If statistics presented by a public interest litigation placed in the Punjab and Haryana High Court are to be believed, 124 police officers in Ludhiana and 26 in the rural areas are facing criminal prosecution under various charges. Charges of corruption and negligence of duty or escape from custody top the list of offences. In the city, 48 police officers are facing corruption charges and 37 such tainted officers are facing prosecution on charges of negligence of duty followed by involvement of four policemen in drug peddling and two accused of murder.

The officers in the countryside are also not far behind. Of 26 police officers, 12 are facing graft charges followed by three officers charged with drug trafficking. The information has been obtained by Resurgence India, a Ludhiana based NGO under the Right to Information Act.

Appalled at the facts, a Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Tirath Singh Thakur and Justice Hemant Gupta had issued notices to the Punjab government and the state Director General of Police.

The petitioner has demanded the dismissal, suspension or transfer of such officers after applying the Punjab Police Rules, 1934 and the Punjab Police Act, 2007. In the city, cases against 14 police officers are under investigation. While cases against 109 such police officers are under trial, with one having being convicted by a lower court. In Ludhiana rural, cases against four police officers are being probed and cases against 22 policemen are pending in court, but no one has been convicted yet.

According to the information obtained, as many as 1,398 Punjab Police officers, right from constabulary to the post of Director Generals of Police, are facing prosecution in criminal cases but continuing in service. Of these, cases against 505 police officers are being investigated, 863 are facing trial and remaining 30 have been convicted by various lower courts of the state.