Narcotic smugglers, criminals, domestic abusers will also be tracked

Srinagar, Nov 6: Two days after J&K Police in a ground-breaking move affixed a GPS tracker on terror accused, it has been decided that these trackers would soon be deployed on narcotics smugglers and habitual offenders like in the USA, UK, and various European countries.
In the first case, a team of senior officers including Inspector General of Police, CID, Nitish Kumar, DIG SIA Ajeet Salaria, and SSP SIA Jammu Shobhit Saxena were behind the GPS use in a case of a terror accused.

The use of GPS trackers by the J&K Police, as explained by Director General of Police (DGP) Rashmi Ranjan Swain reflects a strategic approach to monitor individuals with repeated offences while respecting legal conditions.
He said that this technology could play a crucial role in ensuring compliance with bail conditions and preventing potential criminal activities.

“There are legal contexts and operational contexts, and both are interconnected. Operational context is that those who repeated offences be it terrorism, smuggling of narcotics, or heinous offences of some sort do get bail,” R R Swain told a wire agency ANI. “The bail is given on the condition that they will not indulge in another crime, will not tamper with the evidence, and will not avenge the witnesses. So, the law allows bail based on this trust.”

However, he said that getting bail does not mean that the case has ended.
“The first tracker was installed on an individual who was carrying Rs 50 lakh in a cylinder for terrorist and separatist financing. Through the tracker, we can monitor his movements and bail conditions following the orders of the court,” the DGP said.
He said that some days ago there was a high-level meeting and it had approval from the Central Government.

“IG CID Nistish Kumar, DIG SIA Ajeet Salaria, and SSP SIA Shobhit Saxena examined its technical aspects first,” he said. “They explained to the court that this can be the condition for the bail and complete surveillance can be put on the terror accused.”
IGP Nistish Kumar and DIG Ajeet Salaria have served in the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in various capacities while SSP Shobhit Saxena is an AGMUT carder officer transferred from Goa to J&K last November.

“CID J&K had piloted the project. Soon these trackers will be deployed on narcotics smugglers, human traffickers, criminals involved in child and domestic abuse, and habitual offenders getting bail like in the US, UK and various European countries,” a senior J&K Police officer said. “The move is aimed at enhancing security and monitoring measures of terror and other crimes.”

The Special NIA Court in Jammu had passed an order directing the Police to affix the anklet on Ghulam Muhammad Bhat on October 20. The accused had been booked under various sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in 2007 for which he has been granted interim bail. The GPS tracker affixed to his ankle would provide round-the-clock monitoring of the whereabouts and activities of the accused.

The high-tech anklets are designed and tamper-proof and will continuously transmit real-time location data to a centralised monitoring centre. This data will enable law enforcement agencies to keep a close eye on his movement and respond promptly to any suspicious activity.