certificates.

https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/ankita-bhandari-murder-case-what-is-uttarakhand-revenue-police-system-8210988/

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