SC notice to Centre to equip police

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday issued notice to the Centre on a PIL seeking direction for equipping police and security forces with modern weapons and devices to combat and counter terror attacks like the one in Mumbai. A Bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan sought response from the Ministry of Home Affairs on the petition filed by former Attorney General (AG) Soli J Sorabjee alleging that the terrorist attacks in Mumbai have exposed that weapons used by police are no match to the arms and ammunition carried by the terrorists. Earlier, the Bench, which also includes Justice P Sathasivam, was of the view that arming police personnel with sophisticated weapons like AK 47 at public places would only scare people. “Police should be equipped with modern weapons but at the sensitive places. In public places like the railway stations arming police with AK 47 would only scare people,” the Bench observed during the brief hearing when the PIL was mentioned. Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, who appeared for Sorabjee, finally convinced the Bench to issue the notice. After Rohatgi narrated incidents of the November 26 Mumbai terror attacks, particularly with reference to shooting at Chattrapati Shivaji Terminus, where the ill-equipped police failed to counter the offensive of the terrorists, the Bench agreed to issue notice asking the Centre to respond within a week so that the matter be heard in January.

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